Raven growled. “What the hell is your problem?”
Lucien lowered his hand and just stared at me. His lips twitched into something bittersweet. “Do you truly love him?” he asked. “Candido, right?”“Of course, I do,” I said. His lips twitched, and he chuckled. “You sound like her too… very well.”He shook his head. “There is no helping it. You will not even reconsider what that will mean? Your destiny--”I glared at him. “I’m a werewolf. My destiny is to be with Candido as his luna.”He chuckled at that. “I suppose you are right… She said so, but I had hoped…”He sighed and shook his head. “I suppose hope is what got us all here in the first place, but there is no place for hope any longer.”He sighed again. He looked so much older now. “Where… did I go wrong, I wonder?”Raven’s eyes widened. “G-Grandpa—”He cupped Raven’s face. “You cannot force someone to want that which they do not wish for themselves… Her choice does not change the fact tI couldn’t believe what I’d seen. I knew that Ian and the rest of the vampires were against us, but to see the vampire king still alive…To know that the man who had killed Candido’s family was still alive hurt. It wasn’t fair. I tried to get back inside, but there was no doorway. The stone didn’t yield to me. Cillian said nothing. He didn’t even seem to be paying attention to me.Then, Ian and Raven came out.“You—”Raven rushed past me into Cillian’s arms, sobbing and shaking him.“Why didn’t you say anything?” She cried. “Why didn’t you tell me? All this time! All this time, I—”Cillian wrapped his arms around her, hushing her gently. I turned back to Ian whose entire expression seemed to be without feeling. There was blood smudge on his temple and at the corner of his mouth. Dust and dirt clung to him and stained his clothes, but his hair seemed perfect like white gold.Then, there was the sound of footsteps rushing towards us. Through
The woman walked away from me after telling Candido whatever she had to. I tried to hear what she was saying. I wanted to step in and pull them apart, but there was a barrier around them. I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t even read Candido’s lips or see his expression as they talked. Jealousy burned in me. I had just gotten rid of Estella, and that had been hard. I was still trying to get rid of the rest of his family and everyone else who would be against us being together. I had never expected to have to try and get rid of a vampire too. I hurried towards the bubble, but before I could slam my hand against it and try to break it, the light faded. My hand fell through the air. Candido turned away. I dashed in front of him, cutting him off. He cocked an eyebrow at me. I stared at him, waiting for him to say something, but he said absolutely nothing. For a few moments more, I waited, but still, he didn’t say anything. I couldn’t handle it. I couldn’t stand it. The anger boiled in
The other members of Moon Shadow were around, and I still wasn’t sure how I was going to get rid of them, let alone kill the vampire king. Then, there was the issue of the Heart of the Moon and the fact that Ian was planning to separate me from Candido because we were the last artifact. The few trucks were either loaded up with people or with supplies. I heard them passing orders back and forth and watched the few people of Wolf Fang working with them. Whenever someone stopped to talk to me, I ignored them as I continued watching Candido’s movements. How was I going to tell him what Ian had planned and make sure that he was grateful, that he sided with me when I confronted Ian about it?There were several women who seemed to be getting close to him. One of them had been the woman who called me a disgrace. She stood too close for my liking. Candido looked at whatever she was showing him before taking the mirror and heading away from the camp. I narrowed my eyes and stood to go afte
Candido turned back to me. For the first time, there was something familiar on his face. He almost smiled. His eyes were as clear as before and I thought that maybe it meant that Estella’s enchantments were finally completely wearing off. “Thank you,” he said and turned, heading back towards camp. I set my jaw as he walked away. I couldn’t believe he just walked away after that. I was willingly staying behind. Why hadn’t he at least hugged me, if not kissed me?I didn’t get a chance to ask him why or confront him because as soon as I headed back to camp, the jeeps were leaving. The trucks had already started to head out into the forest. I saw Candido standing in the back of a truck with a few other people disappearing into the woods. I watched the truck leave, leaving me behind with most of Wolf Fang and a few other people who had been rescued from the vampires. There were a few fighters among them, but not enough. I didn’t see any of the members of Blue Moon or Moon Shadow except
My heart raced. They had to be talking about me. But what could they want with me now? The artifact…I was the other artifact. He probably wanted to keep me away from Candido to stop Ian or something even worse. I didn’t even know who this guy was, but I guessed he had to be another prince. If he was anything like Marius, I didn’t want anything to do with him. I turned and rushed into the craggy rocks. I heard people panicking ahead. “I don’t understand why they did nothing,” someone said. “Wasn’t that weird?”“It has to be some type of vampire trick. L-Like hypnosis or something.”“What do we do now?” A woman cried. “We don’t have a way to contact the king! We don’t have any weapons!”I turned the corner and found the small group of them huddled together. All of them were covered in blood. They looked at me and glared at me.“You’re supposed to be the next luna, right? Then, do something! Don’t you have a way to contact the king?”I reached into my pocket to pull out the crystal mi
Shiloh nodded and vanished as Messiah gathered something on the ground.“You said—”“Vampires have no business meddling with the fall of this world,” Messiah said. “You think you understand what is going on, but you’re blinded by your own desires.”“Enough,” Ian said. “Messiah, go.”Messiah huffed, sneered at me, then vanished into a portal. Ian didn’t face me for a moment, but then he slowly turned around. For the first time, it felt like he was really looking at me, not just looking near me. The anger in his eyes seemed to grow molten hot before cooling and the look of indifference came onto his face. “What details Candido chose to share with you about the deal that was struck between us is not our concern.” Ian’s eyes twitched and he skimmed his gaze over me. “The original deal between Solare and Lunae or even just this recent truce is none of your concern—”“I’m going to be—”“Because you do not truly care,” Ian said. “Consider this… an act of kindness. Listen to Candido for once
“Hurry up,” someone said ahead of me. I didn’t know how long we had been walking, but it felt so long. My legs were trembling underneath me, but I had to keep going. “How much farther?” I asked, panting. I leaned against the tree and looked ahead of me. The moonlight streaming through the trees looked like it was growing duller. They were several hundred feet ahead of me. They didn’t even look back at me. I saw Harper at the front with the radio. Then, I heard the rumbling of a jeep coming closer. Then, I saw it and “Rendezvous is a go,” Harper said. “We’re headed to you now.”“Roger,” someone said. I lunged and stumbled forward, grateful to see the jeep. Finally, I could rest. There were others in the back of the jeep. Most of them were unrecognizable, but none of them sneered at me. I guess these were people that were actually loyal to Candido and the werewolf cause.“All units, come in,” Candido’s voice came through the radio. I scrambled to get closer as Harper climbed into
The fury simmered behind the tears in her eyes before she turned back to the group. They talked a little longer When they broke apart, none of them came my way. Most of them went with Wren, but the man with bandages headed toward a different truck. I eyed him suspiciously. What was he doing separate from the rest of them? Were the rest of them going to Candido and leaving him behind? Where were they going?I looked across the way as Harper and Wren and the others looked at me, glaring. Their eyes were filled with red light. They drove away, never taking their eyes off me. One of the women was crying. I looked over at the bandaged man as he hauled himself onto the back of the truck, still leaning to one side. Then, the truck I was in started to drive away. I turned back to see where were going and knew we were headed toward the mountain from my vision. My heart started to race. It seemed like we were heading to the end of the war now.“Black Team,” someone said. “En route to Gold Tea