CHAPTER 74: CHAPTER 74

My eyes felt extremely heavy. It dawned on me that I hadn’t gotten proper sleep. I hadn’t rested since travelling to Veilwood. My limbs ached and I could barely move any part of my body. Even when I moved something as little as my fingers, it hurt like I had broken them.

The room was quiet now, as if all of us had concluded we won’t escape and were just thinking about the end of our lives.

Father stared into empty space, his eyes looked sunken, reddish and swollen. He sighed multiple times and shook his head. The dim candlelight in the room had begun to go off. The room was almost dark. I could barely see the look on Sasha’s face because of the dim room, and how she sat at the far end away from me.

"What do we do now?" A shrill voice which was Sasha’s rang through the darkness.

"I don’t know," I responded in a hollow voice. Truly, I had no idea of what to do next. If we could try mindlinking till we reached someone, if we should try breaking out, or if we could just sit and allow our fate to consume us.

A sigh escaped Sasha’s lips, accompanied with the a gust of wind blowing through the windows that were protected with metal bars.

The candlelight wavered from the breeze and finally went off, leaving us in obscure darkness.

No one spoke again for the remaining minutes. Even in the enclosed empty room, I wasn’t saved from the bugs that flew around. They perched all over my body, causing extreme discomfort. Worse was my hands were bound and I could barely stretch to swat them away.

I shut my heavy eyes, trying hard to sleep the discomfort away. I was tired, but for some inexplicable reason, sleep continued to elude me.

I could already hear snores in the darkness. It sounded deep like it was from father. It was pitch black and I couldn’t see anything or anyone.

"Sasha," I called out, just to hear her voice to confirm if she was sleeping.

I didn’t get an answer. I exhaled deeply, suspecting that she was already asleep.

A bug flew around my ear. I raised my hands to swat if off, but my movement was restricted and I couldn’t touch my ears.

I slumped my shoulders and succumbed to my fate. The hope I had it me was just like a drop of water. It was hope that mother wouldn’t kill us immediately.

I couldn’t fall asleep for a long while. I was uncertain how many hours had passed.

I thought about Trevor. I thought about the times we laid together in bed and how we cuddled like it was us against the world. I tried to imagine him by my side, stroking my hair and whispering sweet nothings to me while we slept.

I imagined Trevor beside me till I began feeling a bit of warmth. It was working. My eyes begun fluttering shut, calling me to sleep.

I shut my weary eyes and in a final beat, I fell asleep.

I had a dream. I knew it was a dream because everything I saw didn’t look normal. It looked like the vision I had of Veilwood burning, except for the fact that the burning place wasn’t Veilwood.

The environment was destroyed to the extent that I almost didn’t recognize it to be Trevor’s rogue territory.

I took a hand to my mouth as I met piles of body lying on the floor. Mother was suspended in midair, wearing a dark cloak and her hands firmly held up like she was conjuring a spell.

Several armed men wielded swords at her command to slaughter everyone they saw.

It seemed I was stuck in a vision because she couldn’t see me.

"Kelin!" I screamed as I spotted one of the bodies Azazel stood on top. She was still alive faintly. I ran towards her and Azazel immediately drove the sword into her neck, killing her completely.

I tried to touch her, put my hand passed through like I touched water. It was a vision, there was nothing I could do.

Another study of the dead bodies revealed Brian sandwiched among them. His body already begun looking blue.

"No. No. No." I screamed and reached for mother who was in the air, but my hand simply passed through.

How did Brian even get into the rogue lands? Was this vision trying to tell me something?

"Trevor!" It was like a part of my senses was ignited. I scanned through all the collapsed bodies, but I couldn’t find him. My heart sank instantly.

"Trevor!" I shouted once again. I pushed myself through the corpses and dashed into his ruined castle. He still wasn’t in sight.

I screamed his name multiple times, with panic rising in my chest.

I woke up, filled with terror and a deep sense of dread. I still murmured Trevor’s name. I touched my chest which was beating heavily.

Was that a fever dream or was it a vision of something to happen?

We mindlinked Trevor and Brian and it didn’t go through. I gasped. Could it be that it was a vision that showed what had already happened?

Could Brian be in the rogue lands, dead and lying in a pool of his own blood? And worse, what could have happened to Trevor?

A dreadful chill ran down my spine, causing me to feel instant cold, even in the heat.

I heard the snores of father and Sasha, they were still asleep, unaware of the fears I was currently battling.

I wished I could clutch my feet closer to my chest and comfort myself, but that wasn’t possible.

"Nothing should happen to Trevor. Nothing should happen to my mate." I recited it multiple times like it was a mantra. I could only hope that the moon goddess would hear my pleas.

I could only wonder what time it was, if it was still night, or if it had gotten to the early hours of the morning. I glanced at the window, and the sky was still dark. I got my answer when the sky began to get clearer. It was the early morning hours.

I let out a heavy sigh, unable to belief I had spent my night in this strange place.

I heard footsteps approaching and pretended to sleep. I squinted my eyes in a way I won’t look like I was awake. Azazel looked around the room before walking over to Father who was sleeping and shaking him roughly.

Father jerked awake in a scared manner. His eyes were slightly reddened. He looked nervous as Azazel crouched lower to his level on the ground.

"Old Alpha. It’s your turn." He grabbed father by the shoulder and forced him to his feet.

Father struggled, trying to wriggle himself free, but Azazel harshly hit him on the neck, forcing him to comply.

"Where are you taking me?" Father whimpered as he was dragged out.

Azazel responded with a deep gruff and pulled him further towards the exit. Sasha woke up to the noise in the room.

"Father!" She screamed at the to of her voice. "Leave him alone! Leave him!" She tried to break free from her cuffs and tears welled up in her eyes as she sobbed and shouted.

A deaf ear was paid to her and father was taken out, to where none of us knew.

"Maria, where are they taking him?"

I shook my head. "I don’t know."

I had pretended to be asleep the entire while because I knew that even if I fought, nothing would be solved. I had shouted, screamed and kicked when Alice was taken away, but it didn’t solve or change anything.

Sasha continued sobbing. I felt pity for her inasmuch as I felt for myself.

Trevor remained on my mind. I wanted to see him and know he was alright. I glanced as Sasha once again. She was in a disheveled state and I doubted if she’d be able to handle the vision I saw if I told her.

I won’t tell her. I couldn’t make any conclusions if Brian or Trevor were gone. It could just be a fever dream.

I shut my eyes to get some clarity and clear my head from all the spiralling thoughts. "Trevor isn’t dead. Brian isn’t dead. The lands wouldn’t die." I assured myself with those words even though I wasn’t sure if I believed my own statements.

I had a gut feeling that mother didn’t only want to destroy us. She also wanted to destroy werewolf lands. That vision even buttressed my thoughts.

A wild thought entered into my head. The forger.

What if...what if mother was actually the forger who Trevor and Triton spoke about? What if she was the one responsible for the disappearance of the women of Veilwood?

Thinking of it, mother never wore her veil like the rest of the people. Maybe she wasn’t scared of the predator because she was the predator.