A/N: Hello everyone, above is an illustration of the phases of the moon which you may need later on in this chapter. It's a reference.
I had sat on my bed waiting for hours before the voice which I knew was inevitable finally made itself known.
I went downstairs when I heard Enzo's voice. It had taken less time than I had expected it to for Enzo to realise that Tinley was gone.
The next few minutes would be critical.
When I came to Enzo's front room, it wasn't just me. It was basically the whole house. I found my place next to Erica. Leilani was huddled opposite me in the makeshift circle that had formed next to Indigo and Fleur. Indigo's eyes looked blood red and her hair was in a brutal state. Ronan stood at the very edge of the circle, away from everyone making it obvious that he just didn't want to be here. Willow was next to the maids while their Godmother and Indigo's Godfather were huddled together in a corner.
Enzo was at the centre of it all. Enzo was angry. Enzo was furious. It scared the life out of me.
There was silence and I realised that everyone was communicating using their link. I couldn't hear anything and it freaked me out even more because I wasn't sure what exactly was going on. What if he knew? I forced myself to remain composed.
When Enzo looked at me, my features were still. His wasn't. I didn't falter.
"Aoife, have you seen Tinley?" Enzo asked me, his gaze hard against mine. Something tickled my spine. I shook my head.
"I saw her at the party," was my response. "Why? Where is she?"
"Have you seen her after the party?" Enzo pressed further. I shook my head again, making sure not to avoid his eyes. I needed to sell this lie.
"The last time I saw Tinley, she was with Leilani. They were coming back into the mansion together," Leilani's head snapped up quickly. Heads turned towards her. Enzo's eyes didn't leave mine. I continued. "But when I came back inside after Indigo and Ronan's incident, Leilani wasn't with Tinley anymore. She was with Jude,"
Enzo's eyes narrowed at mine. Erica's gaze perked up to mine. Suddenly, all eyes were on me. Leilani's eyes bulged from opposite me.
"Leilani was with Jude?" Enzo repeated my words lowly. It made my blood run cold. Whatever I just said, Enzo did not like it. He didn't like it at all.
I nodded my head and shed more light onto my story. "Yes, they were talking in front of the dining hall during the party,"
Enzo turned away from me and towards Leilani. Her cheeks had gone red and her eyes were wary. Fear was written like a sign post on her forehead.
"You said that you hadn't seen Tinley but Aoife is saying that you were the last person with her," Enzo started as he walked towards Leilani. Indigo held her sister's hand.
"She was with me. Then she went upstairs-" Leilani started, her words all flustered and melted into each other.
"Then you went to Jude, in the middle of your own sister's party when everyone was outside celebrating," the accusation hung heavy in the air and when I looked at Erica, her features contorted. She was upset. Her skin twitched besides me. I didn't see Jude or Enys anywhere and I wondered why.
Enzo loomed over Leilani and Leilani took Indgo's arm but even Indigo was not brave enough to stand between the pair. She looked up at Enzo and then casted her eyes downwards, deciding to stay out of this.
"We were only talking, Enzo," Leilani's words came out hitched, like she was struggling to breathe.
"What did you and Jude have to talk about while your sister was being humiliated?" Enzo pressed on and his tone was so calm, it sent shivers through the whole room.
That was a good question though. What did they have to talk about? I was dying to see her answer that.
Leilani's eyes drifted downwards then to me. They burned with anger. I didn't acknowledge to her look.
"Leilani, look at me," Enzo commanded her and she jumped then slowly, she looked back up at him and her lower lip quivered. "What did you have to talk about with my sister's husband that you couldn't do in front of everyone?"
Leilani's back twisted forward. She slumped over Indigo and at this point, only Indigo was supporting her. I had felt his power before. Now, I didn't want to be Leilani.
"I-" Leilani started but Erica quickly touched Enzo's arm. It broke him from his trance with Leilani because he turned, looking away from his betrothed and towards his sister.
"Enzo, calm down. Don't transfer frustration. Right now, let's focus on Tinley. We'll deal with this later," I had an idea that Erica spoke out loud on purpose to try and diffuse the situation before it became more volatile.
It didn't work. I didn't speak their language but even I could hear the gravity of the accusation on Leilani loud and clear. I was going to milk it for all that it was worth.
"When I came inside the mansion with Tinley, she rushed upstairs. She said she had something important to do. I haven't seen her since then, Alpha. Please, believe me," Leilani explained and her voice cracked. She sounded like she wanted to burst out into tears. I hope she didn't. I didn't want her to soften Enzo's heart in her favour. "But Aoife herself just said that she came inside as well so maybe she saw Tinley upstairs because I didn't go upstairs but she did,"
Everyone looked at me again and I wanted to pull out my dagger and stab Leilani in the eyes.
