ADOLPHUS’ POV:Instead of finding Frederick, I found her father. He was waiting for me in the middle of a clearing, playing with some cards. I shifted back to my human form.“You’re late,” he said. “I expected you to get here faster.”“Where is Ebony?”“With Frederick.”“Alright! I will go find her.”“I am afraid that you can’t do that,” he waved his hand and something shifted in the air. “You have to stay with me here. I want to fight you.”“What are you planning, both of you?” I growled. “She’s your daughter.”“I know.”“And you want to leave her alone.”“Frederick said that every time, you said the same words. That’s why the plan was for you to hate her but you still didn’t do that. He wanted you to hate her, to reject her while she wasn’t aware that you’re her mate. But it didn’t happen. I know why a part of phase 2 failed. When planning, no one thought of how my daughter is a variable.”“You won’t stop me.”I shifted and started running. He didn’t stop me. I thought he was all ta
EBONY’S POV:I was sweating profusely. I would die. I would certainly die. For the second time. I knew this was coming but I didn’t expect it to be this soon. I was trying to make a plan to fix things but it seemed all the effort I spent on that was a waste.“Adolphus, please be gentle.”Adolphus was confused. “Aren’t you mad that I killed your father?”“I’m sure he wanted that. He didn’t play a big role in my life so it doesn’t matter. But can you untie me?”He didn’t untie me because Frederick was ready to shoot me. But thinking about it, didn’t he kill me before too? No, he said that Adolphus must have poisoned me so I was dying anywhere. But I didn’t cough blood, which meant it could be that I wasn’t poisoned.‘Don’t overthink. These jerks planned a lot that they won’t say. Well, since we have no choice, let’s just wait till they settle their score. Maybe they’ll fight.’“Wait a second, you look like shit. Did my father beat you that hard?”Adolphus shot me a glare.“Woah! My fath
FREDERICK’S POV:I stood outside, thinking about everything that happened to me, all the regressions, the people we lost. I’ve grown numb to all the deaths. As long as Adolphus was alive, there was always a chance to change the outcome.My final role was to kill him. For the regression to happen, he had to die after her.Now, whether we wanted it or not, things would never be the same. I would go back to the kid I was and Adolphus would go back to his old self too. To be honest, I was always jealous of how he had a choice in remembering or not.He got out of the underground cell built specifically for today.“You certainly put so much into this,” he said.“Of course. But this is where our role stops. No matter how much we want to influence things with our current memories, it won’t ever happen. We won’t remember anything.”“It’s true. But this is the price we have to pay if we want it to work. We only need to someone to warn them. They will do the rest. If it doesn’t work again, then
EBONY’S POV:I opened my eyes early in the morning. I drank my milk and sat with my parents having breakfast. They laughed together and nothing reminded me of these moments. I have been waiting for my father’s heart attack for two weeks now and it didn’t happen.I checked my tattoo mark and it was there, just faint and impossible to notice.“Sweetie, do you want more milk? You’ve been sipping on your glass while it’s empty,” my mother said.Mom had long black hair and the palest, bluest eyes I’ve ever seen. They weren’t the normal typical blue. They were lighter and paler, as if they were diluted by white and became as blue as the sky early in the morning when the sun had finally settled in place.“Yes, mom.”And I was five.I couldn’t believe that it worked. My father was sitting there, wearing glasses and reading his early morning newspapers. Our house was small and it was full of magical artifacts. Maybe because I was five, I didn’t remember them. Or maybe because a lot happened af
Rayleigh laughed.“I am being serious here,” I pouted. “Grandpa left me with you because I requested so. I want to talk to you alone. It’s sad that Chronos isn’t around anymore but I think it’s for the better. Now, no one has to take meaningless responsibilities. I guess without them, everything will be peaceful.”“How do you know…?”I cut him off. “C’mon! You’re a smart man. You know there is no way a five years old child will talk like this. I’ve lived through two regressions and I’ve come back again as part of the plan, only this time, this is the final phase. We can’t lose.”“Ah! What happened? Why did Chronos disappear?”“My father was supposed to be the sacrifice. I don’t know why but unlike all the other Chronos sent, I am the only one who got to regress more than a decade. That’s why they left the burden to me. Since my father is still alive, I assume that Chronos took the hardest decision in his life. He chose to die and take the others with him. I don’t know if I should feel
I swallowed my pills and returned to work as I intended to do. There were still a lot of things to do and I was waiting for Frederick’s Beta to come and discuss the rest of the project with me. I must see it through to not make the same mistake.“Aren’t you tired from all that work?” Nialliv asked, eating a basket of grapes. I always wondered how she could eat a lot and not gain weight, and here I was, trying to keep my body in a perfect shape to not humiliate Frederick and stay beautiful. “Isn’t your birthday tomorrow? You should take a day off and enjoy it.”“My birthday isn’t important,” I smiled. “The pack comes first. Frederick always prioritises the well-being of the pack first. I don’t want to fall behind.”“You love him a lot, don’t you?” she chuckled. “You’re too devoted.”“Frederick gave me a life when no one did. It’s only normal for me to repay him.”“You know, I found my mate, Ebony. He already marked me.”I smiled. I was happy for her. If she found her mate, she wouldn’t
“Ebony,” he called my name, shaking me more. I didn’t want to wake up. There was only a nightmare outside. “Wake up. We need to talk.”It should be fine as long as I close my eyes. No one would know that I knew what they did behind my back. I would escape and live with my child, away from all this.I am tired. Exhausted. I don’t even find the energy to be angry.“Frederick, I’m sorry. There is too much work to sleep. It seems I drifted off,” I smiled. “I want to finish all these quickly so I can be free on Nialliv’s birthday. I don’t want to miss it. She is my best friend.”I stood up and went to my desk, skimming through the paperwork, as if looking for a specific document. As long as I didn’t allow him to talk, he’d let it go. I didn’t want to listen to what he had to say.He is here to tell me about Nialliv.“It’s not important now. We need to talk first. There is something important I want to tell you,” he moved behind me, massaging my shoulders like a dutiful man. I trembled desp
He had his ways with me the last few days. He left me bruised and feeling so sick. His touch disgusted me, especially when he was doing it with his cruel expression. A punishment for me. Now, it was Nialliv’s birthday.I tried to leave a few times but I was caught. Frederick didn’t allow me to leave at all. We argued about it a few times and he turned into the complete opposite of the man I fell in love with.I shouldn’t have come to the party. Everyone attended. The Alphas from the same region and their Lunas, the Betas, the Gammas. The party was full of important people and I was the only one standing alone, near the buffet.I picked up cupcakes and forced myself to eat them. Frederick was with her. He was standing with his hands all over her, dancing. I had no choice but to fill my heart with horror and tears. The only thing I was waiting for, the end of the party when we could leave. If I had a wolf, I could have shifted and returned home.Humiliation filled me as everyone gossipe