Chapter 4.
There was an agonizing silence, and I could hear my ears ringing at the deafness of the room. No one moved a muscle after their sudden confession, especially my mother. She particularly was frozen in shock, her mouth agape and eyes wide. The entire pack looked at their leaders, waiting for them to do something. It must be surprising to see the people they look up to completely dumbfounded.
My father finally turned to look at my mother, his aquamarine eyes glistening at her with patience. He knew her, and he knew her reactions to things, so I understood what he was doing. If she did anything, he was going to accept whatever decision she had planned. He was going to be the anchor she needed, and I had a new sense of pride for my dad even more.
I had to take a step back and away from Fia and Sal, my mind trying to register how these people are my grandparents. It was hard to put this together that while Fia was very open, Sal was more reserved. I pictured my mother was a lot like her dad, but perhaps Logan was a lot like Fia. Do they even know that their son is dead?
My mother's face turned hard in an instant, her eyes hardening and her mouth flattening. Those violet orbs she possessed seemed to darken, and the sparkle in them was long go. Her abnormally white hair seemed to sense the tension and dulled profoundly. It shocked me, but no one seemed fazed by her angered structure.
"Explain." She hissed, and I jumped at her reptilian tone. Lucian must've noticed because he was by my side in the blink of an eye.
"I don't know where to begin." Fia's eyes were pooling with tears, and I almost felt bad for her. She was placed in almost the exact position I was placed in a couple days ago, but her reunion was obviously a lot worse than what she had hoped.
"How about where you left me on a cruel man's doorstep." My dad growled at my mom's words, and it was clear the subject was very sensitive for both of them, especially him.
Fia sighed before brushing her tears away and looked at all of us with a look of determination. "It all started when I met your father Sal in Italy..." I felt like a door was being open, and my conscious was being dragged into some sort of memory.
I love him. I love my newly found mate, and I can't wait to grow older and die with him. I want to have many children with him, and watch as they find the same kind of love we share. Sal is everything I've ever dreamed of having, and it's impossible to think of life without him.
I was walking home, my parents had warned me to be home on time for supper. Sal and I didn't have our own house yet, and both of us still lived at our parents' house. We will be graduating high school soon, and he promised to get me a beautiful cabin high up in the mountains when we were older. But for right now, I lived on a busy suburban street in an average sized house, as a waitress in a coffee shop just down the corner.
I heard my name being called, and turned around to see Sal waving his arms in the air with that goofy grin he always had on his face. He was across the street, his body occasionally being covered by the zooming cars on the street. I laughed when he looked both ways before casually walking across. His hands were in his pockets now, and he was grinning slyly at me.
Before I knew what was happening, a car drifted across the corner where my house was, knocked over my own mailbox and came barreling to where Sal stood. I tried to call out to him to move over, but still in his love struck daze, he didn't notice it coming. I squealed as his body went over the car, his head smashing into the windshield along the way before collapsing to the floor.
"Sal!" I screamed, running onto the road as the car swerved and left his hit-and-run victim to die.
He was unconscious, but from the way his body was losing blood it was only a matter of time before he died. My wolf began crying, feeling helpless that she couldn't save our mate. I gripped his gashes and tried to put pressure on his blood soaking clothes. I can't lose him, not after I met him four weeks ago. We mated a week after, and if he dies, then I die.
"Sal." I begged gripping his life fading body. "Please don't leave me. You can't do this to me, for goodness sake I never got the chance to tell you I'm pregnant."
"Fia correct?" I screamed when the croaky voice came suddenly behind me, and I blocked Sal's body from the cloaked person.
"Get help! He's dying, call an ambulance." I cried, looking helplessly at Sal's blood soaked body. "Please do something."
"I can save him." The cloaked person said, and from what I could tell it was a woman. "My name is Ayana."
"Ayana." I begged gripping his shoulders. "If you can save him then do it, please."
"There will be a debt to pay." She answered me huskily before crouching down beside me.
"Anything." I promised pushing my tears away as the woman assessed his damaged body.
"Saving his life will change him, he won't be the same." Ayana explained, her body fingers slipping from her cloak as she began to heal the small wounds on his face.
"As long as he lives." I nodded while brushing his blonde hair out of his smooth face.
"In order for me to completely save him, you will have to give me the child you are carrying and the ones after that to me." She ordered, and when she turned to look at me I noticed the exhilarating blue color they were.
"Yes just save him." I pleaded to her and that was when she nodded at me before placing her hands over Sal's body and chanting.
I watched as a purple hue formed from Sals chest before sinking in. His body jolted, and his breathing became regular and steady. Now he looked like he was just a sleeping boy in the middle of the road. I breathed in relief, running my hands through his blonde hair in relief.
