One
CLEO STONE
Stamping my bare feet against the leaves and branches scattered across the forest floor, my breath struggling as I turn to my dad, Nick, who was trying his hardest to keep up with me. Noticing his skin was beading in thick sweat but we were too desperate to get away to care.
A fire burned in my stomach but no matter how much it hurt, I ignored it. We were currently in dangerous territory and we needed to get the fuck out. Hearing the chants of our pack behind us, hunting for us. For my mothers sick desires.
My chest felt like I was suffocating, my lungs being squeezed and splattered across my ribs viciously. Adrenaline was pumping around every inch of my body yet I still felt like I was about to fall any given second.
"Cleo," my father shouts alarming me, his eyes turn to a sheltered cottage behind a set of trees. "Let's go."
Carrying my feet towards the small house, watching as my dad shoves his elbow through a tainted piece of glass, it shatters in front of him but he doesn't retract, he ushers me in. Climbing through the broken window, the glass scraping my legs but that was the least of my worries.
My dad falls in behind me and we hide away in the corner, attempting to calm my breathing from how heavy it currently was. None of us speak, waiting for the sounds of the wolves running past and rustling through the trees.
Looking around the room for the nearest escape if we were caught, the room was dark and damp. It smelt like old furniture and dust, cobwebs and spiders hung from every corner.
My dad sits up on his knees and examines me. "Are you okay?" He asks desperately. I swallow harshly, my skin beginning to heat up. "Cleo, you've gone incredibly pale."
My heavy eyes look up at him. "What do you think," I spit out angrily. "She's just done her fucking voodoo shit on me, God knows what's going to happen!"
He blinks back at my sudden outburst but before he has the chance to speak, a wave of excruciating pain rolls over my body. It felt like roots growing inside of me, stretching every inch of my skin. My mouth opens to scream and I fall down onto my back, shivering against the dirty floor.
"Cleo," my dad clasps my face between his hands. "What's going on?"
My ears become blocked and my face heats up, thrashing against his hold to try and rid myself of this agony. Sharp shooting sensations up and down my spine, a thousand words swirling around my head, the feeling of my fingernails being ripped from their beds.
Gripping onto my hair through my roots to scream over and over, my body jolting into uncomfortable positions. My back almost snapping in the process, panting out for air, for someone to save me.
"I'm going to die." I cry out.
"No honey," my dad shakes his head at me through my blurry vision. "No you're not, you're okay. It's okay."
A deafening scream releases from the pit of my stomach, arching my back up to the ceiling as my eyes cloud with darkness. Losing every sensation in my body, pins and needles stabbing me in every direction. "I-I can't see," I cry out desperately, endless tears rolling down my cheeks. "Dad, I can't fucking see!" I scream out in fear, my eyes wide open but nothing visible in front of me.
"Cleo, it's okay. I'm here, I'm here." My dad tries to soothe me as his hand runs over the back of my hair.
My teeth grit as my body jolts over and over until I'm exhausted, slumping myself against the floor. Not being able to fight my consciousness anymore, letting it finally take over my body as I hear my dad call out for me to stay awake.
. . .
"Why do you hate me so much?!" I scream out as I look between the poisonous looks of my pack, their canines and bloodshot eyes staring back at me.
My mother, Pandora, laughs evilly. Stood in front of me with a dark cloak to the floor, her pitch black hair matted in plaits and her nails long and sharp. Pressing her hands together, clinking her fingernails as she glares at me from across the room. Two pits of fire either side of her, watching as she cracks her neck loudly, the sound bouncing off the brick walls.
"You've taken everything away from me," she growls out her eyes wide and venomous.
"I haven't done anything," I say as I press my back to the cold wall behind me.
Keeping a close eye on my pack members that inch closer to me, their stances like zombies, their eyes filmed over with white.
Pandora had possessed them, used her powers and completely controlled them. Manipulation at its finest, turning the closest people to me against me. Her mouth twitches up into a smirk as I cower away from the hands of her devils.
