Alpha Adryan (Romano Series #1)

fourty seven

1 year later

Head tilted toward the sky with her eyes closed, Jade feels the cool wind blow around her, brushing her skin ever so softly, as the first drop of rain drops, slowly, with one or two drops turning to a constant rhythmic dance as the rain gets heavier. Suddenly she didn't feel the raindrops on her skin anymore, opening her eyes, she was met with an umbrella above her head, and turned to the side to find a pair of violet-coloured eyes already staring back at her. A smile graces her face, wet hair strands sticking to her face. With his free hand, Darius tries to pull her under the shelter of the umbrella completely, only for Jade to knock the umbrella out of his hands completely, causing him to get drenched in the heavy rain as well.

Darius pulls Jade closer to his body, his hands cupping her small face, bringing her face closer to his face, Jade closes her eyes anticipating him to kiss her when she feels his lips place a soft kiss on her forehead. Tingles spread throughout her body.

Pulling back from the kiss, both of them hand in hand, head towards the dark castle that loomed in the distance.

Jade looks back towards the forest she was in moments ago, before crossing the barrier that separated both of the worlds. Jade learnt about the mirror image realm of the world over a year ago, when she regained her consciousness. Occasionally she would cross the border and spend a few minutes admiring the real world, aka Earth.

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Jade watched with concentration as she saw Hecante mixing different herbs, who would occasionally stare at her book filled with spells and potions. Hecante has been teaching some of it to Jade as well, spells to help with various things, especially on how to control her power.

"Can I ask you something?" Jade asks Hecante, who hums in response as she continues mixing the paste.

"Why are you teaching me how to control my powers?" Jade wasn't surprised to know that Hecante knew about her being part witch, as Hecante could probably detect the magic in Jade just like she could feel the magic in Hecante.

Hecante stops mixing for a moment, "Because no matter what, never let anyone know about your powers except the ones you trust."

Jade looks at Hecante with a confused look, "Is there a specific reason why you're telling me that?"

Hecante looks back at her with a mysterious look in her eyes, "time will tell", causing Jade to huff."Come on, what's with all the mysteriousness? Is it a witch thing? Why do I feel left out?!" Jade exclaims, Hecante leans her face forward with a serious look, she remains silent for a moment to add to the drama, then she says "No, it's just a me thing" and she winks at Jade, causing her to laugh.

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A boy roughly around the age of seven, stood alone at one corner, watching as children ran around the playground with others, some parents playing with their kids or talking and chatting. Envy was what filled him. Ever since Darius was dropped off in the Blood Moon Pack when he was around four years old, even when he was a baby, he never knew what love was, it was something he was devoid of. All he knew about his birth mother was that she was a vampire and that his father was the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack. Just thinking about him, gave Darius the chills.

Growing up being a half-breed wasn't easy in a werewolf pack. every day was like torture, all Darius wanted to do was escape.

Wherever he went, whispers and stares followed him. Everyone knew that he was the Alpha's bastard son, that he was the son Alpha had while he had an affair with a woman, the worst part being that she was a vampire. His biological mother had been mateless, drowning in alcohol day in and day out, neglecting his existence completely, finally one day she decided to end her misery by ending her own life, and Darius was sent to his father's pack to live at the tender age of four. Children and adults alike bullied him, finding small excuses to torment him and make his already difficult childhood more difficult.

A hand places itself on his shoulders, feeling the sudden contact, Darius turns to glance at the person, and his eyes meet a pair of ocean-blue eyes. A smile adorned his face, his hair as black as night just like his mother's. Adryan was a splitting image of his mother, who was the first person to show compassion towards Darius for the first time in his life. A tiny smile graces Darius' face. Adryan who was a few years older than Darius, soon after his mother introduced him to Darius, called him out to play, they were always beside each other, wherever Adryan was Darius followed, because of this newfound friendship of his with the Alpha's heir, Darius noticed a slight difference in the behaviour of the adults in the pack, even the children stopped bullying him, some would try to order him around whenever Adryan wasn't in the vicinity.

Darius was the happiest he had ever been in his seven years of existence, of course, there were certain instances like when he would be called to the Alpha's office. Those were the times he was scared the most, at first he didn't know what the man with whom he hadn't even spent five minutes of his life wanted with him.

He was made to undergo an examination done by the pack doctor. His Father's green eyes were cold and harsh, Darius could feel the disdain and anger in his eyes, Darius didn't know why he was angry. The next thing he knew, he felt the right side of his face tingling, a few moments later the pain registered, causing tears to stream down his baby face, he clutched the side of his face that was slapped hard by the older man.

"You're a fucking half-ling?" He sneered as he brought his angry face closer to Darius' face causing his already shaking self to flinch away in fear. Since Darius was half vampire and half werewolf, the pack doctor had made the Alpha aware of the fact that the chances of Darius ever transforming into a werewolf would be one in a million and that there could also be the probability of him remaining a human for his whole life despite having strong royal vampire blood from his mother's side and being the Alpha's son. This piece of news wasn't what the Alpha was expecting to hear, he had planned on how he could make use of this bastard son of his, he would be trained under him to be a vicious killer, turning into a killing machine. That way, he would've been able to use Darius being a hybrid to his advantage and capture an area under his power, but all that ambition came crashing down with the revelation of the fact that Darius would not even be a werewolf, let alone a hybrid, who could use both his vampire and werewolf side.

"Get out of my sight. You should be glad that you are my son, otherwise, I would've burned you like you pathetic half-ling"  the man, who was his father spits out.  Darius without even making another sound, exits the Alpha's office.

He had hoped that this would be the first and last time he would ever need to see that man, sadly that just remained a wistful dream. Because after that day, he was frequently called into the Alpha's office, apparently the Alpha hadn't given up yet, he had called witches and used all sorts of torturous methods to try and make Darius transform, but all his attempts were futile, all it did was leave the seven-year-old child traumatised.

Darius' small body was littered with scars and bruises he accumulated over time because of what the Alpha was doing to him, this made him avoid Alana, and Adryan afraid that they would find out about his injuries which in turn would lead them to learning about him being a half-ling and that they would also turn against him. It was a miracle that this went on for three years before someone found out.

Jade sat upright on the bed, it was yet another vision she had. When the visions started occurring, she thought she was dreaming until she figured out she wasn't because she recognised Darius, even though he appeared young in the visions she had. Jade found out later that these visions were memories of Darius', which she was having due to him having given her his blood when she was injured, and supposedly vampire soulmates can see each other's memories unless the other person intentionally blocks out. She never mentioned the visions she was having to Darius, she felt guilt inside as she was seeing his not-so-pleasant childhood memories.

The other thing that has her mind stuck on is Darius' brother, whenever she sees him in her visions, she somehow feels like she has met him before, whenever the name Adryan is mentioned in her visions, it evokes certain strange feelings in her.

Jade had even thought about asking Darius about this brother of his, but she was hesitating yet again because she had a feeling that things did not end on a good note with both of them. The vision she had the next day proved her point.