Chapter Sixteen

THE WOLF INSIDE ME

“Who did you do it with?” I asked while my stomach twisted.

Before Seraphina could respond to me, a loud horn sounded from outside and she looked towards the window.

“They’ve reached the second gate”, she whispered and her eyes were still fixed outside.

My stomach dropped instantly “how do you know?”

She stared at me without saying a word, then she smiled faintly.

My entire body became cold “so you betrayed Magnus”.

She shook her head slowly, “no, I betrayed you instead”. I paused to reflect on what she said, before I could understand what she meant, she grabbed my wrist tightly and I screamed.

“Leave me alone!”

Her fingers tightened around the silver mark on my wrist and the silver mark began glowing, then a bright silver light exploded from my skin.

Seraphina’s eyes widened in disbelief and she mumbled “there it is”.

I tried to pull my wrist out of her grip, before I asked “what are you trying to do?”

“I’m trying to awaken it”, she pressed her other hand against her wrist and the pain became very severe.

All of a sudden, memories of a woman flashed through my mind. A woman was running through the dark forest with blood dripping from her body and there was a burning palace far away. 

I heard a baby’s cry before a man’s voice suddenly said, “kill the child before her wolf awakens”.

My breath hitched instantly and I saw a woman holding a crying baby tightly against her chest.

“Please don’t take my daughter”, the woman screamed and a tall man dressed in black cloak walked forward to mutter “she must die”.

The crying woman shook her head, “no, she’s the true heir”.

My body trembled and I whispered “no… what did I just see?” weakly. Seraphina released my wrist and I fell to my knees immediately. My breathing became unsteady and fear gripped Seraphina while she stared at me.

“You just saw your past” she lowered her head to mutter.

My gaze shifted to her immediately “how did you know?”

Seraphina cleared her throat beginning when she started speaking “your mother isn’t who you think she is”.

My heart pounded violently the more and I managed to ask “how?”

She continued, “she was murdered by the king”.

A painful silence settled between us and tears slowly ran down my cheeks, but I wiped it before anyone could notice.

“Was it king Aldric that killed her?” I asked in a weak and barely audible voice.

She nodded slowly “he gave the order that everyone connected to your mother’s bloodline should be killed”.

“No, it’s a lie!” 

I whispered, while I pressed my palm hard on my chest and my knees almost gave out beneath me.

She chuckled bitterly, “why would I do that now?”

My gaze lingered on her for a few seconds before I whispered “because you hate me, and you’ve spent your entire life hating on me”.

“Yes, I’ve hated you my entire life”, she walked closer to me and pressed her teeth together to talk lividly.

Hot tears burned around my eyelashes and I blinked rapidly to stop it from running down my cheeks.

“Why are you telling me this now?” I sobbed.

She responded immediately, “because I’m scared of you”. 

I froze immediately and she lowered her eyes to my wrist. Suddenly, a Blackthorne fortress warrior hurried inside the courtyard “my lady!” 

Immediately his eyes landed on Seraphina, he paused what he was about to say and drew out his sword “stay away from my lady”.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt her”, Seraphina smirked.

The warrior didn’t believe her, so he yelled again “I said stay far away from her!”

“Alpha Magnus instructed me to take you inside and keep you safe” the warrior turned towards me and whispered.

I nodded softly then I asked, “where is he?”

The warrior’s expression faltered instantly, before he answered slowly “he’s at the eastern wall”.

I noticed the change in his expression and my heart started pounding very fast “hope he’s safe?”

The warrior paused for a few seconds to stare at me and his silence terrified me. “What’s wrong with him?” I asked curiously while my heart was pounding heavily, then Seraphina smirked.

“He’s fighting the royal army”, the warrior responded almost immediately.

My heart dropped and I felt a sharp pain pierce through my chest then I interrupted him, “how many are they?” I interrupted.

He exhaled deeply before he added, “more than five hundred and he’s alone at the front”.

My chest tightened and without thinking, I immediately ran towards the doorway.

“My lady, you can’t go there. He’s the one that instructed us to keep you safe” the warrior ran towards me and grabbed my wrist.

I struggled to pull my hand out of his grip and I yelled “leave me alone, he’s out there alone. What if he dies or he’s injured severely?”

The moment those words escaped from my mouth, I felt a strange wave of heat rush through my body and my heart slammed against my ribs. 

“My lady!” 

The warrior released my wrist and his eyes widened, then it slowly landed on the ground. I looked down immediately, and silver light spread across my fingers, then it slowly spread to my palm and wrist.

My entire body began trembling, and Seraphina gasped “no” while she stumbled backwards. 

“What is it?” I glared at her.

She shook her head gently “nothing, this isn’t meant to happen now”.

“My lady, your eyes…” The warrior stared at me in fear, not able to talk without stuttering.

I quickly touched my body and I didn’t feel anything. “What's wrong with my eyes?” I asked.

He couldn’t respond to me, but he paused to stare at me in shock, then Seraphina suddenly responded “they’re silver”.

I froze and I heard a deep growl echoing in my mind, and it was my wolf. My knees nearly gave out beneath me, before I suddenly heard a voice that sounded more stronger than mine echoing words in my ear “wake up, you’re old and angry”.

I became very confused and I whispered “who are you?”

The voice said “I am you”.

My vision blurred instantly and I began hearing everything happening outside; the warriors fighting, the horses screaming, the swords clashing, even the heartbeat of the warrior that stood beside me, and footsteps of the enemies beyond the walls. 

Everything became so loud and clear to me, even to the extent that I could smell blood, smoke, and fear. 

I heard something strange and I snapped towards the eastern wall “he’s hurt”.

The warrior stared at me for a few seconds like I’m hallucinating, then he asked “how do you know?”

“Because I can feel him”, I snapped.

“That’s impossible”, Seraphina hissed while her face became pale.

All of a sudden, a loud roar from Magnus shook the fortress and my fist clenched.

“He is in danger”, I snapped and I ran out through the corridor, this time the warrior couldn’t stop me”.

The fortress doors opened and a wave of cold wind brushed my face, and I saw warriors fighting everywhere. Arrows flew everywhere, men screamed and blood covered the snow outside.

My eyes suddenly landed on Magnus, he stood in the middle of the battlefield with his sword broken and blood covering his armor. There were three royal armies that surrounded him, one attacked him from behind, and the moment he turned around to attack, another soldier pierced his side with a sword.

“Magnus!”

I screamed loudly and my voice echoed across the battlefield. He managed to turn towards my direction, and our eyes met sharply.

For the first time I saw fear flickered across his face, before he screamed “Lyra!”

Suddenly, a soldier attacked him and I quickly felt a silver light explode from my body. The light covered my entire body and it became brighter, then the ground beneath me suddenly cracked.

Immediately, all the wolves in the battlefield fell to their knees, and the soldiers froze, even Magnus paused, then a strong growl escaped from my mouth even though it wasn’t completely that of a human.

My vision turned completely silver, and the voice that whispered words in my head came again, “protect your mate”.

I stared at Magnus, then at the royal soldiers that surrounded him and I quickly knew what to do.

I took a few steps into the battlefield and everywhere trembled. All of a sudden, a silver light exploded from my body again and all the soldiers dropped to their knees.

Magnus stared at me in shock with his lips slightly opened and I heard a voice whisper something that made the entire battlefield tremble seriously.

“The silver wolf has awakened”, the voice whispered.