Without warning they lunge forward and grab me, yanking me away from the wall. I scream out as they open their mouths, foamlike substances forming around their lips. My eyes find my friend Fran, her nails digging into the side of my arm.
"Fran!" I shout at her, not once recognising me. "This isn't you, stop it!"
She growls in my face like a deranged wolf, lost and confused. My heart race increases as they throw me down onto the floor in front of my mother, she sneers at me as they hold me down, unable to escape.
My mothers dark and misty eyes find mine as Fran forces me to look up at her. "It's not nice when things don't go your way do they?" She grins down at me sarcastically.
"Just let me go," I grind out, the hands of her possessed puppets still latched onto me. "I'll leave you alone and get the hell away from here."
"Oh," she pouts as she grips my chin with her thick nails, poking into my skin. "I'm not going to let you go that easily."
My chest heaves quickly as I watch her, she swipes away her cloak and pulls out a scalpel tool. Diving it into my finger, my blood dripping out and onto the stone floor in front of us.
I wince from the blunt force as she squeezes the life out of my finger, six or seven droplets onto the floor. Pandora pulls back the scalpel and dives it into her own hand, letting her blood drop freely in front of us.
Her head raises and her pack members pick me up from the floor aggressively, facing my palms against the fire pits between her. The heat already beginning to scald my hands, the fire flicking off and burning my skin.
Pandora raises her hands to the air, changing the winds direction, swirling around us viciously. My eyes wide as the lights begin to flicker on and off, the fire roaring against my hands. Screaming out as it begins to burn the layers of my skin, not being able to move from my hold.
Quietly she begins to mumble something over and over, unclear but her words sounded strong. I've heard her make spells and curses the whole of my life, I know which ones are good and which ones are downright evil.
My hair begins to fly and my heart is held by a force, clutching onto me tightly.
Her words get louder and louder until she is shouting them directly at me, her mouth pronouncing every word with purpose and determination. Leaving me shaking as her spell begins to paralyse me.
My skin turning ice cold, my fingers seizing up from the fire .
With one word the flames go out, the lights stabilising. My head down to the floor as I attempt to breathe from the intensity of her spell. Pandora grips the back of my head and forces me to look at her. "It's done," she says simply.
"What did you do?" I growl out through gritted teeth.
Her lips curve into a smart smirk, making me want to smack it off of her. "The curse will eventually kill you," she shrugs casually, her finger presses to my cheek and flicks off the edge of my jaw. "But I've taken away the ability of you finding your mate. Your wolf is practically blinded by any sensation of a bond."
My wolf whines loudly inside me at her words, my jaw shaking in frustration.
"Soon your heart will turn to stone, you'll be lifeless. Meaningless without a mate. Your wolf will decline rapidly and eventually you'll end up as nothing. Your wolf will reject you and you'll die alone." She pouts towards me, her eyes floating from my eyes to my nose to my lips.
"And don't even think of killing yourself," she yanks back my hair causing me to grunt. "Because you won't be able to. Nothing can break this curse, it is eternal and can only be broken by me."
My lips tremble at her words, my body feeling heavy already. "Maybe you shouldn't have crossed me sweet girl," she mumbles out as she leans forward to press a dry kiss to my cheek. "It might have turned out differently."
"You're a fucking bitch," I seethe out, wanting nothing more than to gouge out her eyes with my thumbs.
Her hand raises and she slaps me harshly, the sound echoing off the cold walls. The burning sensation from my cheek spreading further into my face but instead of acting hurt, I laugh. My stomach bubbles and I chuckle to myself as my eyes find Pandora's, watching me with disgust.
"Don't worry," I grit out to her. "You will get what's coming to you."
She slaps me again and again until I'm cowering away on the floor. "Don't ever speak to me like that again you vile, nasty girl!" She shouts, the air turning cold and the floors beginning to shake.
