Pain

Chapter One

“Help me… Teddy help me… they're going to kill me…”

I sprang out of bed immediately as I heard that desperate cry in my head. It was a voice I'd recognise anywhere.

The pain in my chest was more than enough confirmation. Mariel, my twin brother!

My heart was clenching with each second I delayed. 

Oh goddess! He's in danger. I needed to get to him quickly but the pain in my heart was only increasing and slowing me down. 

“Teddy…” his cry was more desperate this time. I could hear him over our bond, crying, panting. He was afraid.

I was getting ready to move when I was attacked by a vision. As a wolf with special abilities, it didn't surprise me but as a sister whose brother was in danger, I feared the worst. 

And those fears were confirmed. 

In the red blurry vision, I saw him in a battered and tattered state, running through forest, completely soaked in blood. 

“Mariel!” I yelled as he thumbed on an overhead root and fell. “Please wait for me, I'm coming.”

I grabbed my cloak without thinking. It was dangerous for me to go out there on my own, especially since I didn't know for sure what he was running from but I didn't care. 

I couldn't fully shift into my wolf just yet which meant I had to run. 

He was bleeding from too many deep wounds for his wolf to heal up, and his life force was weak, faint. If I didn't get there on time, he would die. 

I ran out of the house as fast as my legs could carry me. Outside was thick with darkness with only the moon as the only source of light but that was enough for me. 

I went through the pack barrier, straight towards the forest. My heart was pounding rapidly, my ribs felt like they would burst open at any time but I didn't dare stop. 

I began my search immediately, going deeper and deeper into the forest. Our pack was a very long way from the forest. With how much he was bleeding, I doubted he would have made it back on his own. 

Knowing Mariel, he would never want to bring danger into the pack, even if he was dying. So he must have gone the other way. 

“Mariel!” I yelled, but there was no response. In fact, the forest was silent. Too silent. I could smell him. He was here. Somewhere.

Then I spotted a trail of blood and quickly followed it. It was him. It had to be. He wasn't far off. I could still help him. 

However, nothing prepared me for the sight that lay ahead of me. My knees went weak, suddenly refusing to move as I saw my twin, lying on bare land, half burnt in his own pool of blood. All his limbs were dislocated and broken. He barely looked human.

“Mariel!!” I screamed as the pain made my heart constrict so hard that it felt like it was being crushed. 

Tears blinded my vision as I ran to his body. His fingers were moving but barely. His life force was now a flicker.

He was in severe pain, I could feel it seeping through my bones. I didn't trust my unstable healing abilities to save him yet, but if I could just take away enough pain to keep him alive until I got us home, he had a chance. The healers will handle it all. 

I rolled my sleeve, ready to heal him as much as I could, when his weak voice rang in my ears.

“P… Phantom… Phantom… they…” he gritted in pain, tears rolling down his cheeks. 

But my body immediately stilled at the mention of that name. As if to confirm everything, there was a burnt medallion beside him, with the Phantom Wolves insignia. 

The Phantom Wolves did this?

“I don't understand… weren't you supposed to be their bodyguard? Did they hurt you? Are they responsible for this?” I demanded, angry tears rolling down my cheeks. 

He had been so excited when he was offered the job. He put in so much effort to train and get into the academy. Working as their bodyguard would fund his education. His dream.

Everyone kicked against it. A hybrid, worse off, a half-witch, should never associate with a full-fledged wolf. Their hatred for the witch abominations, as they called it, was too deep-rooted.

That was why we stayed hidden. Out of sight, out of fucking danger! But Mariel… Mariel was so sure he could be the first hybrid to graduate from the academy and join the Elite circles. He was so passionate about fighting for our rights when he got to power.

Now look at him…

They completely crushed him. Broke every limb in his body and left him bleeding out in flames. He didn't deserve this…

My eyes burned red as my fists clenched. 

“Teddy…” he called weakly. “Don't… frown. Big… brother… is … sorry…”

The tears poured down my cheeks. 

“Don't say that! I will get you home and we will save you!” I screamed, placing my hand on his chest. 

I had to help him! I refuse to let him die! 

But a sudden ball of pain slammed into my chest like a boulder and sent me flying several metres away from him. 

The world tilted, then stilled. My breath caught as something inside me tore apart in the midst of the pain. 

Cold. Empty. Gone.

Then I felt it. Heard it loud in my ears. 

The snap of the bond that connected us.

He was… Mariel was…

Dead.

And in that moment, something inside of me died with him.