"Don't forget the children you owe me." Ayana croaked while standing up.
"No."
"What?" She seethed out, her blue eyes narrowing at me.
I dug in my boot to look for the object that was always latched to my ankle. My dad told me that one day I may need it to protect myself. Now, I was protecting my child and the many I plan to have. Pulling the knife out, I shoved it through her left eyes before slashing it across her other one. She cried in pain before doubling over.
She hissed at me, her eyes dripping with blood and tears. "You will pay for that, you will never see your child after the day it is born."
"You will never know what he or she looks like." I stated plainly. "You will never see again."
Fia finished her story in tears, and Sal looked down at the ground in shame. I knew he felt like he was to blame for all this mess, but it wasn't true. It was the person who hit him that was at fault for everything that happened to our family after that. Fia was guilty because she had made the deal.
"I made the witch blind, hoping that when she went looking for you she would never find you." Fia explained, her watery tears gleaming in front of my mom.
"I don't understand." My mom whispered, her own tears pricking in her eyes. "Why would she come to you of all people? Hit-and-run's are fairly common, and the victims are hardly ever saved."
"She is a very powerful witch, and has been able to keep herself alive for at least two centuries." Fia clarified. "She may have gotten a vision about either you or daughter that involves her somehow."
"Wait." I looked over at my dad who looked to be more than just interested in this conversation. "If Ayana was blind before Celia was born, then why did you send her away?"
By now there was a headache growing, and I placed my hand on my forehead to try to make it go away, but it was to no avail. Lucian glanced at me worriedly, rubbing my shoulders affectionately before kissing my forehead in reassurance. Maybe he knew I was slipping into these weird visions, or at least having a killer headache.
"About a day after Celia was born I found a note in my kitchen saying Ayana was coming for our daughter." Fia gripped Sal's hand tightly, her tears flowing down her cheeks. "So we took her to an old friend."
I knew it was coming before Fia finished her final sentence. Bracing for it, I gripped onto Lucian's arm when I was taken back by the memory. My eyes shut tightly together, and I shivered when I realized I was no longer in my own body.
I gripped my sleeping baby tightly in my arms, her head nuzzled comfortably on my chest. Sal was walking behind me, is face blank from any emotion. Ayana warned me that Sal would change after his resurrection, but I never thought he would be the opposite of the man I loved. He was quiet all the time, and hardly uttered a word. He wasn't as bubbly as I remembered, and the dimple that showed when he smiled never appeared. It was like facing a whole new other person, and I didn't know if I liked it or not.
I shuffled through the snow, my knees digging deep into the cold flooring. Celia opened her eyes and giggled when she saw the beautiful night sky above her. Her hands moved around to grip my face, but when she noticed the cold air outside her cotton blanket she shrieked and nuzzled into me instead.
Noticing the faint glow of the house in the distance, I could already feel my stomach churn with nerves. I couldn't do this, but after receiving a note that my baby was going to be taken from me I have to do this for her. This may break my heart, but I need to make sure she is as safe as anyone. The only person who will keep her safe is the person who is the most feared.
I took the two steps that led the front door, the porch light immediately illuminating. Sal stayed near the steps, glancing at his daughter one last time before directing his eyes to the ground. I breathed in a husky breath before knocking twice, shifting Celia in my arms as I did so. My heart sunk when I heard a dark groan, and loud menacing footsteps echo through the house.
The door swung open, the hinges groaning as the person stepped into the chilly night with a colder stare. When his dark eyes landed on me, his eyes softened and he looked down at the bundle of giggles in my arms. He blinked, his eyes directing behind me for a moment before turning back to look at me.
"Fia?" He asked, running the sleep from his eyes angrily. "What are you doing here? It's almost midnight and I have an early pack meeting tomorrow."
"We need your help, Zaire." I glanced down at Celia who was now looking at me with confused golden eyes. The sparkled off of the stars above and the lightbulb not far from her head.
Zaire glanced at Sal again. "Good to see you, friend."
"Not under this circumstance." Sal only replied, looking away from his childhood friend. Zaire only sighed before looking at Celia again.
"She's beautiful." He acknowledged making me smile gently at him. "What's her name?"
"Celia."
"What can I do to help you and Celia?" He asked, running his hand through his bedhead hair.
"We need you to take her." I dead planted, looking painfully at my daughter.
"Take her?" He looked at me as if I has grown two heads, and turned to Sal for confirmation, which he received.
"We want you to raise her, protect her as best as you can." I explained and rocked Celia in my arms when she started crying. This only brought tears to my own eyes, and I had to blink them away.
"I can't do that. This is your daughter not mine." He argued, looking horrified between myself and the baby in my arms.