"Get her out!" She yells at the top of her lungs. "Get her out and off our land before I rip her head from her stupid body!"
My arms are pulled up and out of the room, tightening my fists as they manhandle me aggressively. Throwing me out into the clearing outside, falling onto my back, staring back at them as they throw my dad down to the floor with me.
Pandora glides to the door and stands between her puppets. "I'll give you five minutes to run, if they catch you. I'd be prepared for the worst." She stretches her mouth up into a deathly smile, the skin on her lips crackled and peeling.
My dad grabs me by the arm and hurls me up. "Let's go," he shouts into my ear as he pulls me through the trees, barely managing to hold myself up.
The curse beginning to attack my body, infecting every blood cell inside of me. All I remember is trying to run, building up the energy to try and fight, hearing the sounds of the wolves behind us. Howling into the night and pounding their paws against the floor. The sound louder than anything I've ever heard before, feeling my senses heightens drastically.
"Cleo come on," my dad assists me, pulling me through the bushes.
My feet stamping down on the branches, digging into my feet and crunching underneath me.
"Cleo," he says again. "Cleo, wake up!"
. . .
I gasp for breath, pushing myself up from the floor as my head spins rapidly. My whole body was drenched in cold sweat, my dad staring back at me with sheer worry and confusion.
My body ached like I had been in a coma for years, every bone feeling rigid and harsh to move. My heart felt clenched, ice cold and empty inside of me. My dad looks down to my chest as I breathe heavily, grunting out with frustration and internal hatred. Noticing how my throat clenches, desperate to scream and shout until I felt better but something side of me told me that wouldn't be the case. It would only get worse from here.
It was creeping up inside of me, claiming every inch of my body. My wolf thrashing inside of me crying to be let out, crying for change. But nothing could be changed, this was it forever.
"Cleo?" He tries to catch my attention.
"The curse," I bite out, causing my dad to flinch slightly. "It's started to infect me."
Stamping my bare feet against the leaves and branches scattered across the forest floor, my breath struggling as I turn to my dad, Nick, who was trying his hardest to keep up with me. Noticing his skin was beading in thick sweat but we were too desperate to get away to care.
A fire burned in my stomach but no matter how much it hurt, I ignored it. We were currently in dangerous territory and we needed to get the fuck out. Hearing the chants of our pack behind us, hunting for us. For my mothers sick desires.
My chest felt like I was suffocating, my lungs being squeezed and splattered across my ribs viciously. Adrenaline was pumping around every inch of my body yet I still felt like I was about to fall any given second.
"Cleo," my father shouts alarming me, his eyes turn to a sheltered cottage behind a set of trees. "Let's go."
Carrying my feet towards the small house, watching as my dad shoves his elbow through a tainted piece of glass, it shatters in front of him but he doesn't retract, he ushers me in. Climbing through the broken window, the glass scraping my legs but that was the least of my worries.
My dad falls in behind me and we hide away in the corner, attempting to calm my breathing from how heavy it currently was. None of us speak, waiting for the sounds of the wolves running past and rustling through the trees.
Looking around the room for the nearest escape if we were caught, the room was dark and damp. It smelt like old furniture and dust, cobwebs and spiders hung from every corner.
My dad sits up on his knees and examines me. "Are you okay?" He asks desperately. I swallow harshly, my skin beginning to heat up. "Cleo, you've gone incredibly pale."
My heavy eyes look up at him. "What do you think," I spit out angrily. "She's just done her fucking voodoo shit on me, God knows what's going to happen!"
He blinks back at my sudden outburst but before he has the chance to speak, a wave of excruciating pain rolls over my body. It felt like roots growing inside of me, stretching every inch of my skin. My mouth opens to scream and I fall down onto my back, shivering against the dirty floor.
"Cleo," my dad clasps my face between his hands. "What's going on?"
