*Ciana*
After Warren left to go back, I ran through the garden to get away from the stage. Instead of running away, I knew I needed to help. Warren and Theo were in danger!
The only other person that cared about them both was Maggie. If anyone could stop this, it was her.
I found Maggie in her room. She looked much better than she had before the play. I guess she really did feel a lot happier after seeing the performance. What a difference being in good spirits could make.
“Maggie! Please help! You have to stop them,” I panted out the mont she looked up at .
Maggie creased her brow. She rose from her bed and grabbed the footboard, steadying herself. She was still pretty weak. Suddenly, she started to cough, and was barely able to catch her breath.
I saw a pitcher of water next to her bed and I went over, poured her a glass and handed it to her. She smiled in thanks and took a few sips, which seed to soothe whatever was bothering her.
“Please, tell what happened?” she urged after she was finally able to talk, her eyes lit up with confusion.
“Warren and Theo are in danger,” I blurted out, getting straight to the point.
The glass I just handed her trembled and slipped from her fingers, smashing on the floor. I grabbed Maggie’s arm to pull her away from the shards before they cut her bare feet.
“Warren and... did you say Theo?” she asked, creasing her brow.
“No ti to explain much but Tallis is Theo. Demarco is working with Luther to try to capture them both. You’re the only one who could help... to persuade Demarco. Please help!” I begged, tightening my hand on her wrist.
Maggie’s brow creased deeper, like she was processing the few details I gave her. “Right, let’s go,” she said with a nod.
I looped my arm through hers for support and I hurried back to the stage area, as fast as I could. Maggie had a little trouble keeping up and I didn’t want to make her worse by rushing her.
When we arrived, I stopped dead and stared, gasping. Beside , Maggie sucked in a sharp breath and I felt her arm quiver in mine.
Theo was in wolf form, bearing down on Demarco. Maggie’s husband wouldn’t last much longer against him. He looked beaten and bruised, and I was pretty sure his hind leg was broken.
A few dozen wolf bodies lay scattered on the ground, dead. Their eyes were frozen in the last emotion they’d ever felt, and a lot of them reflected absolute, chilling terror.
I felt ice sliding down my spine, paralyzed by what I was seeing.
“That’s... is that really... Theo?” Maggie whispered in a small, surprised, and seemingly frightened voice.
“Yes, that is Theo, I promise,” I said, nodding. I wasn’t sure if she still didn’t recognize him or if it scared her to see her brother like that.
Maggie’s face got even paler and her arm slipped from mine. I was about to run after her when I saw a familiar form on the ground.
“Oh Goddess....” I gasped as I recognized it was Warren and imdiately ran to check on him.
He was so pale and bleeding from the shoulder. It looked like he lost a lot of blood. There was a small pool of red under him.
A silver dagger laid not too far away from where he was. It looked to that he was wounded by it.
“Warren, Warren, are you alright?” I asked, shaking him a little. He mumbled sothing, but he was unconscious.
I checked his pulse. Thank the Goddess he still had a heartbeat! When I looked up, I saw Maggie running toward Theo and Demarco.
“STOP!” she cried, holding her arms up to them.
Warren blinked several tis, catching my attention again. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to smile at . I smiled back, but my face fell when I saw Warren go even paler.
“NO—!” he cried. He sat up abruptly and reached out his arms to Maggie in the air.
I spun around, and saw Maggie’s body collapsing down on the ground in front of Theo as she gasped, “...please... spare Demarco...”
Theo’s wolf seed to be as shocked as Warren. Both of them had the sa bulging eyes as they stared at Maggie’s frail body. She twitched and turned her head to look at Warren.
“Thank the Goddess...Warren... you’re alright...”
Her voice trembled as she spoke, and then her eyes faded and she was gone.
Demarco shifted back to his human form.
“Maggie!” he cried out in pure anguish and desperate pain.
“No, oh no, no.... Maggie, MAGGIE—!” He crawled up and pulled Maggie’s soft body into his arms, tears stread down his cheeks.
His handso face twisted. After a few monts of sobbing, he turned to Theo and yelled hysterically, “You killed her! You killed your own sister, you fucking monster! Now you’re happy? You sick, twisted fuck!”
