Darren didn’t get much sleep.His eyes were closed. His consciousness was clear. But his mind didn’t belong to himself, and he couldn’t control his motions.In the middle of the scorching fire at night, he stumbled and cried. He called for his father, his mother, and his little sister, but none of them responded to him.And his eye, the wounded one, was in gut-wrenching pain.He got blood on both his hands and his sight was blurry.“Mom! Dad! Emily!” he cried, staggering towards the packhouse, “what’s happening here?”An arrow shot directly at him from the front, someone took it for him and fell. Darren couldn’t see who it was, but he knew it was one of his packmates, one of his father’s warriors he liked to hang out with.“Barry? Is that you?” he asked, “Derick? Orson?!”No one answered him. Whoever it was, it had already died.Desperate cries and angry curses filled his ears. He saw a shadow running towards him, shouting, “What are you doing here?! Run and hide!!” It sounded like
Amelia told Darren everything she knew about Adam, from how he showed up in her bakery shop out of the blue to how he suddenly exposed himself last night. She hid herself in between Darren’s arms, hugging him tight, fearing to be left alone.Darren listened patiently all the time. Hearing how Adam kissed her hand in the bakery shop and how he asked her to pick out rings together, the vein on Darren’s forehead twitched, but he managed to stay calm.“It’s alright, baby. Not a big deal. We can fix it together,” he cooed to her gently, stroking her hair.Amelia was still worried. Her voice was tinged with tears, “But how? He is an original and… scary.”Darren slid his index finger to her chin, coaxing her to look at him, “I want you to come up with the solution, baby. You are smart enough and strong enough. I want you to solve the problem on your own.”Amelia was startled, as well as nervous. She couldn’t understand why Darren asked her to do that, “But I can’t,” she replied with a blank
Following Adam deep into the forest was out of plan. Still, Amelia decided to take the risk. She wanted to get more information about her mate, and the forest is a much better place for wolves to take action. She followed Adam dived into the thick bosk, then found an indistinct little path underneath those huge tall trees. Wild weeds had covered most of it. Before they went deeper, Adam stopped a few times, looking around to identify the direction. Amelia noticed something. “It’s the first time you are here,” she stopped, speaking to his back angrily. “Are you fooling me? If you were, I swear, Adam, I would never believe another word from you.”“That hurts,” Adam stopped too. He turned around, smiling, and explained to her, “I am not fooling you, Amy. I guarantee. I have never been in the forest before because I hate bugs and…bees, but I saw that place in that bastard’s memories. I know it’s somewhere nearby, trust me.”Amelia bit her bottom lip, then compromised, “Fine,” she said.
“What a shame, little Amy. You are supposed to be much smarter than this.”Right after he said that, Amelia changed her shocked facial expression to a cunning one.Her eyes became sharp and her lips curled up. She then raised her other hand to the front of Adam’s eyes. “Am I?”She whispered as she slowly opened her fist to show him what was in her palm. The next moment, Adam saw a huge black tarantula moving its mouth right under his nose. He shouted with a contorted face and jumped back. At the same time, a grey shadow dashed out of the bush from Amelia’s back. It tackled the vampire on the ground with its sharp claw on his neck. “Who is the loser now, vamp?” The wolf growled, baring its teeth.Amelia clapped her hands behind them. She almost jumped, feeling so excited about catching the vampire, “You are afraid of spiders! I knew it! You once had your car towed just because you saw a spider run under your driver's seat!”Adam felt so angry. He was able to escape even if Darren wa
After leaving the forest, Amelia followed Darren back to the packhouse of Green Lake.The electric power had already been fixed by one of Darren’s warriors. When they walked into the cluster of warm lights in the middle of the dark night, everything around them looked cozy and homely.The house was still full of dust, empty with nobody in it, but with Darren together, Amelia just felt she was back in her long-lost home.Darren held her hand the whole way, taking her to the fourth floor. There was the pack’s Alpha and Luna’s bedroom first, and then his young sister Emily’s, and then his.“Em was already six years old by then, but she was still afraid of sleeping alone. Every night, I must stay here beside her bed, reading stories to her, keeping her accompanied until she falls asleep, or else, she will cry.”He sat on the tiny bed, looking at the dusty little bunny in his hands.“Sometimes I got tired, so I pretended to fall asleep before her. She would run to my room with her bunny an
The next day when Darren woke up, it was already in the morning. There was a little rain in the middle of the night. The air that came from the open window was fresh. Birds were singing loudly like they had never been so happy before.Darren sat up from the narrow bed of his childhood bedroom, and then went into the bathroom to take a shower. Everything around him was small but familiar. It created small bubbles at the bottom of his heart but also reminded him of misery.After the long, deep sleep at his childhood home, the initial shock of finding his true identity had faded away, and so did the numbness which paralyzed his whole person. He was now able to think and act. Anger and hate were resuscitating in his head.Hunting down all the wolves who were once part of it and letting them pay along with Fay was a done deal. He would find a way to do it without arousing suspicion within the Wolf Committee. He was the heir of the Green Lake. That’s a secret he should never let anyone know
Amelia felt in a dilemma.She knew Adam meant it when he asked her to go to Switzerland with him. But he was a vampire original, and it was obvious that he requested it to enrage Darren.After leaving the dungeon, neither she nor Darren spoke for a long time. When they walked back near the packhouse, beside the emerald lake, Darren suddenly turned and grabbed her shoulders, “I am not going to let you go to Switzerland with him. It’s too dangerous. We find other ways to track down Ian.”“But what about the time limit?” She asked blankly, “What if the Moon Goddess’s relic asks me to kill Ian tomorrow? And … even if we can find him in other ways. Still, it will take a lot to get him from vampires. Many people might die. We can’t let our warriors risk their lives for that. They are our family, right?”Darren pressed his lips. What Amelia said was true, but how could he let her go abroad with a vampire original who was obviously coveting her?“They will do what they have to do. That’s what
Amelia led the way to leave the forest with Adam.Darren told her to take the lead no matter what. It’s important for her to build the confidence to confront Adam. Amelia followed his advice. The first thing she did when she went back to Adam was to make her requirements. “I will only go to Switzerland with you by commercial airliner. And I want my mate and my warriors to be my bodyguards.”Adam tilted his lips, “Your mate can follow us, in a different car and plane, of course. But I won’t allow him to enter my house. Apart from that, no warriors are allowed. Trust me, you won’t want to bring a bunch of wolves to a coven of vampires. It’s provoking war.”Amelia looked back at Darren. She mind-linked him. Darren nodded his head.Amelia agreed, “Fine,” she added. “But it’s only a business trip. We are going as acquaintances, not even as friends. Don’t you ever mention honeymoon or things like that. Nothing is going to happen.”Adam shrugged his shoulders, “Fine with me.” He grinned, sa