Minerva

She was dressed in an elegant bow of brinish shade, transparent of sorts enabling others to see her undercover. Her cleavage was teased in the V-neck while her blond meche fell in the meantime as the tears of happiness flowed on her rosy cheek. A ray of sunshine made her skin glow.

"Welcome back, Minerva. " A warm smile spread her lips as she got further down on her knees, bowing as low as she could.  "Pleased to be of service. "

Stephen was flabergasted. Her steps were feather-like, silent as the night sky. The door was still locked and the window hadn't been opened—a genius between geniuses. There was a dangerous aroma in the air of hurt and pain. Stephen trailed the scent to encounter blood. It was sprinkled in discontinued stains on her hands and on the floor. Stephen favored sweet-scented blood, girls.

"Do you need me to free you, master, since an incompetent fellow couldn't protect you? " She asks, shouting daggers at Stephen who instinctively took a step backward. Akyl only frowned at Minerva's aggressive behavior. She had always been violent, a scary woman that had killed numerous of her partners over trivial matters, relinquishing in their deaths and grieving afterward before getting over it. But, that had always empowered Akyl's desire to use her.

"Akyl went ahead without me. I didn't get us captured here on purpose. " he pleaded his case but that fueled her hatred even more. "That just proves my point, By lord!  " She cursed. Akyl tossed to get their attention back and hid the hatred that flared in his eyes.

"We have more important to do. Miner, I want a squad of red eyes werewolves storming this pack. You have 24 hours. "

She stood up and Stephen admired how her dress curved at the hips, proudly showing of her hips dips. " Consider it done, master. " And, as she came, she eclipsed herself into thin air.

"Is she coming back? " Stephen asked consciously.

"For the time being. "

"Will I have to work with her again?"

"Most of the time, probably. "

"Shit..."

"What'll be doin' then?" Nathan asks, making their head turn. Raïna exchanged a glance with Edward who was as shocked as she was.

"Basically,  you will be assigned to the training area and tomorrow, you will meet your respective squad and get acquainted. Then, we'll get the reorganizing of this branch started."

He looked to the floor, before flickering his eyes to Edward as if he was deciding whether to agree or not as if he had a choice. " Fine, I guess. "

"Don't say that, Nath. We've finally been promoted, you have to be excited at this new adventure,  a new chapter in our lives. "She said to her brother. "We'll definitely do our best. " She said to Edward. Then she turned to Raïna. " Won't we all as new captains? Huh?"

Raïna felt the social pressure to agree with his sister and understood why he didn't talk that much or why he was so brief. She empathized with him. " Of course. "

She saw people cringe around the table and saw pity smiles on some faces. Yunji chuckled and directed his attention to Edward. " Great, then why don't the three of you start by training the lower werewolves? You can go there right now. "

Raïna stared in disbelief at Edward who was smiling, content with himself. She then pleaded with her eyes to Yunji, her former captain to help her but he just shrugged and chuckled. Vanquished, she stood up, wrapped her things up, and walked to the door, without waiting for the duo.

These days had been hell for her, between the materials she had to learn and her rejection, she didn't have enough patience to endure that talkative sister. She dreaded the day she had to come back, knowing that she could encounter that man at any moment. She knew mating and mates and all these things we not as simple as in fairytales but how unlucky did she have to be to get one that didn't want her?

This brought her back to her early years, that feeling of rejection sinking in her bone.

Everything came back, the chains around her neck blocking her breathing and curving their form onto her skin. The red marks never disappeared, they were still there in her mind. The shabby clothes would be ripped to shred every day. The dining table full of laughing faces, judging eyes and cold stone gaze, where each day, the process would repeat itself.  Worser was the rugged cell, flung with bacteria, dirt, filth, and grim. The single tear that stumbled on her cheek abruptly suprised her as it drench that straight line it followed. Quickly, she brushed it away.

Those were childhood memories she had overcome, or so she thought. They hadn't come rushing back in almost a year. Her mind had been so peaceful, that she almost forgot them. But she will never. She hated him, for making them come back. Whenever her thoughts wandered off to him, nothing positive would come out of it. She already hated the way he incited the worst feelings in her in the strongest way.

She heard steps coming her way and sure enough, they were there.

"I'm so excited to be able to work with you, Raïna. Let's do our best! " And she clapped, before hurriedly entering the locker room and then coming back out. "Oops! The wrong one, we are captains now aren't we?! "

Raïna took a deep breath, but that wouldn't stop her hands from trembling. She caught Nathan fixing her hands and hid them.

"You alr-"

"We better hurry up, don't you think? ", she interrupted, coldly making sure he keeps his undesired remarkes or fake worry to himself.

He took a minute to judge and saw her hands still shaking. " Yeah, we prolly should. "

They just wouldn't stop twitching, even after the memory faded, they just couldn't. They weren't just trembling now, but also turning around, curving, flexing, shaking. At this point, the thought black magic and ghost existed flicked through her mind while horror could be interpreted on her features. They started burning and she rushed to the bathroom and ran hot water on them, which didn't help, had absolutely no effect ,so she tried cold, but that amplified the burning, making she bit her hand with frenzy, in a desperate way to make the pain stop. And it worked.

She took a minute to sit down on the cold concrete floor and watch her hand obey her again. They moved how she wanted them to and stopped when she wanted them to. And it clicked. This sensation wasn't hers, but his.

"Seriously... ?"

She sighed and walked out, her hands clenched, biting her lips until blood was drown.