Mia's P.o.v:
I can't believe what I'm hearing. I was kidnaped?! Does mom know about this? If she does, why hasn't she said anything to me? Is she and dad my real family? Is this the reason why she always acted strange when I asked her about my father?
So many questions that only one person can answer.
"What is your mother's name?" Austin asks me.
"Sybil Leek," I reply.
I watch his face turn angry. Damian moves in front of me just as Austin lets out a growl. Damian's back is to me, covering any sight of Austin. What the heck is happening?
Damian whispers something to Austin. I don't quite catch what he says but I swear he told him to calm down. Austin moves. I catch sight of his arm. What? Are those claws? They disappear so fast I'm not sure if I did see them or not. Austin walks away and he's out the door.
Damian turns to me.
"What's going on?" I ask him.
"I'm sorry. It's not my story to tell," he replies.
"What is not your story to tell?" I say. "Damian, I'm confused."
"I know. Austin will explain, I promise," he says.
"Fine. Whatever."
Austin comes back inside after a long time. He sits down on the couch across from me. Damian had led me to the living room; we sat in silence. Even now, I wait for one of them to speak up. I look between the two of them. No one says a word.
"Okay, is anyone going to tell me what's going on? Y'all got weird after I said who my mother was," I say. "I understand that that may not be Austin's mother. So what's happening?"
Damian looks at Austin. He nods at him. Austin looks at me.
"Yes, Sybil Leek is not my mother nor your biological one. She is your godmother. Our mother was infertile. She couldn't have children. Mom and dad met someone who said they could help them have children. I've come to find out that it was Sybil Leek. She's well-known for practicing dark magic; she's a witch. It's likely she did a spell to take their firstborn daughter. She may have taken you for her own personal gain. I don't know for sure," Austin tells me. "We are also werewolves."
"I don't understand," I say. "I'm not a werewolf. I don't have supernatural abilities."
"None that you've triggered yet. Our parents are werewolves. It would make you one too. I am," Austin says. "I know it will take time to get used to."
"I... I don't know," I show doubt.
"Personally, I wouldn't want you to go home tonight to her. I don't think it's safe," Austin says.
"She's my mother, Austin. I am doubtful but I'm also scared," I reveal. "Nothing in my life seems real anymore."
"I agree with Austin. I think you should stay here tonight," Damian chimed in. "We can take you home tomorrow morning or whenever you're ready to ask her questions."
"Okay," I agree.
Is this a good idea?
Damian shows me to a bedroom where I could sleep for the night. As I laid in bed did I realize it smelt like him. Fresh. It's a pleasant scent. I must be in his bedroom. I don't give it further thought as I fall asleep.
A knock on the door wakes me up. I hear the door open.
"Good morning, Sleeping Beauty," Nella smiles at me.
I smile back, sleepily. "Good morning."
She walks in further. I notice she carries breakfast on a bed table. Yum. She places it down in front of me once I sit up.
"Are you sure you're happily taken because I would totally want to date you," I tell her as I take a bite from the pancakes.
Nella laughs. "I would totally date you if I wasn't happily taken, as you've said."
Her smile fades. "The boys will take you home whenever you're ready."
"Thanks," I replied. "I'd like to take a quick shower first."
"Sure. I'll bring you some clean clothes," Nella says. She leaves me to finish my breakfast in solidarity.
I finished breakfast she brought me. I head into the bathroom for a shower. When I re-enter the bedroom, wrapped in a towel, I find some women's clothes neatly folded on the bed. There's a note on top of it.
Nella said you needed some clean clothes. These are new.
- Damian
I smile. This is very generous. I dress in the black jeans and red tee provided. Everything fits perfectly - as if it was bought for me.
I make my way into their living room. I find them there sitting on opposite couches.
"I think I'm ready," I announced.
"Okay," Nella is the first to talk.
"I'll get the car ready," Damian walks out.
I sense a bit of attitude coming from him. I don't give much thought as I turn to my brother.
"Do you really think she's the bad guy in this story?" I ask.
"Who else would it be?" He replies with a question of his own.
~*~*~*~
We're all tense as Damian parks in front of my house. I'm the first to open my door. Damian follows and then Austin. I pull my keys out as I walk up the driveway. The door opens before I can reach it.
"Mia, what the he---," her voice dies off when she sees the boys behind me.
"Austin," she says as if she can't believe it's him.
"Sybil," Austin greets her.
"Alpha Gray," she greets Damian. I still find it weird that everyone calls him that.
"Ms. Leek," Damian says.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of you boys dropping off my daughter home this pleasant morning?" her voice drips with sarcasm. "And you, young lady, never replied to my text messages or phone calls."
"'I'm sorry, mom," I replied.
"Sybil, you know very well that Jessica is not your daughter," Austin taunts her.
Sybil rolls her eyes.
"I see you've found your brother, Mia," she says before turning to Austin. "I may not have given birth to her but she is very much my daughter. I raised her."
"Then you won't mind answering why you took her from her real parents," Damian prompts.
Sybil smiles. "I will talk to my daughter about that. Alone."
She reaches for my arm.
"No," Austin body-shields me. "You've taken so much from my parents. I deserve to know why you took my sister."
"You little pest. I didn't take her. She was brought to me by the man she grew up thinking was her father. We took her in to save her from danger," Sybil explains. "The Royals were wiped out. Only you and your sister survived."
"The Royals?" I ask.
"You didn't tell her about her bloodline?" Sybil asks.
"I haven't gotten to that yet," Austin replies.
"Your parents made a deal with me to take in Mia because they knew they would die. It's part of the reason why you, Austin, are a rouge," Sybil continues. "There are supernatural creatures after you both. As a rogue, your scent changes. They wouldn't be able to find you as easily. As for Mia, I've masked her with a human scent. If she were to trigger her wolf genes that scent would be back. So, if you would please, let me do my job."
