Darkness (II)

CHAPTER TWELVE

"Let's just go." I muttered, shooting daggers at the unmoving Alpha.

I yanked the back car door open and all but threw myself into a seat. Lexus coughed, scratching the back of his head.

"Are we all ready?" Vilkov asked, his voice dripping with forced enthusiasm.

I fastened my seat-belt and nodded.

The Beta eased the car onto the road, driving slowly so I could catch one final glimpse of the pack house. I stared at it for as long as I could, committing its every feature to memory, before turning to my gaze to my intertwined hands as it faded out of sight.

"You said something before..." I began, addressing no one in particular, "about Damien 'knowing' what you are. What did you mean?"

Vilkov looked at the Alpha and then at me, his gaze seeking mine in the rearview mirror. He opened his mouth to speak but Phoenix smoothly intervened, his voice rough and leaden with an emotion I couldn't quite place.

"We are Summum Lycans." was all he said.

My heart plummeted into my stomach. The Summum Lycans were rumoured to be beings of immense power, incredible speed and were gifted with immortality; they were said to share the closest bond with the Moon Goddess, and...well, they were dead.

"That's impossible." I deadpanned, looking at each of the three men in turn. All of them were incredibly beautiful...but the Summum Lycans were long dead. "They were driven to extinction by Hunters. We were taught about their downfall as children."

Vilkov's eyes flashed, burning a deep, molten silver. "That's what we had the Hunters believe. After seeing so many of our kind die, we went into hiding. A couple of hundred years later and the coast was clear."

Another blow to the chest. "You...you talk as if you were there."

"That's because he was." Phoenix grumbled, catching my attention. "We all were."

My eyes widened and I leaned forward, straining against my seatbelt. "Wait...Summum Lycans were 'eliminated' three hundred years ago..."

"Yes." Phoenix nodded, carefully gauging my reaction in the rearview mirror.

"You...you...YOU PEDOPHILE!" I screeched, reaching desperately for the door.

Lexus caught me just in time, dragging me back into my seat with a high-pitched scream. The car skidded to a halt and I threw myself outside, placing my hand over my mouth for fear that I would retch.

Three hundred years. Three hundred years. Why hadn't he told me?

"Isa?"

The wind had been knocked from lungs as if someone had shoved their hands down my throat and forcefully ripped it out. I gasped, my breaths becoming shallow and rapid, my eyes wide and straining in their sockets, my heart galloping and screaming and tensing.

Three hundred years.

I vaguely heard the squeal of tires as Thea's car screeched to a halt but the sound was muffled, almost as if I was under water.

Three hundred years.

An arm around my waist. It was too firm, too hot, and my body screaming in protest.

"Don't!" I shrieked, finally regaining the ability to speak. "Don't touch me!"

"Relax!" he said, and when I continued to struggle in his hold his voice rose several octaves. "Isa, stop!"