All hell broke loose. Murray and Fredric’s n shifted into their wolves and lunged for Maggie’s n. Everyone shifted and started to battle one another. All I could hear was the growling and snapping of teeth.
“No...” I heard Maggie say from beside .
A wolf lunged for her but she ducked just in ti to miss the attack. She stood to her full height and looked around the camp with wide eyes. She could no longer maintain her composure and I also saw anger swimming behind her irises.
She then turned to and growled. “You always ruin everything. Can you see what you have done? Luther will not stand for this!”
“Looks like you picked the wrong side.” I smiled. “Good always wins out in the end, Maggie. You just have to believe that.”
Her eyes were burning with fury, and she muttered under her breath as a couple of her confidants lunged at . “Take her with us. We’re out of here!”
They grabbed my arm roughly and dragged toward the forest. I tried to cry for help but everyone else was busy fighting and Maggie’s guards shoved sothing in my mouth so I couldn’t make a sound anymore.
“Don’t kill her!” Maggie ordered, “I need her wolf!”
I almost rolled my eyes and told her she was delusional, but I kept that to myself. It was best not to anger the lunatic.
They pulled past the tree line away from the battle.
I decided that now was as good a ti as any to play dumb, so I forced myself to fall over and hit the ground hard.
“Ah!” I groaned.
Maggie stopped and her guards tried to pull roughly to my feet. “What are you doing? Move!”
“My head, it’s spinning. I don’t know what’s wrong.” I only hoped that my acting skills were as good as I believed them to be.
She looked down at my knee and it was in fact bleeding. “Get up. You can still walk.”
I shook my head and pretended to pant heavily. “I can’t breathe. Everything is spinning.”
I fell to the ground again and pretended to be passed out.
I knew that she wouldn’t leave out here in the forest. I was too valuable to her. She needed because she wanted my wolf which she now believed gave immunity to Theo’s powers.
“Of course, she freaking fainted!” she groaned.
Then I felt soone lift up and drape my arm over their shoulders.
I kept my head hanging low and pretended I was unconscious the entire ti.
Now that I wasn’t worried that my life was in danger, I thought I could play along and see if there was anything else Maggie was planning.
The war cries from the battlefield sounded further and further away as we moved deeper into the forest.
I didn’t know how long we walked for but when they placed against what felt like a tree trunk, it was quiet. I knew these forests well and I knew that we were either near the eastern border or the southeastern one.
“You, reach out to Luther and request reinforcents; You, start patrolling the area and report back in a couple of hours,” Maggie ordered her two guards.
“Yes!”
Footsteps moved away from us and I was left alone with Maggie.
I wanted to understand Maggie more so I needed to figure out a way to keep her talking. But I couldn’t risk waking up. She would force us to move and I would much prefer to remain on packlands.
“Theo...” I mumbled under my breath.
I heard her snap, “What did you say?”
I waited for a beat and said his na again.
“No, no, no! Theo is not yours, he belongs to !” she muttered. I wasn’t sure whether she was talking to or to herself.
“You little witch! How dare you try to take him from ! He is mine! We have been through so much together. We have loved each other even before we knew what the word love truly ant.”
Did she truly believe that Theo loved her in that way? They were siblings. As far as Theo knew, they were born sharing half of their blood.
“At first, I didn’t really like Theo too much. He was always aloof, seemingly arrogant. He and Warren were so different!”
She drew her face closer to mine and placed her lips close to my ear. “Then, I found out that neither Warren nor I were Sebastian’s children! Could you understand how that felt? Every day and every night, I lived in constant fear of my cruel father finding out about the truth! I had to put up an ignorant face even in front of my mother!”
She sighed gently. “I worried that they would find us out eventually. So I made sure to keep close connections with Justin and Queen Regina. They were my safety net if you will. Justin was set to be the next king and I believed if I had the heir’s favor then Warren and I would be safe.”
She pulled away from . I could tell she started pacing back and forth based on the crunching of the leaves on the ground.
“But those two idiots had gone and committed treason! Could you imagine that just because I went to hang out with Justin sotis, I was also thrown in jail with them? Regina and Justin were sentenced to death and I knew it was only a matter of ti before I suffered the sa fate!”
It was a sha that none of Sebastian’s children had ever lived a normal childhood. I’d never been so thankful that I spent most of my childhood traveling with my parents or in the wild with the animals.
Maggie continued, “I had lost all hope. You would never understand the desperation of counting every second without knowing when it would be your last mont in the world. You watch those around you being pulled out from their cells one by one, and never return...”
She was trying to laugh but instead coughed a few tis. “You knew it was coming and you couldn’t escape. It was just so hopeless that I almost wanted to end myself. What was the point of enduring the tornt while you knew you were at death’s door?”
I sighed inwardly. I couldn’t imagine what kind of ntal torture she went through. I kept myself as still as possible hoping that she would continue to talk.
