by Jennise K
“The book. Protect it,” Lyam muttered, then shrugged his shoulders violently. “Get off.”
I knew who he was talking to. Slowly, Edika’s fingers retreated, and she disappeared into the air just as she had appeared.
At that exact moment, Romanov’s large hands slipped around my waist and pulled me a few steps back.
“A little too close for my comfort, Lyam,” Romanov hissed at Lyam. However, his blazing golden eyes remained on mine.
It was then that I noticed how the entire room was now silent. A heavy dread settled itself in my chest. I really didn’t want to. But I urged myself to glance at everyone else. Their wide and curious eyes were on us.
“Lyam saw it again, then?” Alpha Fredrick spoke aloud. It wasn’t a question. He was clearly reaffirming what he’d already known of Lyam’s ability.
“Yes,” Lyam answered, not adding anything after the short reply.
“I thought it was just a rumour! You can really see them?” Alpha Weir asked, his light green eyes wide behind his large circular-framed glasses.
“Yes,” Lyam muttered once again. I had a feeling he didn’t really like talking about his gift. Romanov tensed behind me, and I began thinking frantically. To be honest, I really didn’t want them discussing this as well. It felt private.
Change the topic, Livy! Change the topic! Change the to—ah!
“Sooooo, how many of you have watched Twilight?”
Chapter 37
10:00 pm
Saturday night
Grayson Brandt
“Are you sure you can’t take my shift for tomorrow night, Gray?”
The nights were getting chillier lately. What an irony because so was my life. I was living a fucking freezer, not life.
If anyone had warned me that finding the queen would bring forth such a certain load of shite like events, I would have taken a long vacation to Vietnam ages ago!
It wasn’t like I didn’t care for the kingdom or the queen, but crap was really hitting the fan from everywhere. Someone had even died because of the crazy dead grandma’s rage.
Who was next? Who wasn’t? Was the old hag going to wipe clean the whole kingdom? What the hell was this? Couldn’t people just die and stay dead?
“Nurse Grayson!”
“Huh?” I blinked, frowning at the sharp-looking woman in front of me. Her soft face housed her round eyes that blinked at me in wariness.
“Are you okay? I was asking if you really couldn’t take my shift tomorrow?”
Oh.
“Fuck no, Renna.” I scoffed, shoving my gloved hands into the warm depths of my coat’s pockets. “Sorry, but I have a lot of stuff going on at home.”
Although she did look taken aback by my response, I was glad she didn’t push it. “Dad demanding you to give the family more time again?”
Ah! Yes! That excuse should work fine! Romanov was asking for more of my time after all!
“Yeah. The old man thinks we should spend as much time together as we can. We have a bit of a family crisis going on.” I slouched my shoulder deliberately as we walked out of the hospital’s entrance and into the driveway.
I could see my breath in the night air every time I exhaled. It really was getting chillier by the night. The wet road beneath my shoes hid no signs of recent rain. The smell of rain was still in the air.
“That’s sad. Hey, isn’t that your Jaguar? Who’s the man waiting for you?”
My eyes snapped up. From the distance, Dominic’s eyes met mine, and he cocked an eyebrow up, obviously waiting for me to get in. The idiot had messed up his car again and needed to borrow my van this time. I was almost on the verge of physically tying him up and exporting him to London. The bloody lycan was almost losing it because of his pride. Instead of going to his mate, he’d let his pride get the better of him. And now he’s suffering.
Staring at the man for a few seconds, suddenly, a small grin settled on my lips, and I turned towards Renna. I knew Dom could hear everything.
“He’s my boyfriend! We’ve been dating for almost seven years now.” I beamed at a shocked Renna. As I saw Renna’s mouth open to spew out a million questions, I immediately began jogging towards the van and waved her goodbye. “Got to go now, Rens! He hates to wait! I’ll see you tomorrow!” I had better things to do.
“I’m going to cut off your fingers and donate your remains to the Indian tigers,” Dominic growled as I jumped into the passenger’s seat and, closing the door, pulled the seat belt securely in its place.
