Chapter 12

Her words shouldn’t have pierced me, but yet they did.

My chest tightened with a heat I couldn’t name:

Lucien and Eva?

Those were two names that was never bound together, two fate that was never connected and yet she says that those two have something I didn’t know about.

Nonsense !!

I was furious, refusing to believe her shallow voice, that was who she was, a manipulative gaslighting hag, a wolf filled with deception.

“You expect me to believe this?” I growled, my claws still half unsheathed at her throat.

“I expect nothing”Astra wheezed, eyes wild but lips curled into a smirk.

“What a blinf Alpha you are, I’ll be generous to let you see the truth through my eyes” She said, this… this parables again.

“Talk damn wolf” I yelled, the pack outside must be hearing, eavesdropping on the walls but I couldn’t care less.

“Temper Kael, I was also shocked that she magically re appeared, but when your not gathered by emotions you start to put pieces together”

“My instincts, they tell me that Eva wasn’t just resurrected, she was exchanged”

She said, I should believe her petty lies based on her instincts ?.

“Eva was traded for the life of your brother Lucien”

My whole world paused, this discovery, true or false took something out of me.

“Think about it Kael, Eva died on the same day Lucien was found missing, well that was years ago, but the days match…”

I listened to her, trying to understand what exactly this was.

“Eva came back strong seven years after her death, wasn’t Lucien seven when he was declared missing ?”

As stupid as it sounded, the pieces where aligning but I chose not to believe it, because if I did I would run mad.

“Eva and Lucien, do you think the goddess would just let her be reborn without a price?… a costful painful price, Lucien must have been taken to the underworld just for Eva resurrection”

Impossible !!

I declared, this was nonsense, this was a false tale.

How could the goddess be so cruel to have exchanged my only family with the life of someone I love, I wanted Eva to come back, but I forgot everything came with a price, and this time around, I was the one paying for it.

The grief, the guilt, I had failed both and now I was struck with the pain of knowing.

“You will regret playing this game with me” I said to Astra, because if this was truly her shanty nonsense, she would feel an ache I felt.

Her laughter cracked like bristled glass.

“I already regret nothing !!” She said, claiming her stance with pride.

“You were too blind Kael, too caught up with your Luna to face reality, your brothers soul was bound to her resurrection, and that boy she carries?… Thats a living proof!”

She said, hitting the arrow right in my chest.

“I am only trying to save you and change the prophecy, but of course I’m the bad guy, and little miss I don’t care about death has your heart now… tell me Kael, what does she have that I don’t, why did you choose me when you still love her!!” Astra was furious, her wolf almost came out, it was hidden all this while, maybe because she was controlling it, but it was slipping away, and I wouldn’t dare to underestimate it when it does. When it’s mad, it’s really mad.

“A soul for a soul” she said, I was about the thrash her into the wall, but I paused, my fist clenched about to her face.

“If you’re lying..” I said, because even the goddess couldn’t predict what I would do to her if she was.

“Then kill me “she said raising her neck just enough for me to attack, leaving it bare for my hands to hold and unalive.

“But if I’m not, then I will be so sorry for you..”

“But when Eva’s father comes back to stack his claim of what it’s his.. you’ll see it with your own eyes”

The chambers door rattled, whispers of shock filled outside.

It grew quiet, Astra’s words curled under my skin. Burrowed deep, scratching at old wounds I had buried.

Lucien

The name only made my wolf stagger, my senses dissolved, could it be ?, is it true?, Could Eva’s return be bound with the one person I’ll swore I’ll protect?”

Astra laughed at the sight of my confusion.

“You’re shaking, the Alpha is shaking” she mocked,

Astra snared at me, still clunging her throat.

“Does the truth run deeper than my claws could ?”

I should have silenced her, I should have torn her tongue from her mouth, but before act the chambers torches flickered, not once but twice before it completely died.

And then I heard it, a voice, broken but aching familiar.

“Kael”

My wolf slammed against me, my breath weary, no it wasn’t possible, he was gone, gone to the underworld, traded.

He was lost!

“Brother…” The voice was like a stern hiss from the dead.

“Why did you leave me here” It came again, banging my ears, I couldn’t breathe properly, suffocated from this presence.

I looked up to meet Astra face, and she looked normal, my surroundings looked normal, like they didn’t hear what I was hearing.

The sound was for me alone.

Astra’s lips curled into a wicked smile.

“Do you hear him now?”she whispered, eyes alright with cruel delight.

“That is the sound of your brother soul crying for help, all because of Eva” her face was so scary, filled with hate and wickedness, I know she enjoyed this torture I was getting, and for once in my life, I wished she wasn’t right, but she was because what I was hearing wasn’t just imagination, it was him, Lucien.

The wind came opening the windows, my pack outside was terrified from the noises they heard from me.

“Grieve dear Alpha” Astra said,making my guilt trip into shame.