Chapter 55 – The Truth (II)
••• Aleena’s POV •••
The moment I saw Andre and Rose, and knowing that they were real, that we weren’t in a memory anymore, my anger surged up even more.
“You lied! You were scared of getting killed, and you made everyone think the Lycans were out to get the werewolves! You are a coward!” I yelled at them.
“It’s a basic instinct for us to survive, Aleena,” Andre shrugged indifferently as if his action was justified.
“You killed every Lycan just to survive?! You could’ve waited until that one Lycan made a move to kill you instead of eradicating every one of them! You two are really cowards!” I kept yelling at him.
How could they do that monstrous deed so that he wouldn’t get killed?! And just to achieve his goal of being recognized as one of the strongest?! Have they no consciousness?! If the werewolves involved knew… If they knew the truth… Now, I pitied those who were involved. They killed innocent Lycans just for Andre to satisfy his will to live and his greed.
“But Aleena, that was only half of the truth. Don’t you want to know about your destiny?” Rose chuckled.Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.
My destiny? “Didn’t you say my destiny is to kill Kyson? Like I would believe you,” I sneered and looked at them with disgust.
“You don’t believe it, do you? Let me show it to you, then,” Rose said with another chuckle, which caused me to glare and snarl at her. No matter what she showed me, there was no way I would kill my own mate.
Rose chanted a spell, and the blinding light that followed told me that I would enter another memory.
Just as I suspected, the moment I opened my eyes, I wasn’t in the dungeon anymore – I was back in Andre’s office, which was grander than in the memory before.
“Andre, we’ve made a mistake,” Rose, this time, seemed hesitant and a little bit scared to tell Andre about the mistake they made.
“Mistake?” Andre asked.
“Yes. We… haven’t killed all the Lycanthropes. One of them survives. He will… He will be the one killing you,” Rose said while avoiding Andre’s gaze.
A Lycan survived? Suddenly, it dawned on me – Kyson! Kyson will be the one killing Andre! It’s in Rose’s vision! Kyson is destined to kill Andre! I became joyful at the thought.
Andre’s voice contorted that it became so ugly. He stood up fast and curled his hand around Rose’s neck.
“You are useless! How could you have not foreseen this before?!” Andre snarled in Rose’s face.
Rose’s face became purple as her airway was blocked. She tried to pry away Andre’s hand as she tried to say with difficulty, “We… will… stop… him… before… he… can… kill… you.”
Andre flung Rose away, and she coughed while touching her neck.
“You better stop him now,” Andre growled.
“He is… at… the Crimson Blood Pack,” Rose stammered as she still tried to take in much-needed air into her lungs.
“Damn it!” Andre cursed and slammed his fist down on the table, breaking it into two.
He took a few deep breaths and seemed to have calmed down as he asked, “How did he survive?”
“He had someone masked his scent to be one of a werewolf,” Rose had calmed down, too, and now appeared like she wasn’t nearly killed by Andre.
“Who?” Andre asked with narrowed eyes.
“One of the witches,” Rose replied.
“Kill her,” Andre ordered, and his Alpha’s aura rolled off, causing Rose to cower. My lips curled into a smile for a second while I looked at Rose cowering in front of Andre.
“We don’t know who the witch is,” Rose whimpered.
Andre looked like he was about to explode, but he didn’t. Instead, he asked, “How did he get to the Crimson Blood Pack?”
“His parents gave him to the Alpha and Luna of the Crimson Blood Pack. They were best friends,” Rose explained.
“He’s still a child?” Andre asked, seemingly surprised by the fact.
“He’s six years old now,” Rose stated.
“He’s still a child, yet we can’t do anything to him. The Crimson Blood Pack’s Alpha is stronger than me, even if everyone thinks I’m the strongest in this country now. Damn it!” Andre cursed again out of frustration.
