HUNTER’s POV
Elena does not talk as she stays in my arms and I have to wonder why.
She pulls back from our embrace with a smile still etched on her face and I palm her cheeks, looking into her eyes, searching for an answer. But when I stare into the windows of her soul, I see nothing. I see only coldness in her sea-blue eyes. There is a tinge of fear too.
Something is not right.
“Is something the matter?” I ask her. I am concerned about her, she has had a lot on her mind of late. Especially now that Freya is back.
Her blue eyes do not blink and her smile does not change. She merely shakes her head and pulls my hands away, motioning towards the bow tie that lays innocently on the bed.
I notice that her nails are long. That’s odd, I don’t recall ever seeing Elena having long nails like these before. She usually keeps her nails trimmed and neat.
“Are you going to choke me with th
ELENA’s POVI creep silently to the door. Freya has back facing me and my blade over her head. The situation is desperate. Fear seeps into me as I stare at the dire situation in front of me. Hunter has fallen on the ground and he stares at Freya in confusion. It is still my face he sees.Time is not on my side. With just one stab, Freya can kill Hunter. I curse myself for having fallen for Freya’s trick earlier, if only I can shift right now!“Remember this moment Alpha Hunter.” I hear Freya say and she moves to bring down her blade.It is time to rise to the challenge. I lunge forward, effectively catching Freya by the waist and we both tumble to the side.“Freya, no!” I yell, holding tightly onto her. She screams in anger, turns around and we come face to face.I gasp.Her face is melting, her skin is peeling off and blood drips from the raw skin underneath. I am staring into a nightmare.
ELENA’s POV I once read a famous quote that said, “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.” Hope. It is the one thing I crave, but it is also the one thing that eludes me. You see, my family and I come from a long line of omegas; the lowest of all ranks in the world of werewolves and that makes us the scourge of our kind. To top it off, I am wolfless too. “Hopeless.” That is what our pack says when they see me, I am but a lowly existence in their eyes but that has never stopped me from hoping for a better future. Hope. It is a very powerful thing but it is also the one thing that killed my father, drove my sister into the arms of the enemy and brought me face to face with the Alpha King. My name is Elena, and this is my story. *** “Elena! Freya! Wake up!” mother calls us from the creaky wooden door, lighting up our darkened room with a candle. The orange flame casts a gentle glow on our little room. With great difficulty, I open my eyes -
HUNTER’s POV I shake my head as I looked down at the dying man. “Puh…please…save me,” the man begs as he drowns in a pool of his own blood. “Should have thought about that before you tried to kill me,” I sneer and slap off the man’s bloodied hands from my knee. The man wraps his hands around his own neck, where blood is spurting out like a fountain in an attempt to stop the bleeding. But it is too late for him. I have clawed him across the throat. He will be dead in seconds. Traitor. He crumples onto the ground, twitching in spasms before he finally lays still. There is a mark on his chest where I had bitten him earlier, it is the mark of Hunter. Now all who see it will know that I am back. And all who betrayed my father will pay. I get up from where I crouch and a wave of dizziness hits me. The man may be dead, but he did put up a good fight before biting the dust. There is a slash wound across my abdomen and the pain is immense. Damnit, it hurts like hell. My body is stained
ELENA’s POVFather is carried piggyback style by another neighbour.I gasp at the sight of my old man. His bruised hand hangs limp by his side as he is laid on our straw bed. He moans in pain. Little Dylan starts to whimper and I have to shield him from seeing father. Mother kneels by the side of the bed, softly calling out to father. As she calls him, she wipes the flood of tears that come streaming down her face.“Luke,” she whispers, choking back sobs. I want to cry too.Father’s face is bruised, his eyes swollen shut and there are bloody welts across his back. He had been whipped. Freya steps out of the bathroom and stifles a cry.“Hurry! Get cloth and water!” I manage to croak out before pushing Dylan into the arms of Michael’s wife. She has come to help. Swiftly, she carries a bawling Dylan out of the room.I seethe with anger. Beasts. The Blood Stone wolves are beasts. H
ELENA’s POV It is decided. I am to venture downhill in search of a doctor. Or a pharmacist. Or anyone who can sell us some fucking medicine. Father’s wounds are badly infected and he needs help. Mother has warned me to be careful. We have not told anyone from our village, lest they try to stop us. But how would they know the pain and rage that torments us at this moment? How do they know the agony that father has to bear every second? How would they know? How can they know? They are not the ones who were brutally tortured and had their bones broken, nor are they the ones who were whipped until their skin tore with poisoned claws. They would never understand. I have to go, there is no other way. It is the witching hour now and father’s fever is getting worse. “I love you,” mother whispers as she hugs me tightly in the tiny bedroom that Freya and I share. She does not want to let go and I have to pry her fingers away. I am scared shitless, but I put on my bravest smile and tie up my
HUNTER’s POV I sit in the darkened office of Tim’s Pharmacy and stare into the eyes of the man who killed my father. There is fear in his dull brown eyes. But it is a fear that has come too late. He rubs his palms together, begging for mercy on his knees as Liam, my Beta hangs him by his shoulder blades. I trust Liam with my life, he has stuck by my side ever since we were children. We’re pretty much blood brothers though we look nothing alike. Liam wears his light brown hair sleeked back and tied up in a little ponytail and has the build of a Greek god. Even as he extends a claw at Tim, Liam towers over the trembling man. “Please, I have a wife and a kid,” Tim begs with a quivering voice. I lean forward from the worn-out plastic stool that I sit on and stroke the man’s pudgy cheeks with my own claws. We of the Storm Riders pack have a special ability; we can shift parts of our body at will without going into full werewolf mode
FREYA’s POVIt’s been less than two hours since Elena’s been gone, but to me, it feels like an eternity has passed. I wonder if she will be able to find any medication for father, but more importantly, I have to wonder if the medication will work at all given the condition that he is in right now.I look at Dylan who is sleeping soundly next to me on my bed. He has kicked off his blanket in his sleep and is drooling all over our pink worn-out mattress. I love my little brother, but I hate his drools. They stink. He’ll probably stink even more when he finds his wolf one day.In the next room, it sounds like father has woken from his sleep and is talking to mother, but I cannot be sure. All I can hear are incoherent sounds coming through the paper-thin wall between our rooms.I stand up from the torn and tattered bed and walk towards the only window in my bedroom, wishing for some fresh air. The room is too stu
ELENA’s POVWhen I was young, probably around three to four, father would perch me on his broad shoulders and run around our little wooden house as I flapped my hands in the air. I’d imagine myself a bird, soaring free and high in the sky.I remember how happy I had been then. My lips would curl up so high they would reach the corners of my eyes. Such was the joy of our simple game. I’d always ask for ‘just one more time’ and though father was weary from work, he never failed to indulge in me. Father worked hard for all of us, and now the time has come for me to take the burden from him.“You?” One of the man from Blood Stone pack laughs. He is probably the leader. An eyebrow arches high as he looks me up and down, not sure what to make of my offer. I guess volunteering is not a common thing.“Yes, take me. Leave my sister alone,” I say with resolute, trying to hide the fear in my voice. From