"I didn't see Tinley," I stood firm on my lie. "And why wouldn't I come inside, Leilani? Did you see the way Ronan embarrassed Indigo? No, you didn't. You were too busy doing something else. Well, I did and it left a sour taste in my mouth. I couldn't stay there any longer,"
"But the point is that you were inside, weren't you?" She didn't budge on her accusation and I wanted to lunge at her. Willow's eyes at the corner were terrified and I wanted to slap her across the room also. She needed to calm down.
"Yea, I'm not denying that I was but I was in my bedroom the whole time. If you want then you can search, I don't care," I folded my arms over each other. "Because I have no clue what you are trying to say. What would I have to do with Enzo being unable to find Tinley?"
"Last time, witches attacked you and you had strange symbols all over you. So maybe they came back, Tinley got caught in your mess and you're lying to us right now," Leilani didn't stop and neither did my anger. I stalked towards her, wanting to gauge her eyes. Enzo stood between us like a wall and stopped me.
"I don't know anything about Tinley!" I screamed out and I did so with so much conviction that my shawl nearly found the floor. "Just because I am not from this pack doesn't mean that if something goes wrong, it has anything to do with me so Leilani before you make accusations, have proof. Don't tarnish me based on only your distrust,"
"But apart from me, you were literally the only other person inside and that too, you were upstairs! I didn't even go upstairs. Is it really a coincidence?" Leilani pushed back and I watched Willow's gaze flicker. She needed to keep her face straight.
Enzo was holding me by the arm now because of how much I wanted to go to Leilani while Leilani just stood there, holding on to Indigo still. She was happy. She had managed to swerve the topic from her not-so-secret meeting with Jude to me and my prior witch business.
This girl was meek, they said? More like cunning.
"You mean apart from you and Jude?" I bounced back while Leilani became visibly upset as she tried to come at me but indigo held her arm and whispered something into her ear.
"Enough between the both of you!" Enzo's voice rang out as he shook me by the shoulders. "I do not have time for this. I need to find my cousin, not listen to either of you fight like children. Today is not the day for either of you to test my patience,"
I pulled away from Enzo. His eyes were gold and muscles were tense. I readjusted my shawl. I was in the middle of the circle with him.
"I know nothing about Tinley so do or believe what or who you must. I am going to bed," I turned to go upstairs but at that very same time, Jude was hurrying down them. Everyone's eyes turned to his. He held paper in his hand.
He handed it over to Erica. Erica read it and went limp then passed it to her brother. When Enzo read the letter, I felt heat start to radiate from his skin next to me. His eyes glowed a fiery shade of gold and every part of him clenched together in fury. With trepidation, I reached for the letter in Enzo's hands.
It was the letter which I had asked Nessa to write. Here, 'Tinley' proclaims that she is running away with Adonis. He came to claim her and if Enzo loves her, he should let her be.
***
In the ten days that Tinley was gone, the pack was on edge. It felt like this pack ran on Enzo's emotions and Enzo's emotions were that of pure rage. Pure molten lava.
He was always in a mood. Always shifting. Most times, he skipped dinner and only had breakfast with everyone. Sometimes, he didn't even eat with anyone. He didn't want to talk to anyone, not even Erica and I felt reluctant to approach him. He didn't seem interested in being approached either.
I don't know if he believed the story about Tinley running away with Adonis but I do know that he knows that a powerful witch was there that night. And apparently, Adonis was a very, very powerful wizard. My heart raced with fear whenever I thought about what would happen if Enzo went to Arian's pack to try to retrieve Tinley from Adonis and find out that Tinley wasn't there? What would happen when Adonis found out that his little mate who was supposed to be under Enzo's protection was missing?
I shivered in fear. I wish Tinley hadn't found out about me. I never knew that Enzo cared so much about Tinley until now. The way he was stressed out thinking if she was okay or not, if she was eating properly or not. The way he worried about her. Everything about it made me feel so guilty. I never anticipated this level of affection for his cousin.
But alas, I really didn't have a choice in this matter. If I hadn't done what I did then I would have been exposed by now. Tinley was never going to hide my secret. She had absolutely no reason to. I was even lucky to have been able to subdue her when I did.
Of all the people that found out, it had to be the girl who had a mate who even Nessa and Enzo were both wary of. Enzo was trying to contact Arian but he was not in his pack at the moment and Alphas had a thing where they weren't allowed on the pack of another Alpha without either prior warning or a proper invitation. Otherwise, it was considered a threat. And considering the tension between the both of their packs, he couldn't go there especially now.
How did I always manage to get myself into such useless messes? What the heck would I do if Adonis actually showed up here? He was accused falsely afterall. How long would it take for it to reach his ears? This whole Tinley situation solidified the fact that I needed to get the stone and get out of here.
I looked into the water. I couldn't go back now. This was the sacred water Lily pond which Enzo's father had built for his mother. No matter how much I searched the mansion, the blue gemstone was nowhere to be found. Enzo didn't keep it with him - that, I was sure of.
