He looks over his shoulder, nervous. “I can’t stay too long,” he stutters, rubbing over his arms. His shirt slips over his shoulder, revealing fresh whip marks. “Need to go.”
I carefully step towards him, stopping when he shuffles towards the door, like he’s afraid of me. It’s the first time ever that someone is actually scared of me… it should have been an empowering feeling, but it isn’t. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I say softly.
He shakes his head, as if he doesn’t believe me.
“What’s your name?”
There is a long pause. “Luca,” he finally whispers before dashing out of the door and throwing the door close behind him.
I’m left in silence again. Fortunately, I grew up pretty lonely, and back then, I didn’t even have a wolf. At least now I have Ailia to talk to. I decide to be thankful that they didn’t dull my senses with wolfsbane.
The fact that I’m still no closer to knowing what’s going on worries me. I’m pretty sure I’m here because of my healing gift. They probably attacked Jazz’s and my birthday party to test my abilities. And, of course, I just had to prove them right. Okay, I might not be at fault for that, especially since I didn’t even know I was a healer. But then I went and fell straight into their next trap by chasing after the little girl in the restroom at school. I didn’t even consider that it was weird for a little kid to be roaming the corridors, or that no one else saw her walking through the school. I also didn’t call anyone for backup. That was just stupid.
So, shame on me.
But I can’t change that now. The only thing I sincerely hope, to the bottom of my heart, is that neither Jazz nor Marius got hurt.
My trail of thoughts gets disrupted by the door opening. A young man enters, but he’s not being restrained like Luca, he also doesn’t look shy. I recognize him as the one who was with the old guy during my abduction… the one who grabbed me and brought me here. His touch was rough, and full of anger, and now he’s staring at me with his eyes full of disdain.
“Come with me,” he huffs. “My father wants to see you.”
So, he’s the old jerk’s son? Madness runs in the family, it seems. I get up to follow, well aware I shouldn’t try to put up a fight yet. He shoves a duffle bag over my head to prevent me from seeing anything and roughly yanks me along.
I’m not sure how long we walk for, but we take a set of stairs downward, then walk down what must be a long corridor. A door opens, and he pushes me inside. He yanks the bag off my head, and I blink to re-adjust to the light, my eyes finally falling on the old man.
He doesn’t even bother to look at me, just nods toward a bed in the middle of the room. “Heal her,” he commands.
With that, he turns and leaves the room together with his son, leaving me behind. I look towards the bed, confused. My wolf senses might be weaker than a normal wolf’s, but I’m positive I don’t sense another person in here.
I move closer to the bed, swaying in shock at what I discover. It’s a girl, probably my age, lying there. Her eyes are open, but she isn’t looking anywhere. Tubes are stuck to her body, presumably to feed her. I swallow nervously, carefully touching her arm. It’s cold, so cold. There is nothing, I feel nothing. How did they do that? How are they keeping her body working?
I look into the empty eyes of a girl who left this world a long time ago. A soul that’s not been allowed to rest peacefully.
*CELINE*
“And you’re certain?” I ask Jade again.
We’ve just arrived at Moon Blood, and I am surprised how relieved I am to be back. I feel myself steady, like I’ve regained my inner balance, and I see how my being here has done the same for my pack members. It’s not good to be away from the pack right now, they need their alpha.
We head straight to my father, Grandpa, and Elden—all three are in the middle of a deep discussion with Jade and Desmona. It appears the two witches were able to cast a spell that revealed the location of where the photo was taken.
“In the mountains?” I repeat again, completely spellbound.
Jade nods. “I’m certain, dear. My magic doesn’t lie.”
Desmona gives me a crooked smile. “I’m more doubtful, but the ancient master believes it’s true, and I can’t compete with the confidence of a very old witch,” she smiles.
“Ancient master?” Grandpa asks, surprised. “Mom is older than you?”
“Your mother is around 1000 years old, Justus,” Desmona points out.
Grandpa’s mouth basically drops open, mirroring all of our expressions.
“981 years, please.” Jade tosses Desmona a glare. “Don’t make me sound older than I am.”
Eric gives her a playful smirk. “You look good for your age.”
“Well, what can I say? I’ve had some work done.” She chuckles. My grandfather rolls his eyes, which is hilarious, considering he looks twice her age. She turns to me, “So, honey, you can definitely trust my magic.”