Demarco wobbled on his broken leg, but I could see in his eyes that he still had enough strength in grief to attack Theo.
Theo shuddered and turned back into human form. He covered his face with his hands.
“I didn’t an to... What have I done?” he whispered, his eyes on Maggie in utter disbelief.
Luther let out a wild, maniacal laugh. I’d almost forgotten he was there!
“Yes, YEEES! You see! You’re just a freaking murderer! You can’t control it! You can’t help it!” he cried out joyously, “Starting with Maggie, kill them, kill them all! Those who you care about and those who care about you, kill them all! And you, you pathetic monster, you deserve the longest, darkness, endless loneliness and pain!”
Everything happened too fast. Ti seed to have stopped and I couldn’t follow what was going on until Warren’s weight sank back into my arms.
At that point, all I could force out was one word.
“Theo...”
***
*Theo*
I didn’t want to see Maggie’s dead, lifeless eyes, but I couldn’t look away. My hands weren’t enough to shield my eyes and I saw her final expression, frozen in place for all eternity. That expression seared itself onto my brain.
What had I done?
No. No. This couldn’t be happening!
Shaking my head, I looked around at the others. My body and mind were completely numb.
Demarco was screaming at and pointing. He hobbled around on a broken leg, the hatred in his eyes enough to fuel him in a fight against . I could see his lips moving but I couldn’t hear the words he was shrieking.
Whatever he had to say, I deserved it.
My own half-sister... I’d killed my own sister!
My eyes traveled to Warren. He had passed out again. Monts ago, he’d been willing to take a dagger for . Now... he’d probably never look at again.
No one should ever look at again!
Ciana... I couldn’t look at her. I turned away from all of them.
Muffled voices rang in my head but I couldn’t make sense of them. Over and over again I blinked, but that look on Maggie’s face was all I could see. When I closed my eyes, it was there. When I opened them, it was still there.
The mont of terror when she realized I was taking her life; that fear when death gripped her, and the blank, staring gaze when life finally left her eyes.
I could never remove her final expression from my mind!
I shouldn’t. I should be reminded of what I did forever. Maybe now... Maybe now I’d finally accept that I didn’t deserve to have the privilege of being close to anyone.
“Theo...”
My na was the only word I heard through the fog and numbness. Who was calling ? My brain wasn’t able to tell.
I looked over my shoulder and spotted Luther on the ground, laughing and looking completely crazy. However, his reaction was irrelevant.
Whoever he was, a sly rebel, a deadly foe, or a cunning conspirator, at this point, it didn’t matter.
Howling, I ran off the stage and out into the gardens. If anyone called to or ran after , I didn’t need to stick around to find out. I just needed to be far away as fast as possible.
How had I let myself get that out of control? I didn’t know. What was even more horrifying was that I did it without touching her, or without feeling anything!
Was it a sign that I was finally, really, fully going out of control?
Why did this happen?
Was it because Warren took a dagger for ? I’d never had anyone that would do that to protect . It infuriated to see him hurt like that, because of .
So I’d just unleashed it all and I hadn’t been able to stop!
And then, to repay his kindness, what did I do? I took Maggie’s life in front of Warren’s eyes!
All Maggie wanted... All she wanted was to help.
Goddess, even if I was dood for my fate, what did either of them do to deserve such cruelty?
No, they didn’t. It was just . My mother’s words from many years ago rang in my ears.
They died because you.
I forced myself to act on what had to be done.
Opening my mindlink, I made my first order. ‘Greg and Sherry, you guys co back to Vaner. Protect Warren and Ciana.’
‘Got it, Alpha. Is everything o—’
‘Don’t look for ,’ was my second and last order before I cut the connection.
“Theo!”
Again, soone called to , but I had to shut my mind off to the voices and the emotions. If I let them overtake now, I’d lose control all over again.
There was only one thing that mattered at this point— it was getting out of here before anyone else got hurt.
My paws pounded into the soft, grassy ground and I ran, panting. I ran until my lungs burned and my legs ached, the injuries from my fight and beating from Warren finally catching up to .
When I made it to a quiet, dark place in the woods, I flopped down on the ground, laying my head against my paws.
The only thing left for to do was hide and keep this hideous monster away from the rest of the world.
#
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