“What? I didn’t lie! It’s true that we’ve been together for seven years.” I grinned, biting my lip to stop the rumble of laughter from bursting off my chest.
“As beta and delta, you fucker! She’ll think we score for the other team now!” Dominic hissed, glaring at me for a second before turning his gaze onto the road again.
“Well, you don’t have plans on going to your mate anyway. What’s wrong with publicly adopting me as your mistress?”
“What the hell have you been pumping up your arm, Gray?” Dominic asked, irritation clear in his voice. “Are you abusing your privileges as a medical care provider?”
I scoffed. “You fucking wish I were high so you could have your devilish ways with me.”
“You know what?” Dominic snapped, not finding me amusing at all. Ah, he’s such a bore now. “Maybe you should adopt Alpha so that the curse can kick your overgrown ass instead! Maybe that way we’ll finally be able to find your head!”
“Ha ha ha. Fuck off.”
This time, it was Dominic’s turn to grin. Shaking his head, he took a left turn, and I felt myself tense when we began driving on the highway that kid River was found near. “Anyway,” I quickly blurted out, trying to distract myself more than to actually want to know the answer to the question. “You never got around to telling us the results of the DNA test. Whose blood was it?”
“It was Viktoria’s”
I blinked. “What?”
“I said it was Viktoria’s, you dipshit.”
“But it can’t be hers. She’s on our side.” I blinked, turning to see Dominic’s jaw tense in frustration.
“I am on your side.”
“Fuck!” My head almost got a whiplash as I sharply turned towards the person in backseat. “How the fuck did you get here?”
“Have you sold your superior sensory skills for wool, Royal Delta?” Viktoria rolled her eyes as she shuffled forward, resting her arms on the driver’s and passenger’s seat. “I had to meet Lyam. He’s my mate, so I can’t stay away for too long. I asked the royal beta to pick me up since you both are going to the manor.”
I let my jaw drop, the cold feeling of disgust washing over me. “How could you leave Olivia alone in there with her?”
“And what is that supposed to mean? Her mate is there with her, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“Oh, come off it. You’re the expert shaman lady of our kingdom. One of the top agents in the RCIU as well. That’s why Romanov asked you to go undercover in the castle since last year.”
“Has anyone caught onto my real identity then?” Viktoria frowned at me from the rearview mirror.
I grimaced, knowing she had a point. “Fine. But we can’t leave Olivia alone with her. Who knows what she is up to this time? By the way, how did your blood get there?”
“That’s not my blood.”
“What?” I blinked.
“It’s not my blood.”
“So, the blood reports say it’s your blood, and you’re saying it’s not your blood. Are you high?”
“No, I’m just messing with you.” Viktoria smirked, and Dominic chuckled beside her. “It is my blood. I used it to ward off critical damage from her during the fire.”
“So, you were there during the fire? Why didn’t you save the royal luna, then?” Dominic blurted out as we passed the damned bridge. I turned away from the window and turned towards Viktoria instead. Dominic had stolen the words right out of my mouth.
“The qu
een had to save herself, or else she would have been possessed.”
My eyes narrowed. Possessed? “What the fuck is that supposed to mean, Viktoria?”
“That means, my precious Royal Delta, that she doesn’t intend to kill the royal luna, as what we’ve been wrongly led to believe. She wants to take over her.”
Dominic swore under his breath as he took another right turn. “You’re kidding me.”
“The royal alpha will never love her with the face she has. And he loves the royal luna. She’s very well aware of that. So, she wants to become the royal luna.”
“So that’s what Lyam meant when he told Olivia to kill her shadow before she kills her,” Dominic said, his eyes wide with the sudden realisation.
I, on the other hand, scoffed and shook my head. “I should take a fucking vacation right about now. This is turning from 1+1 to some AP calculus shite. I cannot even deal with this anymore.”
“So, what’s the plan now?” Dominic asked, completely ignoring me.
