I don't know where I am, but I know this is the worst way to wake up.
My hands are strapped to a table, and bright white lights are above my head. I tried to move, pulling against the straps, but it was no use, nothing was working.
Where the hell am I? I couldn't see anything because of the lights, which made me panic, I tried to talk to my wolf but I couldn't feel her that made me even more worried than I was.
The last thing I remembered was being dragged from the jeep and someone placing a cloth over my mouth. I tried to call Atticus for help, but Anya had blocked his view. And he hadn't been looking in my direction either.
I remember feeling terrified, trying to catch anyone's attention. It was the one time I wanted eyes to be on me, and magically no one was seeing what was happening to me.
No one saw me being kidnapped. I was reliving the horror, and it made me feel worse than l already did.
I saw Anya saying something to Atticus. That's the last thing I remembered before everything went black. Now I'm awake and strapped to a table with no idea how long I’ve been here.
There were multiple machines around me, I could hear them, and I wasn't sure what they were used for. A shiver runs down my spine as I wonder if those things will be used on me.
I was trying to stay positive, but no matter how I looked at it, this wouldn't be easy on me.
"Look who's finally awake.”
The voice echoed throughout the room, and my body went completely still. I didn't recognize the sound, it wasn't anyone I'd ever met
.
That crossed out any of our known enemies being responsible for my kidnapping. So then, who was this? What did he want with me? It was a male voice, I was sure of that part, at least. But it
didn't make me feel any better.
"Who are you?" I demand. "Where am I?"
"Thats the question you should be asking yourself, who are you? Do you even know who you are, Autumn Rosetta Reign?"
He was still far from my sight, his voice was the only thing that let me know I wasn't alone in the room.
"That's not my name." I snap. "I'm Autumn Rivera Fawn. I don't know who's Autumn Rosetta Reign and quite frankly, that's none of my business. Just get me out of here! I don't want to be here! You have no right to take me without my consent!"
He chuckles, "you're not leaving here without my permission. Not today, not ever. Your mother did an outstanding job at hiding you from us. If I had the opportunity to see her again, I'd tell her what a great job she did. Who would have thought that you were given to a billionaire and given a normal life to live like all those privileged rich kids? Not that it
mattered since we still found you in the end. I'd rather find you at this age where you can be of assistance to us than when you’re still just a child."
This man was insane. It's the only explanation I had for the nonsense that he was speaking. I wasn't given to a billionaire, I'm the daughter of a billionaire. he has to have me confused with someone else.
Was there someone else that looked just like me and had the name Autumn? The more I thought of his words, the more i was convinced that I had been kidnapped by a lunatic.
"I'm sorry that you have me confused with someone else. This is just some small misunderstanding. Can you please let me leave so there won't be any trouble? You don't know my family. They will be searching for me. I'm sure there are already
hundreds of people looking for me.My parents, Atticus, his parents, his siblings, my siblings, my friends, the academy, everyone will be out trying to find me. If you let me go, I'll let this slide. If you don't, things will get very difficult for you."I warn him.
I was trying to intimidate him and hoped that if I tried hard enough, he would feel pressured into letting me go. However, the chances were not very high.
"I'm very aware that people are searching for you."
He informs me. "But you're out of luck. They can't find you where we are. We're underground, you see. Not many people know about us. We stay hidden. And we've been waiting for you for a long time, princess."
Princess?
I was getting a freaking headache from every word coming out of this freak's mouth.
Who did he think he was? He had to be crazy to mess with me, knowing who my family was.
"This is your last chance to let me go," I growl.
I didn't want to show him my power, but if it were the only way to break free from his hold, I would do it. I was desperate to get away from him. I was desperate to return home to the people that loved me.
He laughs, "What can you do? Show me what you can do, and maybe then I'll consider letting you go. Come on, Autumn Reign. Impress me. Let me see what you got."
That was it. I hope he eats his words after I'm done with him.
My hands are shaking as I try to use a spell to free myself. I barely knew how to control my power, but I was willing to do anything at all right now.
However, nothing happens even though i'm trying the hardest I've ever done before. It shouldn't be this hard, the last few times I used my power, it flowed out of me. Maybe I'm not angry enough for it to work.
He chuckles, "Well, that was surprisingly entertaining. I should inform you that you can't
use your power. The straps on the table restrict your power and prevent you from using it. No matter how hard you try, nothing is going to happen as long as you're strapped to
that table."