“But I was spared when that one person who was least expected ca to my aid. Theo pleaded my case to Sebastian. He told Sebastian that I had been in my room the entire ti and had nothing to do with treason, and Theo said I was as loyal as he was to the crown. After that, Sebastian released the sa night from the prison.”
She let out a sing-song sigh. I did my best not to contort my face in annoyance.
“But of course, I later learned that the king would not listen.” She said through gritted teeth. “That freaking bastard was ruthless and stubborn as a mule. But Theo went against his father for that ti.”
Her tone softened. “Ever since then I have tried to get close to him. I owed him my life. I wanted to thank him, but he kept his distance. I tried my best to approach him. He was like us, lonely and out of place in the royal palace. The more I followed him around, the more I was attracted to him, until one day, I realized that I couldn’t bear the thought of not seeing him or being with him. That was when I realized I was in love with him.”
My stomach churned.
“But then as ti went on, it seed like he would never see in that light. However, I never gave up hope. I went to pray to the Moon Goddess and one day, she responded to my prayer and gifted a special bracelet! It was her blessing...”
I had to try my hardest to keep my eyes from opening and glaring at her. That was how the bracelet got to Warren!
Theo lost it in the Moon Goddess temple, and Maggie picked it up thinking it was a gift from the Goddess herself. Later, before she got married, she decided not to keep this token of love for Theo and gave it to Warren.
“When I turned 21, I thought I’d be the happiest woman in the world, only to realize my mate wasn’t Theo! It must have been a mistake! Demarco is a good man, but he can’t be my mate. I didn’t want him to be my mate! I already knew who the love of my life was and nothing could change it! So, I did what any woman in my position would do. I sought out to suppress my mate sense with Demarco.”
My heart skipped a beat in my chest. What had she said? The mate sense and mate bond were sacred and shouldn’t be tampered with. Could she even manage to do that? Only the Moon Goddess had such power.
“So I found this prayer rock. I carved my wishes on it and went to the sacred altar. I pleaded with the goddess to reverse the curse she had placed upon . I loved Theo and he was ant to be mine. And that was where I t Luther.”
That was right... Luther was the owner of the Moonlit Crystal and he seed to be well versed in spells and curses. It was probably the Ortiz pack’s specialty. I’d seen both Nita and Luther use those spells and curses before.
“Again, the Goddess heard my prayer! Luther was able to suppress my mate sense without impacting Demarco! That was perfect! This was not an easy process for to undergo and my body has been weaker ever since, but Theo was worth it!”
I couldn’t explain how shocked I was. What Maggie did was such blasphemy to the Goddess and Demarco. I would never understand how overpowering and twisted Maggie’s obsession for Theo was. How could she descend into this utter madness?
“After it was done, I beca Luther’s ambassador. Slowly bringing people to his side to execute his plan upon Sebastian so that one day, I could be with Theo again. Thanks to his ability, he would never have a mate, and that’s perfect. I just needed to be around him, support him, love him...even as his sister, or his family. It doesn’t matter as long as we’re together!”
She paused for a mont, and I could tell she moved closer. “What I never accounted for was you. How you just ca into our lives and ssed everything up. When he had disguised himself as Tallis, I knew it was him from the mont I laid eyes on him. I was so happy that he ca to again! Then, I saw the way he looked at you and I couldn’t stand it!”
She moved toward again and this ti I could feel her hot breath fanning my face.
“He loves you. I saw it and I didn’t understand why. That look in his eyes was sothing that I had craved for years but never received. I didn’t understand how he could so easily give it to you. You don’t know him like I do. You will never be able to love him the way that I love him.”
She sniffed, she must have been crying. “But once I’m able to acquire your wolf, he’ll change his mind. And you...you must be removed from the equation. That’s all.”
I had heard enough.
I snapped my eyes open and lunged for her, tackling her to the ground. I didn’t give her enough ti to react. I grabbed her arm and twisted it until I heard the sickening crack that I had been after.
“You witch!” she shrieked. “You broke my arm!”
I saw a little erald stone and picked it up. I brought the stone close to my face and read the small inscription on it.
“That’s mine!”
‘Free of Demarco’s bond.’
It was her prayer that she had sent out. This was the wish she had made to the Moon Goddess.
I pocketed the stone and stared down at Maggie. And unrequited love was always painful but that was no excuse to beco a monster and betray everyone she knew and loved.
She had tears brimming in her eyes as she clutched onto her arm.
“By the way,” I said, “I lied. I don’t know how to give you my power. I don’t even know how I am immune to his touch. But even if I did, there is no way in hell that I would let you near Theo. You don’t deserve him.”
“And you do? You do know he only loves you because he can touch you.”
“Listen, Maggie,” I stared into her eyes deeply and proudly, “Theo loves not because of my immunity to his power. He loves for what I do and who I am!”
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