I rolled my eyes. Fuck you, Dom.
“The royal alpha has been aware of everything since the beginning, and the plan has just been finalised last night. Basically, we make the royal luna believe you all have found out that I am the culprit. I contact the royal alpha and tell him I have information about the real culprit. She comes to kill me because she wants me out of the way. We throw her into a bush of wolfsbane. Light it up. She dies. Simple.”
“You’re shitting me, right?” I scoffed once again. “That shite is anything but simple! Will Olivia know, though? We can’t keep her in the dark.”
“She’s a smart young woman.” Dominic smiled. “I’m sure she’ll figure it out before we even tell her.”
“Wouldn’t that be risking it, though?” Viktoria frowns. “She is mostly with the royal luna. Especially during nighttime. The old goose is basically a pervert.”
“She can’t be in two places at once.” I shrugged, casually reaching for the dashboard and taking out the mint pack.
“We’ll just have to keep her busy elsewhere.” I continued, popping two mints into my mouth.
“We’re here,” Dominic announced, stopping the car by the road, ten blocks away from the royal alpha’s manor.
“Okay, this is my stop. I’ll see you boys in a bit.” Opening the car, Viktoria stepped out onto the sideway and gave us a short wave.
Giving her a wave of our own, we drove away.
“What the hell were fates thinking when they decided to pair her with Lyam?” I muttered, still thinking of the feisty, petite beauty we had just left behind us.
“Their abilities complement each other. One communicates and the other eliminates.” Dominic glanced at me, grinning at my forlorn expression. I couldn’t help but slump further into my seat. All the good women were taken, and the remaining only want to get into my bed. What a shame.
“One of the Moon community’s weirdest couple,” I commented. My internal thoughts still hidden.
“The falcons have reached the ghosts realm. I repeat. The falcons have reached the ghosts realm,” I mind-linked the royal alpha, getting out of the vehicle and closing the door shut carefully behind me. The Jaguar was my child. It was to be cared for quite delicately.
“I get it, Gray. You’ve reached the house. Jesus. Ghosts realm? What are you, ten? We’re in the living room. Olivia wanted to watch movies. Come in. Dom has the key.”
I grinned at Alpha Romanov’s response. “Roger that, Captain.”
“Make that seven,” Dominic’s voice echoed in my head, and I turned towards Dominic with a smirk on my face.
“Gray! Dom!” Olivia called out urgently as we strode into the brightly lit living room. We waved at the beautiful girl who remained seated on the sofa, her waist wrapped with one of Romanov’s arms around it. I watched as she bobbed up and down on the sofa (as that was the only thing she could do) with the obvious need to quench her curiosity. “We need to talk ASAP!”
My eyes widened. What was she so mentally fucked up about?
The sound of the front door opening and closing banged into my ear, and I tried to lower down the loud harsh sound. This had been a problem since childhood. I never had control over my superior sensory abilities. Some days I was almost as useless as a human being, and other days I had sharper senses than kings. My father, the previous royal delta, Prince Devon, refused to believe I had a problem until it blew up on his face one day when I was seven. My mother and my father began trying for another boy ever since that day—someone for Father to pass his legacy onto. As if the fates were punishing my parents for pushing me aside just for the sake of his delta role, they had five daughters one pregnancy after another—Grace, Gina, Gisel, Gwyneth, and Geela.
Despite everything, I still liked my sisters. We got along well. Still, the only person who never gave up on me was Uncle Alistair, Alpha Romanov’s dad. He had always treated me normally, encouraged me to work on what I was meant to be—a royal delta. When he had passed away, I was devastated. He was the only one who stood by me. But Uncle Alistair hadn’t raised a coward, so here I was.
“Must be Viktoria,” I mind-linked Dominic and Romanov as the soft tip-tapping of a pair of footsteps sounded closer and closer until the girl came into full view.
In front of me Olivia smiled at the girl warmly.
“Rose.”