I gasped, he knew about my power. Suddenly, I didn't think he'd kidnapped me while thinking I was someone else, it seemed like he knew more about me than I knew about myself. I was even more terrified now that I knew things were a lot more complicated than initially thought it was.
Maybe that's why I was here, to begin with. Because of my power. Why hadn't I thought of that at first?
The machines made sense now, the probability of them being used on me had just increased. I felt dizzy. I didn't know how to help myself. I didn't know what to do to get my freedom once more.
"You're suddenly very quiet. Do you realize now that you can't escape unless I want you to?" He asks.
"Who are you?" I whisper.
I could barely recognize my voice, the fear was hard to miss. I can tell that he heard it as well. I can sense his happiness from all the way over here.
He knew that he had trapped me. He knew that I was at his mercy. That's what he wanted all along, for me to realize that I didn't have any other options but to listen to him.
"Let's talk about you before we talk about me, shall we?" He asks.
I don't say anything. I didn't think I had a say in this.
He was going to tell me even if I said no. He's quiet as he waits for me to respond, but when I continue to remain silent.
he says, "I'll start by telling you about your father."
"I know who my father is." I snap.
I didn't need to know anything else about my own father. I grew up with him, I knew more about him than this stranger did.
"No." He cuts me off. "You don't know. Your father isn't some weak billionaire. Your father is a man with incredible power. The kind of power that terrified those around him. There's no one like him, no one of his kind that can beat that kind of power. Your father is none other than Azai Reign. The most powerful of his kind that ever walked the earth."
There is an awkward silence that follows after. He waits for me to say something, but I'm not sure how to respond. This had to be a joke.
Who the hell was Azai Reign? Why was I now hearing about him? If he was so powerful and people feared him, we would have learned about him at the academy by now. I paid attention to all my classes, I would have remembered a name like that.
He had to be messing with me. But why would he?
What would he achieve by lying to me about my father?
"I've never heard of an Azai Reign." I finally responded.
He sighs, "Because people were so scared of him that they chose to pretend like he never existed after his death. They burned every single paper that had his name on it, burned every picture. They shut his worshippers up and promised to destroy their lives if they ever spoke a word about him. They did everything possible to wipe every memory of him out of this earth. And they succeeded if you've never heard of him."
I took a deep breath, trying to stay calm despite everything that was happening around me.
"This is ridiculous." I snap. "We've never heard of him because he never existed. He's not my father. I know who my father is. He's a Rivera, not a Reign. What is the purpose of this lie? What do you want to achieve by lying to me?"
He laughs once more. "Oh, believe me, you are his daughter. You look just like him. You look more like him than you look like your mother. Have you never wondered why your family all look so different from you? Has it never bothered you that your so-called siblings all had similarities to your parents, but you never had any? I'm surprised that no one else knew sooner that you weren't their real daughter. I'm surprised that you never even recognized the obvious."
My breath hitched at his words because they were the truth. I didn't look like either of my parents, and I also had no resemblance to any of my siblings, even though my parents often tried to convince me that I did. I never had any reason to pay attention to it until now. I thought my parents were telling the truth, I thought I could trust them. Now I wasn't sure who had been telling the truth this entire time.
"So who exactly is this Azai Reign, who may or may not be my biological father?" l ask.
I was beginning to believe his story even though I never wanted to. I wanted to believe that my real parents were the same ones who raised me from a baby, I wanted to believe that my life wasn't a lie all this time. I wanted to believe that this man was lying to me.
However, l couldn't be naive. I had to listen to what he was saying. I had to find out what was a lie and what was the truth. The only way for me to know that was to pay attention and try to figure it out on my own.
The stranger takes a deep breath, almost like he was waiting this entire time just for me to ask that one question. I held my breath, waiting to hear the worst.
"He was the greatest sorcerer our world has ever known."
One second passed, Then another. And another.
I can't breathe.
A sorcerer?
A bloody sorcerer?
Was this where I got my power from? Was this why the power was beginning to consume me so much that I wanted to use it to get whatever I wanted whenever I was around Atticus?
It terrified me how greedy my power became whenever I was around him. Now I was more worried than before.
I didn't want to believe my real father was a sorcerer, but I couldn't deny the facts. I had to get my magic from somewhere. And it wasn't from the Rivera's. That left this to the Reign person.
"If he is my father, then who is my mother?" I ask.
He mentioned that she had done an excellent job hiding me from them. Why did she try to hide me? What did they want from me? Why was I here?
