Chapter 17
~Lucie's POV~
Fear crept onto Clarie's face as she stared at Shaun Mercer, as the layers of her façade began to crumble around her. Only a select few called Shaun by his first name
"Not now Shaun. Mother doesn't want her yet." Mother? As in my mother? Why the hell would Clarie be calling her that? I thought she hated her as much as I did...
"Are you still playing that little game with her? Does she still honestly think that you two are friends? That you haven't been using her this whole time?"
"Be quite Mercer, you don't know what you're talking about,"
"Of course not, it's not like I was in on the whole plan on you befriending Lucie and keeping an eye on her for her parents or anything," Mercer said sarcastically, with a menacing grin. All the breath left my body in a gasp as I watched Clarisse step up to Mercer and slap him across the face. That was the last thing that I was expecting her to do.
"Well I guess now we will have to take her won't we?" I felt all the hairs on the back of my neck rise. Something wasn't right. My heart started to race and adrenaline was pumping through my veins at an alarming rate.
"That won't be necessary anymore Mercer. Anteagian and I just wanted to come see our baby girl for ourselves. Isn't that right sweetie?" The woman I had called mother all these years coed at Anteagian.
"I'm sure you're aware that your brother made an attempt on our lives recently? What a pity if you ask me. And I had such high hopes for him."
"He isn't my brother, he's Vera's," Anteagian and my mother froze at my words, each sharing a cautious glance with each other before responding.
"So you've meet her than? I guess we couldn't kept it a secret forever could we?"
"Seriously that's all you say about your own flesh and blood? One's a secret and the other's a disgrace? Why are you so concerned about me anyways? I'm not your daughter anyways, I'm Eron and Jenessa's daughter."
"Don't you dare speak their names? We are your parents! We raised you! I nursed you, I feed you, I bathed you!"
"Do you honestly think that that is what matters most? I wanted parents, that weren't just obsessed with killing people. I wanted a family with loving siblings, Christmases that weren't spent strategizing our next kill, birthdays where I received things other than knives. I wanted a life!"
"We could do that for you Lucielu! Just come back to us, give us a second chance!"
"Second change? You've had seventeen years! Why do you think now would be any different? After I found out that you lied to me all these years? Now that I've found my real family, that love me even though they've known me for days! Tell me this do you love me or do you love what I could offer you? A chance to wipe out the race that you so desperately hate? Tell me that you don't just want to you use me and I'll come back to you, the Hunters, willing." There was an audible pause and I rolled my eyes. Of course they just wanted to use me I'd known that from the start and so had the many hunters that even now stood by her side.
"What about you? What about all of you? Could you say that you'd faithfully follow me? That you would follow the child of the people who you so despise so much?"
"You think that you were our first option? We tried experimenting on Darcy but when he was born he was just like every other hunter!"
"What do you mean you experimented on my brother?"
"So he's your brother now that you know we hurt him? How hypocritical..,"
"What did you do to Darcidian?"
"Nothing much, just had a witch do some experiments on him when he was in utero and after right after he was born." I felt anger swirl around me at Mercer's words. I wasn't there first mishap. They had used a witch before this... all I needed to know now was what witch.
"I'm assuming that you used the same witch for both experiments, the only question is what witch would be crazy enough to go behind a werewolf pack not only once, but twice?"
"Try looking close to home," Mercer laughed, hinting at what I could only guess the truth was.
"Shut up, Shaun," Soon pieces started to fit together and I nearly gasped out loud when I figured it out.
"It's her isn't it? It's the Shadowswood Pack witch isn't it," the lack of denial confirmed my suspicion. I ran my fingers through my hair. This couldn't be possible. Why would someone so dedicated to pack life do this?
Unknowingly I had started to wonder away from the group of hunters and it wasn't until one of them spoke up that I realized I was drifting away from all of them.
"Where do you think you're going, mutt?"
"Don't call her that Mercer. So is one of us and don't you forget it."
"She's a werewolf, that's what she is, and don't you forget it," Mercer seethed, inching closer to me his hands fisting at his side.
"Shaun, I'm sick of people telling me what to do! She doesn't desire this! She deserves to die like the vermin she is!" Before I could blink a hand struck my face so hard it vibrated through my whole body. Unconsciously I let out a loud howl that gravitated from the tips of my toes to the roots of my hair.
"What have you done? You've called them!"
"Who did I call?"
"All of them. Every single last werewolf in a 100 mile radius."
"What how?"
"Something the witch dabbled in, the ability to lure werewolves to you with a single howl. It would be useful when setting a trap for them."
"What else did she do to me?" I screamed my voice now frantic as a range of possibilities soared through my head.
"Things you wouldn't begin believe... now my dear daughter it is time we leave before a posse of angry werewolves attacking us. We don't need any more hunter deaths in the near future. Just one more thing daughter dearest, Darcy is preparing for war I hope that you are too." Soon thousands of feelings overwhelmed me at once and the shapes in my vision began to blur. At the sound of my name darkness consumed me and a veil of darkness swept me away from one form consciousness to the next.
~☾~
~Casey's POV~
Time seemed to slow around me as an inhuman howl filled the night air, awakening every fiber of my being. Lucie. I knew it was her but something about that howl wasn't right. It didn't just call me to her as a mate, it called to me as a werewolf, as if it was urging me to go defend her, not for the sake of her being mine but for something much greater something that I couldn't quite grasp. I looked around, seeing as my pack mates were following blindly the howl of my mate. Their faces matched mine, confusion and awe. How was she doing this? How was someone luring us out of our homes and into the forest? It was as if the moon herself was pulling us towards Lucie, taking each of our steps for us.
"Alpha what's happening?" Piran called out, his eyes frantic as he searched my own for a sign that told him I knew what was happening, but in all honesty I was as clueless as he was. And it scared me. Something is pulling us out there... something beyond the laws of werewolves. Something that shouldn't be possible.
Before I knew it Lucie was at my feet, convulsing lightly. I scooped her up into my arms tilting her back slightly. Her eyes opened revealing her stormy grey eyes covered with a pale white filmy covering.
"What's happening to our Luna? Does anyone know?"
"Where is Silvia? Surely she must know?" Someone called out from the crowd.
"I haven't seen Silvia since before Lucie arrived... has anyone seen her recently?"
"No... you don't think she could be responsible for this could you?" Piran asked, all of a sudden I felt a pull in my chest and for once I didn't like the feeling. Our pack witch could very easily be the one responsible. And that very much scared me. Because for once, I had no idea what was going on. And it terrified me more than anything had a right to.
"Hunters! There were hunters her! At least twenty!" I heard Dominic call out.
"Clarisse was with them," I heard someone else say and a pained expression crossed Dominic's face.
"I don't think this was a coincidence Alpha. I think that Clarie was involved."
"Why would you say that?"
"I heard her on the phone once, with someone named Mercer. He wasn't from around here. I'm pretty sure he was a hunter,"
"Why didn't you come to me before?"
"Would you honestly want to turn in your mate for treason? I wanted to try to handle it myself. And look how that turned out. We can't lose Lucie. I don't know what another death will do to my sister. Kai cares about Lucie. She sees our mother in her, and trusts her. These days it doesn't seem like Kaija trust anyone but herself. Save her Casey. For all of us."
"I will, even if I have to track down Silvia myself to do it."
~
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Hey everyone! I'm back! The semester is over which means I finally have time to write again. Thankfully I got Word for my birthday so my writing should improve a bit, because before I was using Google Docs which defintly wasn't something I ever want to have to revert to again. Thanks for your patience!
~Kali