Storm crunched on a banana cookie, her legs crossed on each other on top of Kaden’s table as she counted down to the minute, to the second, that Kaden will come here. She had been waiting for thirty minutes already. After Avery had left, she had dallied around in the garden for a while, touching flowers here and there, taking in their diverse scents, making a guess at their names, and when she hadn’t heard Kaden call out to her yet, through his voice or through the phone, she had sighed and sauntered out of the garden, a bit bored. So bored that she had even gone to training grounds to see the place that she would try to convince Kaden to let her train in. It had been empty, but the field was massive, so massive with the training equipment scattered here and there, scattered yet looking somehow orderly as if the training people were divided into groups. After standing there for a while, she had tried Jutul’s phone. It had rang, but he hadn’t answered. She hadn’t been sure if it was
“Storm?” Kaden tried again. Desperately even. Storm sighed. “I think I have been watched by someone.” “Here in the clan?” “Is it the red beast?”Lent and Jiraq questioned simultaneously. Their reaction similar to that of the others in the office. Kaden for one was beside himself with anger. What’s with all these? Will it ever end? Will she ever have a moment of rest? “She will, when the real threat is eradicated.” His Lycan enthused, and Kaden knew that it was right. Until whatever it was had been eradicated, no peace for him and his clan, no peace for Storm either. He had sent his investigators to locate Jess. It would take a while, and he wished he could fasten the whole process. He was sure that the woman would have a lot of answers to their questions. “Yes, in this clan. I am not sure if it’s the red beast or a demon.” There was silence in the room. “Demon… what do you mean by that?” Liam asked, ignoring the shaft of fear that has lodged somewhere in his spine. “Well, if
A thick silence dwelled in Kaden’s office when Storm was done talking. It was broken by a knock on the door, and before Kaden could tell the person to stay out, Avery stepped into the room. Avery balked when she saw the inner circle with Storm, when she instinctively felt the seriousness of the atmosphere, stemming from whatever important discussion that they were having. A discussion they had exempted her from. She, who had abandoned her mate back in the pack? She who had left everything, including family, and had followed them to the ends of the earth? “What’s going on here, Lent?” She asked her cousin, feeling her wolf howl in anger, not at her cousin, but herself. Being free now, her wolf had continued from where it had stopped. Berating her from running away from her mate just to be with the mate of another. But she had learned to silence it, or rather cope with the tantrums. She had just forgotten how tiring it could be. She would have wished for the collar back, but then the
Avery dragged her feet to one of the seats surrounding the table and slumped herself into it. Her reaction was of course expected. Storm watched her stupified state and knew that Lent was done telling his cousin about what exactly was happening and what was at stake here. Had made Avery understand that whatever that was happening here was no longer about herself, but the world at large. The entirety of different species were all in trouble. They couldn’t afford to lose sight of this purpose. She watched as Avery lifted her head and stared at her, as if seeing her for the first time. “I take it that you understand now why I have these five men wrapped around my fingers.” Storm chuckled as she said this, laughing when the guys all snorted as if on cue. But the widening of Avery’s eyes at her statement told her that the former had actually thought that she had the five men around her finger, had actually had the notion in her mind, and was thinking now that Storm had read her mind.
Elina sat by Elizabeth’s side, by the edge of the table of healing soil, her fingers intertwined with her friend’s cold, unmoving hand. Elizabeth had been on the healing table for eight hours now, buried in rich, sacred soil that was supposed to aid in the recovery of her memories. The ancient process was a last resort, one that Fero had finally agreed to after much persuasion. Now, Elina watched Elizabeth with a growing dread, her heart heavy with fear and uncertainty.Had she made the right choice?Was knowing the identity of Storm even important?Why had she sent the picture to her friend? She would have let it slide.Elina shook her head. They had needed to know who Storm was. It was the last piece of the puzzle.After Elizabeth had fainted, she had rushed to the healer and had explained that Elizabeth had sunk into her memories.Elina hadn’t known how she had known this fact, but it had been strongly impressed in her spirit. The healer had gotten into action, whilst waiting for
Elizabeth floated in a sea of memories, each one more vivid and enticing than the last. She had gone into this state after seeing the picture that Elina had thrown to her. Kataigida. She had been so rooted in shock that she hadn’t known when she fell into a near death state. But before she had sunken this deep, she had heard, as faint whispering, her lifemate speaking to the healer to release her from the snare. And she had almost shouted to him to keep quiet, but for the numbness.She wanted her memories back. She had been glad when Elina had stood for that.But the healer had warned Elina that the journey would be perilous, that she might get lost in the labyrinth of her own mind. However, Elizabeth had been desperate. She had needed to remember, needed to reclaim the pieces of her past that had been torn away. She had needed to overcome the taint that the vile creature of the undead had left on her. If she had decided the easy way out, she knew that she would never have forgiv
Elina’s hands around Elizabeth refused to budge, until her lifemate, Ferro, had tapped her softly on the shoulder. “Elina, it’s okay, now.” The male said, his eyes catching the teary ones of his lifemate, and his ears understanding the sniffs of Elina. The latter was crying, and will need some time to herself right in the arms of Elizabeth, not wanting to be seen by the others. Elizabeth and Elina. He had known that they had gotten closer over the past couple of days, that they had been talking fixatedly on something. He had told Damonq, and the latter had found it funny that the two women had been conspiring behind their back. That had been before the females had finally opened up to them about the girl that still appeared in Elina’s dreams. He and his friend has been acquainted with the realness of Elina’s dreams, that they hadn’t been able to let it slide, and so they had brought it before the little council in the compound. Yet, he had known that there was more. He just didn’t
Damonq remembered that particular day of course. He had taken her on a surprise mini trip.They had been floating on the clouds, confessing their love for each other when Elina had suddenly slumped into his arms after calling the name, Storm. Damonq quelled the need to take out the picture of the Storm, and fly around the world if necessary to find the girl so that they could be done with this once and for all. “You have a clear picture of her now?” Tensel inquired, unfolding his arms across his chest, and then clasping his two hands as a combined fist, his entire attention on Elina. “Yes.” Elina responded, and after a beat took the silence as a cue to continue the story. “She appeared more often than I would care to admit, like she was asking me to find her. In my dreams, she looked so young, but then seemed so old, as if an old spirit dwelling in a young body. She looked no more than twenty in the dreams, but she seemed to be as old as you all here. I seemed that old too.” There