Those are all questions that I needed answers
"Your mother was a werewolf. She wasn't anyone as important as he was. She fell hard for him, he had that dark aura about him that women were quite drawn to. She was the only woman he made the mistake of getting pregnant. He had plans to
take over the world and to have one king, he wanted to be the only king. And he would have succeeded if your mother hadn’t betrayed him"
My mother betrayed him?
Did he truly want to take over the world? And why?
Why does anyone need to control the world?
What kind of psychopath was my father? If this story was indeed true, I was happy that I never had the chance to meet him. He was not someone I wanted to have raised me as a child. There is no telling the kind of person I would have been if I had been raised by him.
"How did my mother betray him?" I question, waiting for him to explain more.
He was still out of my view, and I had no idea what he looked like. His voice did not sound like an old man, he was young.
"She gave birth to not just you but two other babies. Your mother had triplets. Your other two siblings had the same dark symbol on their arms that your father had. A symbol to control the dark magic would have on them and the power they would have within. You Were the only one that wasn't born with the symbol. Your father felt that you were weak because of it and wanted to get rid of you. He never wanted to have a weak child. Azai underestimated your mother, he confided in her and told her the one way to kill him. She knew where to find the weapon, and while he was asleep one night, she murdered him before he could ever try harming you. Then she ran with you and your siblings. no one knows where the four of you
disappeared after that until now. Because you used your magic, we were able to find you. We couldn't find you before because you've never used it.
We're not sure why your power has suddenly awakened, but you are the daughter of Azai Reign, and because of that, you are a part of us."
A part of them? What the hell did he mean by that? I didn't want to be a part of evil. And that's what they were. Evil. Anyone that desired to take control over the world because of their greed for power was evil in my eyes.
I would never join something like that. I would never fulfill my father's wishes. I was better than that. I wasn't perfect, but I wasn't evil either. I knew that much about myself.
But what happened to my mother? He claimed that they never found her after the day she murdered my father and ran. And what about my siblings?
My entire life was flashing before my eyes. My parents weren’t my true parents. And my birth parents had a messed up life. My mother fell for an evil sorcerer and had triplets, I was one of them, but I had no idea where the other two were.
My mind was spinning with all of this new information. I didn't want to be a part of it. I was happy with my life before they kidnapped me and informed me of things I wish I didn't know.
Did this mean that I would become just as horrible as my father was? He did awful things, he wanted to rule the world. That was what he desired the most, and his power paved the way for that to become possible.
I've done that without even knowing about him. I used my power to seduce Atticus, I used my power that night and because of that he slept with me.
I felt sick to my stomach. I wasn't that different from my father. This wasn't good. My power was already beginning to control me without me even realizing it.
"From the look on your face, I can tell you finally believe me." He says.
"Why am I here?" I demand. "My father is dead. My mother and siblings are still missing, and for all we know, they're also dead, so why the hell do you want me? And who are you to my father? Why are you so determined to tell me these things about
him?"
There's a shuffling noise and the sound of a chair hitting the ground.
I held my breath as I heard footsteps, he was finally coming towards me. The light above me is suddenly switched to normal, and he's now standing next to me.
My eyes fall on the tattoo on the side of his neck that traveled down to his left arm. It's a tattoo of a serpent. My gaze travels to his face, and I'm faced with bright green eyes and a harsh jawline. He had a straight nose, a scar on his forehead, and a stubborn mouth. He wasn't as bad looking as I thought he would be. He was quite the opposite,
but scary.
"Your father was my leader. I was only nine when your mother killed him. He was who I looked up to, and he also trained me at a young age. I was supposed to serve his future children, just like my parents had served him. I made a promise to help finish what he started. To make your father proud of me. I've always wanted him to be proud of me.
That's what my parents have always taught me, to make Azai Reign proud."
This wasn't getting any better for me. I had to figure out a way to make him let me go. I needed to go home. I couldn't stay here.
"If you are meant to serve his children, doesn't that mean you must listen to my command? I don't think my father would have liked to see what you're doing to his daughter." I snap. "Let go of me now if you're determined to make him proud."
I was searching for anything, anything at all, to get him to listen to me. I wanted him to feel guilty. I wanted him to feel sorry for me. But the man in front of me clearly only had one thing on his mind.
And that was to make the dead sorcerer proud of him. He had a weird obsession with my biological father. I don't know what caused it, maybe his
parents are to blame.