My ears become blocked and my face heats up, thrashing against his hold to try and rid myself of this agony. Sharp shooting sensations up and down my spine, a thousand words swirling around my head, the feeling of my fingernails being ripped from their beds.
Gripping onto my hair through my roots to scream over and over, my body jolting into uncomfortable positions. My back almost snapping in the process, panting out for air, for someone to save me.
"I'm going to die." I cry out.
"No honey," my dad shakes his head at me through my blurry vision. "No you're not, you're okay. It's okay."
A deafening scream releases from the pit of my stomach, arching my back up to the ceiling as my eyes cloud with darkness. Losing every sensation in my body, pins and needles stabbing me in every direction. "I-I can't see," I cry out desperately, endless tears rolling down my cheeks. "Dad, I can't fucking see!" I scream out in fear, my eyes wide open but nothing visible in front of me.
"Cleo, it's okay. I'm here, I'm here." My dad tries to soothe me as his hand runs over the back of my hair.
My teeth grit as my body jolts over and over until I'm exhausted, slumping myself against the floor. Not being able to fight my consciousness anymore, letting it finally take over my body as I hear my dad call out for me to stay awake.
. . .
"Why do you hate me so much?!" I scream out as I look between the poisonous looks of my pack, their canines and bloodshot eyes staring back at me.
My mother, Pandora, laughs evilly. Stood in front of me with a dark cloak to the floor, her pitch black hair matted in plaits and her nails long and sharp. Pressing her hands together, clinking her fingernails as she glares at me from across the room. Two pits of fire either side of her, watching as she cracks her neck loudly, the sound bouncing off the brick walls.
"You've taken everything away from me," she growls out her eyes wide and venomous.
"I haven't done anything," I say as I press my back to the cold wall behind me.
Keeping a close eye on my pack members that inch closer to me, their stances like zombies, their eyes filmed over with white.
Pandora had possessed them, used her powers and completely controlled them. Manipulation at its finest, turning the closest people to me against me. Her mouth twitches up into a smirk as I cower away from the hands of her devils.
Without warning they lunge forward and grab me, yanking me away from the wall. I scream out as they open their mouths, foamlike substances forming around their lips. My eyes find my friend Fran, her nails digging into the side of my arm.
"Fran!" I shout at her, not once recognising me. "This isn't you, stop it!"
She growls in my face like a deranged wolf, lost and confused. My heart race increases as they throw me down onto the floor in front of my mother, she sneers at me as they hold me down, unable to escape.
My mothers dark and misty eyes find mine as Fran forces me to look up at her. "It's not nice when things don't go your way do they?" She grins down at me sarcastically.
"Just let me go," I grind out, the hands of her possessed puppets still latched onto me. "I'll leave you alone and get the hell away from here."
"Oh," she pouts as she grips my chin with her thick nails, poking into my skin. "I'm not going to let you go that easily."
My chest heaves quickly as I watch her, she swipes away her cloak and pulls out a scalpel tool. Diving it into my finger, my blood dripping out and onto the stone floor in front of us.
I wince from the blunt force as she squeezes the life out of my finger, six or seven droplets onto the floor. Pandora pulls back the scalpel and dives it into her own hand, letting her blood drop freely in front of us.
Her head raises and her pack members pick me up from the floor aggressively, facing my palms against the fire pits between her. The heat already beginning to scald my hands, the fire flicking off and burning my skin.
Pandora raises her hands to the air, changing the winds direction, swirling around us viciously. My eyes wide as the lights begin to flicker on and off, the fire roaring against my hands. Screaming out as it begins to burn the layers of my skin, not being able to move from my hold.
Quietly she begins to mumble something over and over, unclear but her words sounded strong. I've heard her make spells and curses the whole of my life, I know which ones are good and which ones are downright evil.
My hair begins to fly and my heart is held by a force, clutching onto me tightly.
