Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Snow falls quietly through the air, the snowflakes adding onto the soft blanket covering the forest. It’s a peaceful sort of quiet, perfect to lay her to rest. She will be buried in the forest within Maine, that way she’s in Obsidian’s territory and Luthias can visit freely. The snow made the scene beautiful as we entered the clearing, her sleek, black coffin shining against the white snow. Luthias stands in a darkened corner, his eyes appearing glossy.
“Did we ever get her name?” Lin whispers, eyeing the gathering vampires.
I shake my head. “No. She was an orphaned vampire, but her foster parents said they would call her Lila. She didn’t speak much.”
“So like…are they actually dead?”
“Lin.”
“What?”
“We’re at her funeral.”
She nods, understanding as she quickly returns to silence. We all form a circle around her soon to be grave. One of the vampire’s Elders steps forward, placing a black rose on top of her coffin. He proceeds to say a prayer in Latin, an ancient language none of us speak. Yet, we all stand quietly, bowing our heads with them as they wish her well into her next life. As he comes to the end of his prayer, he looks up at Luthias, motioning for him to step forward.
“Come. We know you loved her in her final moments,” he says softly, his voice coming off like velvet.
Luthias hesitates, but walks up and takes the black rose from the vampire. Placing a kiss onto its dark petals, he places it atop her coffin.
~*~
“Lila survived a month and a half,” Obsidian says, staring at the health records.
“Which means they’re likely running out of hybrids quickly,” Cynthia voices, shoving another chip in her mouth.
I quietly fumble with my stress ball, my mind going over the events. Within the past month or so, Malachi has healed swiftly. He’s now back on patrolling the borders and training warriors, despite Obsidian and Cynthia not being too happy. It was Lin and I who convinced them to let the guy get back into his normal schedule, it isn’t fair to keep him secluded to the pack-house all day.
Lila had also grown increasingly ill, blood or regular foods not helping her body. Luthias stayed by her side the entire time, even communicating with the vampires to try and figure out how to balance her body’s needs. We could never figure it out though, her body wasn’t born with both DNA, therefore it was never meant to contain it. They had found a few hybrids that were naturally born, to their displeasure, who’s bodies managed to maintain a balance. However, they learned that the hybrids often die as babies and only the lucky survive. It offered no information on how one forced to become a werewolf could develop the ability to live. Instead, the vampires focused their attention on finding out how many of their kind have gone missing. It was discovered over ten thousand are gone, most were orphans or children.
The events that unfolded have been nothing short of heartbreaking, knowing these hybrids are being used against their will. Forced to shift into their enemy until their bodies slowly grow weak from lack of nutrition. We have come across many bodies, some partially shifted, some in their original form and some as wolves. The vampires had to create a graveyard for them, close by our borders.
“Have they gone for any pack wolves yet?” I ask, voicing out my concerns.
Obsidian shakes his head, his lips dropping into a frown. “They’re being very quiet.”
“Okay, so to summarize these new hunters…they use wolfsbane a little too much, they aren’t knowledgeable on taking down werewolves, they use a lot of silver, their scientist isn’t a werewolf or a vampire…who the hell taught them? The hunters back then were far more difficult,” Lin states, her eyebrows furrowed.
I shrug. “Who knows. But they lack a lot of knowledge on werewolves.”
“For now, but they’re going to learn from their mistakes,” Obsidian says.
“And they do have a brilliant idea about hybrids, fortunately, science is working against them,” Cynthia points out.
I frown. “But how long? They’re going to eventually figure out how to form hybrids.”
“Well, aren’t you optimistic,” Malachi teases as he walks into the office.
I flip him off, but smile. “How have you been holding up?”
“Pretty good, actually. Still not in shape, needed to take several breaks. Granted, I don’t think anyone can catch up to Luthias.”
“He’s still running mile after mile?” Cynthia asks, her eyes flashing with concern.
Malachi nods, his expression solemn. “Lila was his mate.”
“Wait…if Lila was truly his mate, then if she remained a pure vampire and they mated…” Lin trailed off, looking up.
Obsidian nods. “They would have had offspring, but there’s little chance of survival.”
“Yeah, between parents who aren’t destined mates. The ones that survived, their parents were natural mates and not chosen mates.”
“Which means…”
“If the hunters learn of this, they can easily form a small army of hybrids. The ones we have met are strong, immune to most wolfsbane,” Lin breathes, her eyes wide.
Cynthia clasps her hands together in obvious anxiousness. “What if they already did and that is why they’re silent?”
“I’ve already sent a message to Alek, he’s going to look through to see if there are any registered hybrid mates,” Obsidian voiced, standing up.
I frown. “What do we do in the meantime?”
“Increase our training, hold meetings with other country leaders and keep count of the pack population. To ensure no one goes missing and try to find any hybrid couples in our territory.”
“That sounds like a lot of work,” Lin groans.
“You can go out there and die instead, if you’d like,” Obsidian states with a shrug.
I laugh as Lin flips him off, mumbling cuss words in her chair. Obsidian responds by tossing a book at her face, causing her to immediately go silent with shock. I quietly shake my head in amusement, these two fight like siblings. Even Cynthia will join in, bickering between the two of them until Luthius walks in and whacks all of them. It’s moments like these that make me forget we’re in a war with hunters that are quickly learning and developing new ideas. The memories engraving themselves in my mind and pulling a smile across my lips.
I stay behind when everyone finally leaves and join Obsidian, sitting on his lap to look at his scribbled notes. Leaning my head against his shoulder, I let out a sigh. He turns slightly, his eyebrow raised in silent question.
“Any idea on who the traitor is?” I ask.
While the others have decided to give up on trying to figure out the traitor, Obsidian hasn’t. He claims it’s foolish to allow a traitor to run loose, giving up any of our secrets to these hunters. I know my father was one of the ones to agree on brushing the issue off, but I agreed with Obsidian. We decided to do our own investigating with our first target being Prince Fernando. He’s the most obvious and has reasons for being a traitor, especially if he wants to get rid of Obsidian.
No one has seen him since he attacked Malachi, his father claims the prince has disappeared as well. Part of me began doubting his honesty after my father’s conversation with him, but I kept my mouth shut. Only Obsidian knows of my concerns and now has his sights set on the king.
“I’m still on Fernando, but there are zero sightings of him. I tried asking his father for an update, but he immediately grew defensive. There’s something odd happening with them,” he murmurs, kissing me on my head.
I twirled his pen in my hand, frowning as I mulled over his explanation. Pursing my lips, I sit up. “Maybe it’s dumb having werewolves separated into kingdoms in their countries. We aren’t in the medieval times anymore.”
He raises an eyebrow again. “And what would you suggest? We have tried a council of elders before, but it only messed werewolves up. There are far too many packs, worldwide, to have a single leader. Keeping us in so-called kingdoms was the easiest.”
My shoulders slump in defeat, he’s right. It’s ridiculous to try and combine all packs under a single alpha or king. I mumble a string of cusses and slap my head back on his shoulder. His body vibrates as he chuckles while he runs his fingers through my hair and down my back. I shiver a little when the tips gently graze my lower back, sending a spark shooting through me. Placing his finger under my chin, he lifts my gaze to meet his.
“Relax, we’ll figure this out,” he reassures me.
I pout, but nod.
Fucking hunters and fucking Fernando.