"I'm sorry I cannot do that, princess." He tells me with a sinister smile. "You see, to fulfill your dad's dream, I will need you. I don't have either of your siblings. You are the only one that I have. I don't know the extent of your power, but you are Azai's daughter, so we need to train you. Once we get the hard part over, we can start the main plan."
It was my turn to laugh. He couldn't be serious. He thought that I would help him with this awful plan. How delusional was this man to believe something like that? They would have to kill me before I ever agreed to do what he was asking me to do.
Besides, I wasn't as powerful as my father. I had no idea how to control my magic. I barely knew any spells, and the only times I've ever used my power was because of Atticus and my love for him. Weirdly enough, he was the link to my power.
"What makes you think I would help you finish what my father started?" I demand. "I'm nothing like my father. My desire is not to rule the world. Why don't you do yourself a favor and move on from the past? Your leader is dead, why do you have to ruin your life for someone no longer
on this earth? He can never be proud of you because he isn't here. The smart thing would be to let me go, drop this stupid plan, and get on with your life."
"You never had the pleasure of knowing him. that's why you have nothing good to say. You don't understand what it's been like following in his footsteps. It's a shame that his own daughter has no idea how amazing he truly was. You should have been there to witness his power. It was mind-blowing. Every time I witnessed how powerful he was, I was left in awe. I can still see the images in my head. It's what keeps me going. I'm the key to keeping our people united even after his death. I'm their protector, and I will be your protector as long as you agree to help us get what we want."
"You said that he considered me his weakest child since I didn't have the dark symbol that my other siblings had. If you respect his decisions so much, shouldn't you also accept that he didn't want me to follow in his footsteps? He didn't have any hope in me. Why do you think I possess the kind of power that my father has? I don't. Listen to him and let me go."
He smiles, and there is pride in his face as he stares at me, "I was there."
I quirk a brow. He was where? What was he trying to say?
"Where exactly?"
"At the game."
I freeze.
I knew right away what he was referring to.
"l saw everything, Autumn. I have been watching you for a while. Waiting for a sign to know whether you were worth the trouble. I saw how you protected Atticus. Fearless, just like your father. He protected his own just like you protected yours. We
were always safe and respected because of him. All of that changed the day your mother killed him. I saw what you're capable of when you're angry. You used your power to make those men lose that game. You did a good job at it too. No one was able to tell that you were behind it. That is the kind of power we're looking for. And it's even better that you're Azai's daughter. You haven't even unlocked an inch of your true power. You don't realize just how important you are to your father's people. How
important you are to me."
Important to him?
"Is that why you have me tied to a table, unable to fend for myself?" I demand. "Because I'm important to you?"
"If i let you go. You're only going to try to run. It's not a risk I'm willing to take." He answers me.
"You're wasting your time," I shout. "I'm never going to help you. I have a family back home. I have a husband that I need to get back to. I'm sure he's losing his mind trying to find me. I want to get back to him. Please."
He quirks a brow, "your husband does not miss you. Everyone is already returning to their normal lives without you in it. It's almost like you never even existed, to begin with."
I roll my eyes. Did he expect me to believe such nonsense? My parents would never rest knowing I was missing. Clarissa, Damon and Dante would also be worried about me. And Atticus. I knew in my heart that he would be looking for me.
"You're crazy if you expect me to believe such a lie," I tell him. "They love me. they're all searching for me. You can't convince me otherwise. You can stop trying to make me lose hope."
"I'm not lying to you, Autumn." He assured me.
"Atticus has already moved on with his life. He's back with that woman he loves so much."
I froze. He couldn't be talking about Anya. Atticus already made it clear to me that everything with her was over. Clarissa told me how he stood up for me in front of her. I couldn't let this man get to me. He was trying to mess with my head. I couldn't let him win.
"Atticus would never do that to me." I snap. "He may have done so in the past, but he has changed. I'm the one he wants to be with. Not Anya. I don't believe a word you're saying to me."
He pulls his phone out of his pocket and types something in front of me.
"I hate showing you this, but you will have to see it eventually."
I narrow my eyes, waiting for him to show me whatever lies he has up his sleeve.
He points the phone at me, and I drag my gaze from his face to the screen in front of me.
It takes me a second, but when I finally see what he's showing me, my heart drops. It's pictures and videos of Atticus and Anya.
Recent pictures. They're holding hands, kissing, and back together and happier than ever.
No.
My heart could barely take what he showed me, one after the next, he wasn't stopping.
The pictures and videos kept coming at me. Like he was prepared to show this to me.
This couldn't be true.
Atticus wouldn't do this to me.
He wouldn't!