Wow… I wonder how strong Kyson’s adopted father was…
My surroundings suddenly went black before they brightened again, and I saw we were still in Andre’s study, but the study had changed again. It looked familiar – it looked the same as the last time I was in the Black Heart Pack.
Andre was shuffling through some document when suddenly Rose barged in.
“Alpha, we found a way to kill the Lycanthrope,” Rose said breathlessly. She looked like she had been running just to tell him that.
Andre stopped what he was doing and literally jumped in joy. “Tell me. Tell me how. He looked nervous and delighted at the same time.
Rose regulated her breathing and smoothed out her hair and dress before speaking, “I just had a vision.”
She went to Andre and whispered what she saw in the vision. Her words were too soft, and I was unable to hear what she said.
“That’s good. That’s good. I’ll let the guards and warriors know. After a year, we finally managed to find a way to kill that Lycan. I’m not going to let him get his way of killing me.” Andre looked beyond happy at Rose’s vision. He rubbed his hands together, and a malicious smile graced his face.
My surroundings changed again. I was now in a forest, and there were two people running – a male and a female, and the female was carrying a… baby??
“We have to keep running, or they’ll find us,” the male said as the couple kept running. I ran to follow them. I looked at both of them and felt there was a sense of familiarity with them. Who are they? The male was handsome, and the female was beautiful. One thing stood out from both of them – their auras were strong. They must be an Alpha and a Luna of a pack. But why were they running away?
“They found us!” the male suddenly shouted, and they halted in their tracks. “Go, Lily! Go! You have to live with Aleena! I’ll stay here and try to buy you some time!”
My eyes went wide. Lily? Aleena? Was the baby me, and were they my birth parents? I looked at the woman again, but she didn’t look like Witch Lily; it must be just an identical name.
The couple embraced, and the male kissed the baby. “I love you, Aleena.” The way he looked at the baby was heartbreaking. It was a mixture of love, longing, and sadness. He knew he was going to die.
“Dad…” I whispered without thinking, and I felt tears in my eyes.
“Go, Lily!” Dad ordered Mom before he shifted. His wolf form was huge – definitely an Alpha.
Mom hugged Dad’s wolf form and whispered, “I love you.” She then continued running, and I followed her. I glanced back to see Dad and saw him surrounded by many wolves and witches. I knew he wouldn’t survive, and my tears flowed down my cheeks.
Mom kept running even though she was tired, and her pace became slower. She kept glancing back, and I followed her eyesight to see many wolves and witches coming after us. “Don’t worry, Aleena; Mom will protect you even if it costs my life,” she said breathlessly.
“Mom…” I whispered and wanted to talk to her, wanted to hug her, but I knew it was impossible, so I just followed her with more tears streaming down my face.
I knew she would end up dead, just like Dad, but I couldn’t help but pray for her to keep running and get away from the pursuers. “Please, please, please, don’t let her die.”
Alas, no matter how hard I prayed, it was impossible for me to change someone’s fate. Mom tripped and fell down, rolling to her back so as not to squash baby-me to death.
“Aleena, I’m so sorry, my daughter. I hope you’ll be the chosen one and get to live, even though your destiny will be cruel,” she said before kissing me on the cheek and placing me down on the ground.
She turned around to face the pursuers, shielding me behind her.
I looked at the pursuers; there were too many of them. Fear for my mom’s safety gripped me even though I already knew the outcome, even though I already knew what would happen.
“You won’t get to her before you kill me,” Mom growled and was about to shift when suddenly vines appeared from the ground and stabbed her all over her body.
“Mom!” I shouted and sobbed badly as I saw her body going still, and the light in her eyes began to fade until it was gone entirely, and I knew her soul had left her body.
The vines withdrew, and Mom fell to the ground with many bloody holes in her body. One of the vibes had stabbed her in her heart; it was impossible for her to heal and survive.
“Get the baby,” someone said.
“Mom… Mom…” I stepped toward her and reached out my hands to touch her, but she disappeared as the scene changed again.