I turn to look at Austin and Damian.
"I'm sorry. I know you guys want to see her as the bad guy. I can't. She's my mother," I say.
I focus on Damian. "Tell Nella I'll see her in class on Monday."
I walk into the house. I leave mom to deal with them. I head up to my bedroom and flop onto the bed. My head feels like it's going to explode. I close my eyes.
They fell into darkness.The air tore at their lungs, thick and heavy, smelling of iron and old stone. The echo of their own screams trailed behind them, twisting into voices that were not theirs. Dust and shards tumbled past them in slow motion, suspended by some cruel gravity, and then everything slammed to a stop.Mia hit the ground hard, rolling instinctively to absorb the impact. Pain shot through her legs, but adrenaline carried her forward. Around her, the others were sprawled, coughing, groaning, and already gathering themselves. Damian helped Lysandra upright, checking her for injuries, while Kael’s eyes darted in every direction, blade drawn. Eryx groaned, trying to gather his sigil stones from the rubble. The Seer was already rising, staff in hand, eyes scanning the darkness.The chamber they landed in was unlike any they had seen. Black stone stretched upward, seemingly endless, pulsing faintly with violet light that ran through veins carved deep into the walls. Shadows mo
The chamber convulsed.The floor cracked like brittle glass, jagged lines racing out from the mirror-pool as if the stone itself rejected what had just been unleashed. White light still bled from Mia’s pendant, clashing with the black fire of her reflection’s crown, and the air between them warped—sound bending, vision trembling, and the boundary between what was real and what was reflection shattering by the heartbeat.Damian staggered but didn’t yield, raising his shield again even though it was already fractured. His double pressed harder, relentlessly, its blade shrieking against the metal as sparks rained. Blood ran down Damian’s forearm from a deep cut, soaking his sleeve, but he gritted his teeth and shoved forward, answering steel with steel.“Mia!” he roared, his voice hoarse with strain. “Don’t let her pull you under!”But his warning was nearly lost beneath the chaos.Lysandra’s firestorm whirled wild, torn between her will and her reflection’s. Her double laughed in the fl
The first clash came like the crack of thunder. Damian’s echo surged forward, steel drawn in a mirror’s shimmer, the blade gleaming with an otherworldly luster. It was his stance, his precision—yet warped. The reflection’s strikes carried a crueler, sharper rhythm, as if every flaw Damian had ever corrected in himself had been honed into a merciless advantage.Damian parried, sparks igniting as steel kissed steel. “Stand firm!” he barked, though his own breath came heavy, the weight of recognition burning behind his eyes. He was not simply fighting a foe—he was fighting the embodiment of every shadow of doubt he had buried beneath his vows.Lysandra’s echo erupted in a storm of flame, searing across the chamber. Her reflection’s fire wasn’t golden-red like hers—it burned a sickly, violet hue, twisting as though hungry to consume rather than protect. The real Lysandra raised her hands, meeting it with her own flare. Heat clashed against heat, the air shuddering under the pressure. For
The gash in the floor yawned wider with a groan, exhaling a wind that reeked of iron and ancient stone. The scent carried a bitter tang, like blood left too long on a blade. Below, a staircase spiraled into the abyss, its steps glowing faintly as though veins of light were stitched through the rock itself. It didn’t look carved so much as grown, a structure birthed from something living, now petrified into form.No one moved.Mia stared down into the darkness, her heartbeat quickening until it matched the unnatural rhythm pulsing from below. Each step seemed to hum like the throb of a buried heart. Her throat went dry. The pendant at her chest responded with an answering pulse, as if recognizing the place—long before she consciously did.Lysandra’s firelight wavered in her hands. “We shouldn’t go down there,” she whispered, her usual confidence fraying at the edges. The flames sputtered with her nerves, their reflections jumping across the black stone walls like frantic shadows. “What
The ruins breathed around them.Walls half-swallowed by roots leaned in close, as if the forest itself wanted to reclaim them. Symbols etched into cracked stone glowed faintly as the group passed, their light dimming and flaring in response to Mia’s pendant. Each step felt heavier, like they were not merely walking through stone halls but sinking into memory itself.“Don’t stray,” the Seer warned, her voice echoing unnaturally. “These passages are older than the pact. They were built to confuse intruders, to strip them of self.”The mist had followed them inside, pressing at their ankles, slithering up the walls like smoke that refused to dissipate. Every now and then, Mia thought she heard voices within it—half-familiar tones that tugged at her bones.Damian kept his shield raised, his other hand brushing her arm every few steps, grounding her. Kael prowled ahead like a predator, every muscle taut, blade ready. Lysandra’s fire lit their way, though the flame sputtered often, as if sm
The night stretched on, heavy with the weight of promises unspoken. No one slept, though they tried. The fire had burned down to glowing embers, but every flicker seemed to carry the echo of Mia’s words—Let her come.Damian sat apart from the others, sharpening his blade though it needed no honing. His eyes never left Mia, who leaned against a moss-slick boulder, her pendant dim now but still pulsing with the faint rhythm of a heartbeat not her own.“Every time it glows,” Lysandra whispered, crouched near the ashes, “I feel the queen’s shadow pushing against me. Like smoke seeping into cracks.”Kael grunted, his hand resting near the hilt of his sword. “You think you feel it? She’s inside her. If Mia falls, we all fall.”Mia’s eyes snapped open at that, the firelight catching in her irises. “Then I won’t fall.” Her voice carried a steel that silenced them. “But I need more than will. I need truth. No more fragments, no more riddles. If the queen’s end was rewritten, then someone alive