When Corinne was ten, she returned to Valiant with the plan to spend an entire month with her family during the summer, considerably more time than she normally was allowed. She had buried most of the details of that day deep inside her mind, but everything was perfect until, on the tenth day of her visit, Nicole ran too quickly from the living room, tripping over one of the toys they were using and almost crossing the glass wall towards the garden.
However, the one who really destroyed that wall was Corinne, placing herself between the glass and her little sister to be able to push her away, even if that meant being covered in the sharp shards of the completely destroyed wall...And met the judgmental looks of most of the pack, who had been attracted by the noise, when she stood up.That was exactly how Corinne felt at that moment, walking through the huge Calibur meeting room, with all the tigers and wolves looking not only at her, but also at the claim“Declan!” Corinne didn't even think before tearing the strip of fabric she had in her hands, running to where her little brother had just fallen to the ground, looking very weak “Declan! Are you okay?! Declan!”As she held his tiger's body, supporting his hanging neck and weak body, Hunter, Eli and Juliet also came running to her, getting Declan's blood on their knees as they knelt beside them.“Oh, my baby... I’m so glad you’re awake...” Juliet cried, gently running her hands through her son’s fur. “But why did you rush here like that? All your wounds are open again...” as she took a closer look at Declan's condition, her eyes widened with terror. “Oh, my...”“These cuts are all recent.” Eli growled, his eyes blazing with fury. “Who did this to you, Declan? Who dared to touch my son twice?”“Isn’t it obvious?” Joseph snapped, seeming more concerned about glaring at Corinne than helping to help Declan. “That girl certainly sent some of her wolves to finish off her ow
“What?” Eli was the first to react, with a harsh growl that made Diego take a step back, no longer confident.“This… This is ridiculous!” he gritted his teeth. “Declan has just been attacked and is clearly confused! I would never do something like that...”“You… Did…” Declan gasped again “That day… When Corinne left… And today…”“He’s crazy!” Diego shouted “Corinne certainly must have manipulated him in some way! I know what I saw...”“And your brother seems to know it too…” Hunter let out a deep growl, as if his wolf couldn’t wait to come out and slit Diego’s throat “I knew you were a son of a bitch, but not to the point of try to kill your brother and let your sister be condemned for it...”“Who do you think you’re talking to? I am innocent! Corinne was the cause of all this!” he hissed “Dad, can’t you hear that? Declan is clearly delusional! Do something..."“I'm only going to ask once, Diego…” Eli finally stood up, leaving one of his sons to approach the
Unfortunately, for Corinne, looking at that woman was still like looking in a mirror and seeing herself so perfectly that was like a nightmare. One of the few differences between the two was Seraphina's curly hair, which was now cut to her waist, still shining like gold, without even a single strand of white hair to betray the passing of the years.The only detail that kept her from looking like she came straight out of 18 years in the past was the right half of her face, dark and contorted with deep burn scars running down her neck and, apparently, that entire side of her body, including the back of the hand that she still held up.And, of course, those turquoise eyes, cold and cruel, were still exactly the same ones that Corinne saw in her nightmares when she was a child.“You...” Eli was the first to react, his voice sounding more angry than intimidated. “You should be dead!”“A race as inferior as yours may have hindered my plans all these years ago, but you woul
“I will give you a single chance to cure my son right now, so I will be merciful to you, Seraphina!” Eli growled, pointing at his ex-wife with pure hatred. “Otherwise, I, my pack and my son-in-law's wolves will destroy you, piece by piece, as we should have done since the day you pretended to die in that canyon.” “I see you still greatly overestimate your own strength, Eli.” She continued to approach, without any shifter daring to come close, afraid of suffering the same fate as Joseph “Not it surprises me. Look who you chose to be second in command in my place.” Seraphina looked Juliet up and down with disdain “I can see that you two tried to destroy the education I gave Corinne all these years...” “Heal whatever you did to Declan, Seraphina!” Corinne growled “Now!” “Why don’t you do it yourself?” Seraphina asked, very calmly “Heal your precious little brother who everyone has always valued more than you. Show everyone what it means to have the blood o
“Are we really going to do this?”“She is still the sorceress’s daughter! We may be about to make a big mistake…”“But she was able to cure Declan and he no longer appears to be under the sorceress's possession. If Joseph had treated her well and achieved the same fate...”"That's right! If we're going to fight Seraphina again, our best option is to have a sorceress on our side, too.”“I still don’t think we should. She may have escaped being condemned at trial, but we have already seen that one of Seraphina's children was able to rebel against her own kind. Why wouldn’t the other one be?”“And she lied to us all these years about not being a
“Here’s this idiot.” Belle nodded in her mate's direction, flushed and annoyed “Don't worry. He will listen to what we have to say. I already explained the situation to him in detail and I know he understood. Because, no matter how much he tries to make it seem so, he's not crazy and I'm sure he won't leave his pack unprotected just because he refuses to acknowledge that something may have been a misunderstanding!” She placed her hands on her hips, looking almost like an angry teacher, while one of the corners of William's mouth just turned up slightly. “You look beautiful when you’re angry, honey.” He teased, but the sweetness in his expression dissipated the instant he looked around the room “But bringing me to fraternize with tigers? That’s too low a blow.” “William Calibur.” Corinne spoke and instinctively raised her hand to reach Hunter's, which was on her shoulder “Do you know who I am?” “It would be difficult not to recognize the person everyone
“What’s your problem?” Belle growled, clearly disturbed by William's promise, not seeming to notice the effort Corinne had to make not to punch that wolf right then and there, for daring to threaten her mate “Why can't you understand that Hunter was just a child at that time, just like were you and I?! Hell, you didn't realize that Ellen was an excellent liar? She lied in that letter about letting Hunter know the truth just to stop you from looking for us!” she said, with pure pain in her voice “She didn't really do it because she knew he wouldn't accept becoming Alpha and would come after you. So, for the love of the Moon God, stop talking about killing an innocent person and focus on saving the lives of a few, like a true Alpha would do!”“Regardless of what he knew, nothing changes the fact that he is the son of Owen and Ellen Calibur. And, for that, he ha
“I’m going to rip your fucking hands off if you keep holding me like a dog!” William growled and, even though he was far away from him, down the hall, Hunter could clearly hear the commotion he was causing as he was taken back to his prison cellar. “Well, if you weren’t acting like a mad dog, we might treat you differently!” Isabelle retorted, and, if it weren't for the slight tremor in her voice, anyone would think she was talking to a random prisoner, not her own mate. “What are we going to do with this boy...” Felix muttered, clearly not wanting the wolves that were moving away from them to hear his concerns “I thought this offer might make him see reason and believe us, but... If even that wasn't enough...” “Hey, I don’t want to see you with that sad puppy face.” Octavia touched his chest, with that expression that anyone could mistake for annoyance, but was actually concerned “That boy may have a whole ocean of traumas trapped inside him, but none