Fated To Three, Betrayed By All… Until She Rose.

Leilani.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, through the sharp shrubs that bit into my flesh with each step I took and the rough soil that tore at the sole of my feet as I trudged forward relentlessly.

My heart raced in my chest, pounding against my ribcage as if waiting to explode, and as I ran, I couldn’t help but glance behind me every now and then, checking to see if anyone had followed me out.

I prayed to the moon goddess and whoever was above in the clouds that no one would notice my absence until I was far gone... but even after praying like my life depended on it— which it did— there was still this fear hammering at the back of my mind and reminding me that I was in grave danger.

There was this fear whispering dark words into my mind and reminding me that it was Keisha we were talking about here.

And this fear was what pushed me to trudge further and further away from the worn down building where Keisha and her cohorts had kept me at for the past few hours. This fear was what pushed me into moving forward, despite being so weak, hungry and so afraid.

Hell, I didn’t even know where I was or where I was running to. All I knew was that I needed to be away from here... away from her... and if possible, somewhere around Zevran.

Zevran. Yes, Zevran!

At the thought of him, I tried to reach into the mind link, hoping to hear from him or from one of his brothers. But for some reason, the more I tried to reach them, the more disconnected I felt from them. And this made me panic.

"Have I lost my wolf again?" I couldn’t help but ask under my breath, pressing my hand to my chest and hoping to feel something... anything.

But there was nothing.

And in fear or maybe... rage, I came to a stuttering stop, pressed the heels of my hands against my temple and tried again.

And again:

And again.

Still, nothing.

"Goddess, what is happening?!"

My panic had, at this point, seeped into my voice and I couldn’t help the tears that filled my eyes at the thought of me losing my wolf again just when I had begun to feel her. But discarding these depressing thoughts, I picked up speed one more time and began to run again, sobbing quietly as I went.

Why?

Because I was trying to shift and failing miserably.

Why?

Because I couldn’t reach Nyx no matter how hard I tried.

I do not know for how long I spent running through the bushes until I arrived at an abandoned looking highway. But because I wasn’t sure of where I was or if it was safe out here, instead of standing in the middle of the road and waving to any incoming vehicles, I hid behind a large oak tree instead and waited.

...And waited for a solid fifteen minutes,

Until a small blue truck blasting one of Beyoncé’s songs—Drunk in love— on high volume began to approach.

As soon as I saw it in the distance, my heart leaped in my chest because so help me goddess, this was my best chance at escape. So throwing caution to the wind, I picked up a large branch and began to wave it desperately above my head while screaming at the top of my voice for the truck to come to a stop.

And it did.

It fucking did right in front of me.

But when I looked inside and saw the dangerous looking burly men all curled up inside, my stomach began to churn. My heart dropped into the base of my stomach and I gulped when they all turned to look at me in unison.

I shook my head and took a step back. "I am so sorry for stopping y’all," I said slowly, my voice quaking. "But I think you should go. Thank you for stopping."

The driver, who was a big middle aged man with a black patch over one eye, leaned close, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips as he drawled; "You better come in if you intend to go into the city or you won’t find another car around here in about another two hours."

His accent was beautifully Irish and warm, but something about his gleaming good eye made me uneasy.

Again, I shook my head. "No, thank you."

However, as soon as I said that, I vaguely caught a whiff of their scents. But upon realizing that they were humans and that if the worse came to the worst, I could handle myself around them, I immediately nodded again, causing him to throw a confused stare in my direction.

"You goin or you not?"

"I’m coming!" I said, before stepping into the truck despite knowing that this could be another form of danger.

Right now, anything was better than waiting around for Keisha.

—

⚠️

It was nighttime when Keisha finally returned to the small town, that is after going to pick up the unreasonably large supply of Moonveil draught that she needed to crush Leilani to the dust.

The smile on her face was impossible to hide when she arrived at the hideout where Leilani had been locked up in for a couple of hours now, but her smile soon disappeared when she turned the lights to her cell on, and instead of finding Leilani sprawled on the floor like the fucking roach that she was, she found Adam instead.

Fucking Adam Gilbert, the nincompoop.

Her face colored a bright shade of red and anger, one that was impossible to contain exploded within her when she saw his hopeless soulless eyes blinking up at her in confusion.

"M-ma’am?" His voice was hoarse and sounded like his throat was being scrapped against sandpaper.

But it was not the pathetic way that he sounded that riled her up the most. It was the confusion in his eyes. It was the way he looked up at her with the innocence of a kid.

"Did you do what I asked you not to?" Keisha couldn’t help but hiss at him, and do you know what was worse than him not answering right away?

The way he ducked his head in shame.

She snarled; "Did you get close to the wench?!"

Adam flinched upon hearing her sharp voice. He was only a Lycan who never got the opportunity to blend in with other Lycans or accept the norms surrounding their society. She was a hybrid. She was way stronger than him.

He whispered; "I gave her some food."

"Which she clearly didn’t eat." Keisha finished, eyeing the large plate which was way more than the portion she’d asked them to give to Leilani. "And...?"

"And then she said she couldn’t eat with her hands behind her back. She said her entire body hurt... and I swear, she looked really battered, I couldn’t help but pity her."

"So you helped her. Didn’t you?" She seethed, and even though he didn’t respond, she had already known the answer to her own question.

And it angered her to no end.

Enraged, she fished out one of the syringes containing Moonveil draught from her bag and stuck it into his arm, feeling nothing while he thrashed and convulsed until his entire body went limp.

But she didn’t stop.

She stuck another and another into his veins until his skin, once vibrant, went pale. And it wasn’t until then that she finally let him go.