"She's in danger as long as we're around her. We know what you do, and we want you to do the same to her. If they know who she is, then she'll be taken and Moon Goddess knows what else. Make her unrecognizable, even for me." Once I finished I knew I had Zaire. He wouldn't turn down the possibility of changing the looks of a person to his idea of perfection. As much as it hurts to see him change the way she looks, it's for the best.
"I'll make her skin as white as the moon, and hair the color of the snow." He promised, as if telling me I would be able to see her again and should know what she looks like. "Her eyes will be the most beautiful violet the world has ever seen, and she'll have the most flawless heart-shaped face."
"Thank you." I nodded, handing out the infant toward him. He hesitated. "I need you to protect her, and if I somehow have another child, then I pray you will take that one in as well."
"You have my word." He agreed, before taking Celia carefully in his arms. My daughter already looking weird in a man's arms that isn't her fathers.
Tears spilled onto Celia's forehead as I leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "I love you Celia, you'll always be the most beautiful star in the sky, no matter how different you look when we meet again."
"You handed me over to the man who tortured me for half of my life!" My mom shouted, pulling out of my dad's hold and storming over to Fia.
My mind felt dizzy, and I could hardly notice that event going around me because it kept going in and out of focus. However, I knew immediately that my own mother had slapped her own just by the loud snap that echoed off the walls. There was a gasp, and I'm not sure it was from me or the other bystanders around the area. I gripped Lucian's shirt, but he only seemed to take my weak plea for help as a way to get comfort after witnessing my mother's violent attack.
There was shouting from my mom, betrayal clear in her voice as she cried. Lucian held me close to him, his arm holding up my entire body weight. My face felt hot and my body was clammy, but I pressed to pay attention to what was going on around me. Lucian kept giving me worried glances after noticing how weak I looked.
"Babe are you okay?" He whispered in my ear, he pushed a stray hair away from my face and examined me worriedly.
"I don't know." I rasped, entwining my fingers in his grey sweater.
"Do you need a doctor?" I shook my head, believing this was something a doctor couldn't help me with. Instead, I tried to pay attention to the shouting going on in front of me.
I noticed that Fia looked to be in more pain than ever. Obviously being slapped was not a good thing because her injuries has most likely been shaken up. The hand print on her cheek was noticeable as she tried to calm down my raging mother. Even my dad was trying to soothe her a bit to let Fia explain, but I could see the fury clear in his eyes.
"What about Logan? Did you do the same?" My mom asked, her hand gripping Fia's shirt.
"It was for all my children, you and your brother." Fia cried. Never have I seen this woman look so broken than she is now. "I had to protect you."
"Because of your protectiveness you are to blame for Logan's death! My baby brother!" Mom was breaking into more cries of pain, and it hurt me to see her this way. Family must mean so much to her.
Fia's face turned to a sheet as she stared at her daughter in awe. My heart throbbed when I noticed she probably had no idea about this. She was expecting to see all her children together, and finally mend her broken family. Who knew it was broken more years ago than thought possible.
"What are you talking about?" Fia asked in shock. "Logan is still back in the pack I left him in, Zaire's old pack."
"Zaire's mate killed Logan over jealousy." My mom bit letting out a warning snarl.
Fia's face opened up in utter horror, and she covered her mouth at the news. Where my mother had feared that she had lost one of her children to death, me, Fia had lost it for real. Sal looked over at Fia in concern, his face not seeming to be heartbroken or torn. Maybe he knew, or maybe it was the resurrection he had that rid his body of feeling anything such as pain. He should be grateful he doesn't need to feel that kind of pain.
My mom's eyes widened in realization after yelling at her mother, and she looked over at my dad in worry. Fia was crying, and I couldn't bear to watch her in pain any longer. I buried my face in Lucian's chest, but a wave of nausea hit me. I shook my head and took a step back, my hand still holding onto Lucian.
"Penny?" He asked, and I looked tiredly into his eyes.
I felt my eyes roll to the back of my head, and my legs collapse underneath me. My body began to fall towards the hospital room flooring. However before I fit it, a pair of arms caught me, and I slipped into unconsciousness.
______________________________________________________*(A/N)*
Hello and Happy Sunday!!!!
I've missed you guys all week and have been excited for this chapter for such a long time!! I mean..the truth about basically EVERYTHING has been revealed! Fia blinded Ayana, Celia made almost the exact same deal Fia made, and now we know why Zaire did what he did to Celia! Poor past Fia and baby Celia! Did you like the memories slamming into Penelope's head?
I really hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and please tell me what you guys think! It would be awesome. BIG MAJOR QUESTION!:
What do you think is going on with Penny and these weird memories?
The answer will definitely be revealed next chapter, so stay tuned!
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Xox