Chapter Seven

ELLA

The urge to go to my fated mate was so irresistible and crucial. I felt like I was going to die if I didn't get to him, for he had now become the sole necessity I needed to survive. The air I breathed was now meaningless to my survival, as was my heartbeat and everything else required to exist in this world.

I felt like I was losing my mind and was willing to do anything to get to my only source of life, even if I had to lose a part of my body, for without him, nothing else matters.

I twisted and turned to break free from the chain that forbade me from going to find my fated mate until I felt my skin burn like fire. Even when the chains scraped away the skin from my flesh, burning even more, I still didn't stop, for being away from my fated mate hurt infinitely worse.

Infuriated that no matter how hard I tried to break free from the chain, I could not escape from it. I screamed so hard that my throat began to hurt.

Mom steadied my face before hers with a look of pure dread.

"Try fighting the pull, El. Fight it by reminding yourself that your fated mate is evil and wants you dead," she encouraged.

I shook her hand off, refusing to believe her.

"You're the evil one, keeping me away from him!" I yelled at her.

"No, I'm not El. Please trust me. I'm your mom, and whatever I do, just know I'm only trying to protect you," she responded in tears.

"Liar!" I yelled again.

"These chains you tied me down with will never stop me from finding my fated mate. He will come looking for me," I spat angrily at her.

"And I'll be waiting for him along with his uncle," Mom responded with fury before walking away from me.

I spotted a bow in her hand that had the scent of Bane on the end, and my eyes widened.

"Please don't kill my fated mate," I began to beg.

"Please don't. Kill me instead and let him go."

There was no way I was going to allow her to unalive my other half.

Seeing that she wasn't listening to me, "I am going to stop breathing then, so he won't ever come for you to kill him!" I said.

If I die, then he won't come to find me.

Mom spun around at what I said, and I did the only thing I could do at that moment, since my hand was tied down, to slash my own throat open.

"I'll do anything to keep him safe," I said before holding my breath.

My lips were closed tight, and my cheeks puffed up as I did.

Frighteningly, Mom rushed over to me, dropping the bow and arrow to the ground. I kept turning my face away from hers as she tried to force my mouth open to breathe.

When she did manage to squeeze my mouth open, I was determined not to let any air escape my lungs, even when it hurt.

"Stop trying to kill yourself for someone who will never love you!" Mom started hitting me in the chest to make me breathe.

"I wanted to yell, of course he loved me, for together our hearts are one," but I would have to breathe, and instead I yelled it to her in my mind.

"Come on, El, please breathe for me then. Don't you love me more than him to breathe for me?" Mom wept, pleading.

My vision dulled into darkness, passing away as I refused to breathe to save the love of my life.

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CATHERINE

"No!" I cried out as her head suddenly slumped down.

I rested my forehead on her abdomen and clutched at her dress, scrunching the fabric into my fist. I was so angry that she had sacrificed herself for some demon wolf who didn't care about her.

I knew that there was a chance that she might not survive the pull. I just never thought of her going out this way.

My eyes flashed open, and instantly I stopped crying upon hearing a heartbeat.

With my shaking hands, I quickly removed the mask from her face. Her eyelids fluttered, and I was relieved that she had just passed out.

I placed the mask back onto her, hoping that she wouldn't get up until I'd killed her mate and went behind the rock I tied her to, preparing to strike her fated mate down permanently and, hopefully, his uncle, when they came searching for her.

It was soon midnight, and still there was no sign of her fated mate arriving. My arms now ached from holding up the bow and pulling back the arrow for too long. I rested my sore arms for a while.

Hearing a loud, sharp crack, like someone stepping on a twig, I quickly pointed the bow back, only to see that it was a branch from one of the dead trees that had fallen off.

"Why isn't he coming to find her?" I was confused as I took a quick look at my daughter, still unconscious.

My eyes flashed back to her, catching the sight of a strange bright light gleaming around her neck.

Immediately, I went to her, witnessing that the bright light was coming from a moon pendant on a necklace. It shone as brightly as the moon.

Knowing instantly that it was magical and had come from the red-headed witch who had pretended to be a beggar, I reached out angrily to pull it from her neck. Suddenly, a voice so loud appeared in my head, causing me to drop to my knees.

"This is what is protecting your daughter from her fated mate finding her. Don't rip it off, or he will find her, and she will be in greater danger," said the witch.