The pond was sacred.
No one was allowed to go near or in it. No one was even allowed to take any of the water lilies from it. I remember how freaked out Fleur and Tinley got the day I had one in my hand. Witches infiltrated this pack just to get to the pond so the pond itself had a protection spell against witches. So what if, just what if the stone was in the sacred pond?
There was a specific water lily at the centre of the pond which made me sure that if the blue gemstone was here, it might be in that water lily.
So I dove into the pond after my shift at 3:30am when I was sure that everyone was asleep. I didn't know how I was going to lie my way out of being inside Enzo's sacred pond and I was half sure that Enzo would smell me the minute I stepped foot into it but I was willing to take the risk because if I got the stone then it would all be worth it. I would scratch my ring for the very last time and be whisked out of here by Nessa.
If I didn't.....well then I would have to deal with Enzo who was very angry these days. I would have to yet again tell the best lie of my life. I'd been lying a lot lately. My body didn't even feel anything whenever I lied anymore. That was how much I was lying. I mean I lied as an Assassin for a living but lying to normal wolves and lying to an Alpha whose eyes could break my spine were two very different things.
I swam in the pond and it was cold. It felt even worse because I was naked. I had shifted before attempting this potential suicide. Although I had a fresh sheet hidden somewhere in the grass once I got out but right now, I was swimming in my natural form.
The water was clear. It was so clear that the moon's beautiful crescent shape was reflecting on the water. It was in the phase of the waxing crescent. That was the stage after a new moon. This meant that more than half of my deadline had passed. After this, there would be two more mood phases and then the day of the full moon which was my deadline.
It made me even more nervous and I swam farther. It was a deep pond. Deeper than I had imagined. I had learnt to swim as an extra-curricular in school growing up, a skill which I was thankful for now. There were water lilies all around me and it was too hard to see anything because despite the moon light above me, everything still felt like pitched darkness. I started to feel really cold but I pushed forward in spite of it.
By the time I reached the centre, I had already searched through a few water lilies and found nothing. When I reached the centre, I still found nothing. The largest water lily held nothing inside it. I searched but still, nothing. I even tried to go to the bottom of the pond but it was cladded with moss, algae and some water plants that felt weird against my skin and it was too dark beneath to properly see.
After searching for what felt like forever, I threw in the towel and accepted that the blue moonstone wasn't here. If it was then, I had no clue how to look for it. I had underestimated the vastness of this pond in the dead of night. I decided that it was time to leave the water because I was becoming so cold that it was starting to scare me.
By the time I got out of the pond and pulled the blanket over myself, some warmth pooled back into my skin. I wrapped the cloth all around myself and rushed to back to mansion. Luckily for me, no one saw me rush inside.
When I got into my room, I ran myself a bath but for some reason, I just couldn't get myself warm. I dried off, wore my nightdress and night shawl and wrapped myself in several blankets. Eventually, I felt more heat seeping in so I managed to drift off to sleep.
That night, my dreams were plagued with nightmares. Horrible images of the explosion that killed my parents over and over again. Every moment that I was asleep, it felt like I was re-living the moment that my parents died. But when I was awake, I was too cold to function.
I forced myself to go to breakfast because I didn't want any suspicion to arise as to why I caught a cold suddenly. Ronan commented on how my skin looked pale and dusty. He asked if I was alright. I told him that I was fine. By dinnertime, I couldn't stop myself from shivering so I excused myself halfway and by the time it was nearly midnight, I noticed that my fingertips and palms were starting to turn blue. And so were my lips. And so were my toes.
It was when I started hearing my heartbeat in my ears past midnight after I woke up from yet another nightmare that I decided it was time for me to get some help. I considered scratching my ring but Nessa's voice echoed in my head;
"Each time you summon me, my connection to you weakens."
I decided against summoning her, telling myself that it would be better to wait until I really needed her because I didn't know how many more chances to summon her I had left and I'd already used up two. I pulled myself out of bed and threw my night shawl over my larger white chemise.
I just kept getting increasingly cold as I took the long walk from my bedroom upstairs to Enzo's. I contemplated going to Willow's but I knew the little witch would be too scared of Enzo to help me and I was in no mood for her excuses right now. So I decided to go to Enzo myself.
When I knocked on his door, he didn't answer. I knocked again. Still, no answer. I was about to turn away as I kept hugging myself with my arms to dull the cold and go to Willow instead but the door opened before I left.
Enzo stood there in his black and black pyjamas. He eyed me with curiosity.
"Is there a problem?" He asked me and I nodded.
"Enzo, I-I think I'm dying,"
~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~🖤~
I don't know why the author's note that came to my mind was; expect great things from next chapter because I can't even remember the great things which I wrote in the next chapter lol!
Anywayyyyyy! I hoped you liked this one. Tell me about it💕.
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~Эмма💕✌🏻