~
Earlier in the morning
The same day
Olivia A. Fredson
Ever since our birth, we learn new things every moment. Yesterday, I learnt how important it was to refrain from asking werewolves, especially alphas, this one question:
“Have you seen Twilight?”
I should have known this had been constantly asked to the same creatures shown in fictional TV series, movies, or books. Real weres and lycans were always going to get offended. Always.
My foolishness had led me to endure the rest of the time amongst grumbling werewolves and lycanthropes, all going over and over about how ridiculous the media was portraying them.
Personally, although I would never admit it in front to any of them, I thought it was a good thing that most of their true characteristics and life details were not being portrayed correctly. Ignorance is bliss after all.
After the gathering had ended, I had spent the rest of the night deep in thought about what Alpha Lyam had said. I’d admit it freely. I was terrified. I was terrified and so tired. In the end, I spent the night sighing and twisting in Romanov’s hold, waking the poor man up almost all the time.
My eyes glazed over as I looked at the street outside the café. It was drizzling outside. Seated in my usual booth with a cup of hot chocolate and a chicken bun, I stroked the black leather of the journal I held in my hand.
I had needed a bit of time away from the house, away from everyone I held close to my heart. I needed a bit of time to sit somewhere and think about everything that had happened and was happening in my life. For the past few months, so much had happened. I couldn’t help but think that everything around me was always moving in fast-forward while I was left to stand still in the middle of it all. And I just get overwhelmed over and over again.
I had survived the car accident that had taken my mum’s life. My sister and my brother-in-law had died in a crash. I had almost died in a crash only weeks later myself, then I met Romanov who was barely human. I’d been introduced to a whole different world.
I was given custody of my niece when I was barely out of college just because her own grandparents suddenly did not want her, came to that stupid castle and found out that I had a curse that wanted to kill me, and almost died three times. I found out my dad was never the man who I thought he was, and my best friend, Jaydin, almost died.
After everything that had happened to me and all the hurt that I had accumulated inside me silently over these years, I never thought I’d lose another person in my life. River. It felt like another blow. A hard one to my gut. I didn’t know how I was going to recover, but I needed t
o sort myself out if I wanted to survive.
And if Alpha Lyam was right, then I had a shadow behind me. A shadow that was not mine. A shadow that was not Edika. A shadow I had to kill before it killed me.
Kill. It seemed like such a heavy word. Sure, I had thought about harming a dozen people in my years, growing up. However, I had never once thought to kill someone. Still, this was different. It wasn’t only about me anymore. People around me were getting harmed, and this needed to stop, although I wasn’t sure how I was going to kill someone that was already dead. But before that, who was I trying to kill anyway?
“Wow that sure seems like one hell of an old book.”
My eyes snapped up to the person who had spoken, and I smiled. “Hey, Michael.”
“Hey.” The dark-haired boy smiled back as he took off his apron and slid on the seat opposite mine. He looked better than when I had last seen him. He looked like he was eating and working out a lot.
“You look sick. What’s wrong?” Michael frowned as he sat in front of me. I flinched under his scrutiny. Karma really came in full circle. Once I had sat in front of him, worrying over his sickly physique. Today he’s the one sitting in that seat.
“I was trying to go through some videos. Couldn’t find anything significant. Now I’m just tired.” I tried my best to smile at the boy in front of me as I motioned towards my closed MacBook. Unconsciously, my fingers kept stroking the book. It helped me stay calm, which was crazy because it housed a ghost’s lifeline.
“Really? What video? Maybe I could help! Two pairs of eyes are better than one after all.”
He made sense. A fresh pair of eyes might see something I might have overlooked.
“Okay. You sure you won’t get into trouble?” I grinned, then slid deeper into the booth, allowing Michael to slide in beside me.
“Nah, it’s Saturday, and I did the night duty.” Michael shrugged, scooting closer to get a central view of the screen.
“So, basically, you haven’t slept since Thursday night,” I said and frowned, wondering if two pairs of eyes were really better when one was tired, and the other was sleep-deprived.