Her words get louder and louder until she is shouting them directly at me, her mouth pronouncing every word with purpose and determination. Leaving me shaking as her spell begins to paralyse me.
My skin turning ice cold, my fingers seizing up from the fire .
With one word the flames go out, the lights stabilising. My head down to the floor as I attempt to breathe from the intensity of her spell. Pandora grips the back of my head and forces me to look at her. "It's done," she says simply.
"What did you do?" I growl out through gritted teeth.
Her lips curve into a smart smirk, making me want to smack it off of her. "The curse will eventually kill you," she shrugs casually, her finger presses to my cheek and flicks off the edge of my jaw. "But I've taken away the ability of you finding your mate. Your wolf is practically blinded by any sensation of a bond."
My wolf whines loudly inside me at her words, my jaw shaking in frustration.
"Soon your heart will turn to stone, you'll be lifeless. Meaningless without a mate. Your wolf will decline rapidly and eventually you'll end up as nothing. Your wolf will reject you and you'll die alone." She pouts towards me, her eyes floating from my eyes to my nose to my lips.
"And don't even think of killing yourself," she yanks back my hair causing me to grunt. "Because you won't be able to. Nothing can break this curse, it is eternal and can only be broken by me."
My lips tremble at her words, my body feeling heavy already. "Maybe you shouldn't have crossed me sweet girl," she mumbles out as she leans forward to press a dry kiss to my cheek. "It might have turned out differently."
"You're a fucking bitch," I seethe out, wanting nothing more than to gouge out her eyes with my thumbs.
Her hand raises and she slaps me harshly, the sound echoing off the cold walls. The burning sensation from my cheek spreading further into my face but instead of acting hurt, I laugh. My stomach bubbles and I chuckle to myself as my eyes find Pandora's, watching me with disgust.
"Don't worry," I grit out to her. "You will get what's coming to you."
She slaps me again and again until I'm cowering away on the floor. "Don't ever speak to me like that again you vile, nasty girl!" She shouts, the air turning cold and the floors beginning to shake.
"Get her out!" She yells at the top of her lungs. "Get her out and off our land before I rip her head from her stupid body!"
My arms are pulled up and out of the room, tightening my fists as they manhandle me aggressively. Throwing me out into the clearing outside, falling onto my back, staring back at them as they throw my dad down to the floor with me.
Pandora glides to the door and stands between her puppets. "I'll give you five minutes to run, if they catch you. I'd be prepared for the worst." She stretches her mouth up into a deathly smile, the skin on her lips crackled and peeling.
My dad grabs me by the arm and hurls me up. "Let's go," he shouts into my ear as he pulls me through the trees, barely managing to hold myself up.
The curse beginning to attack my body, infecting every blood cell inside of me. All I remember is trying to run, building up the energy to try and fight, hearing the sounds of the wolves behind us. Howling into the night and pounding their paws against the floor. The sound louder than anything I've ever heard before, feeling my senses heightens drastically.
"Cleo come on," my dad assists me, pulling me through the bushes.
My feet stamping down on the branches, digging into my feet and crunching underneath me.
"Cleo," he says again. "Cleo, wake up!"
. . .
I gasp for breath, pushing myself up from the floor as my head spins rapidly. My whole body was drenched in cold sweat, my dad staring back at me with sheer worry and confusion.
My body ached like I had been in a coma for years, every bone feeling rigid and harsh to move. My heart felt clenched, ice cold and empty inside of me. My dad looks down to my chest as I breathe heavily, grunting out with frustration and internal hatred. Noticing how my throat clenches, desperate to scream and shout until I felt better but something side of me told me that wouldn't be the case. It would only get worse from here.
It was creeping up inside of me, claiming every inch of my body. My wolf thrashing inside of me crying to be let out, crying for change. But nothing could be changed, this was it forever.
"Cleo?" He tries to catch my attention.
"The curse," I bite out, causing my dad to flinch slightly. "It's started to infect me."
