So much for rest, Ezra felt bad that marking me knocked
me out, I didn’t have the heart to tell him it would also be forcing my shift. We watched the hours tick by, it’s
amazing how long a minute can feel when you’re waiting for something. Every minute passing by raised my anxiety
and Kora was not helping, only scaring me more.
I tried asking her about the visions, she only said we would keep having them, that she couldn’t control them, that they are brought on by change and by the Moon.
Not even she understood the dreams, she couldn’t make
sense of them either.
“I’m really sorry Kat, if I had known it would cause you to pass out, I would have waited, like you wanted” Ezra tells me. We had been sitting in the room for hours now, the
silence making my anxiety of what’s to come way worse, I needed a distraction.
“It’s fine, either way it would have happened eventually
just try to sleep” I tell him. His hand lazily tracing up my arm as we lay in bed.
“I can’t now because I can feel your upset over it, I ruined the night, killed the mood” he says. I wasn’t upset about him marking me, I was upset I was about to shift. I needed him to go to sleep so I could sneak off without him knowing. I didn’t want him to see me like that, I also
didn’t want to make him feel worse about marking me.
“Maybe ask your mother to meet us,” Kora suggests.
“And you’re sure you can block him out?” I ask her.
“I think so, we can only try”
“It’s fine, I am fine. Let’s just sleep, you didn’t ruin
anything” I tell him, snuggling under the blanket.
Ezra eventually drifted off around 11 PM so I mindlinked
my mother.
“Mum?” It took her a few seconds to answer and I could tell she was asleep.
“Mum”
“Kat? It’s late honey what’s wrong?”
“Can you meet me at the border where I hid on the pack
run?” I feel her foggy mind become alert in panic.
“What’s going on, do I need to wake your father?” She
asks.
“No, I just need you please. Kora is going to shift ” I tell her, I definatly didn’t want my father coming, no girl wants their father seeing them naked.
“Where’s Ezra?” She asks.
“Asleep, I haven’t told him”
” I will be there soon, I love you”
“Love you too” I tell her, cutting off the mindlink. Ezra was snoring peacefully beside me. I moved out from under his arm that was draped over me.
“Maybe put your pillow there, it will have our scent on it”
Kora tells me and I nod at her words. He cuddles it and once I am sure he is sleeping soundly, I carefully sneak out of the packhouse. I hear no movement in the house so Mateo must be asleep and Jasmine must have gone home.
I felt bad I didn’t say goodbye to her but knew she would forgive me.
The forest was dead silent, and it looked like it was going to rain by the low hanging clouds blocking the stars making the forest even darker.
“No Moon tonight, it’s going to be a rough night” Kora
says as we walk through the Forest.
“Shouldn’t you be giving me a pep talk, pumping me up
for this moment”
“That’s what I have been doing all night, preparing you”
“More like scaring me, seriously you would suck a motivational speaking”
“Gosh, you’re such a downer, I was just explaining,” she
says.
I manage to pick up my mother’s scent halfway through
the forest and follow it knowing she was already there.
I look at my watch and see I had three minutes till
midnight. I was still at least twenty minutes from the meeting spot.
“We aren’t going to make it to her, you need to run” Kora says.
“Maybe we should have told Ezra?” I tell her as I start
running through the forest.
“Too late now, besides Maddox was P! ssed off with Ezra?”
She says.
“What why?”
“Because he wanted to mark you”
“He does realise they are the same person right” she
shrugs and I shake my head at her words. His wolf was slightly unpredictable.
I could smell rain as I ran through the forest. “2 minutes Kat” Kora says but I was running flat out. It was
impossible. I was never going to make it to her.
“Mum, I won’t make it to you” I say through the link.
“I will find you, just keep moving” she says before cutting the link. I ran, adrenaline pumping when Kora suddenly went eerily silent like she was gone. I jumped over a log trying to get to my mother when I felt it.
The first snapping of bone. My ankle snapped as it came
into contact with the ground making me fall forward. A scream tearing from my lips as pain shot up my leg.
‘Kora!’ I cry out to her before the bone snaps back in
place making me cry out again. I force myself up and start running only to clutch a tree when tearing pain ripples up
my spine making black dots dance in front of my vision, pain radiating across my ribs as I feel my spine rearrange itself.
I gasp for air, collapsing on the ground, the bark of the tree splintering into my hands as I slide down it when I feel my wrist snap. The unbearable pain taking my breath away,
glimpses of images flashing in my vision of the Moon, of Marabella, of Katarina. I try to focus on the images,
anything to not focus on the pain, when I feel fur brush against me.
My mother’s voice flitted through my head.
“I’m here baby girl, I’m right here” she says and I feel
hands grab me.
I feel my neck twisting and cracking, my entire body set
alight like it was a raging inferno.
“Kat, focus on my voice, talk to me baby. I am Right here”
I hear my mother tell me.
When I am sucked under, white light so bright I thought I was going to be blinded by it. I could hear my scream echoing around me when everything went black.
Just when I thought it was over, that I was dead the visions started. I watched every first born female of my bloodline die, re-lived their deaths as if they we’re my own. My life is taken again and again only to come back and die as the next one, though something was off. The only one to die
during childbirth was my grandmother, I knew she was my grandmother because of the resemblance to my mother, nothing my mother told me made sense.
“No more, no more” I beg as I feel the next one start.
I am in a room, a bedroom and I could hear a familiar
voice. They appeared to be arguing with me, the dream sucking me in and I turned facing the woman. Shock hits
me when I see her.
“You think I asked for this, I never wanted this Shirley” I scream at my mother.
“You ruined my life, and now you’re taking my mate.
Haven’t you taken enough from me, I have always lived in your shadow Katherine, always the forgotten one, always
second to you”
“He is my mate too, how many times do I have to tell you
this, I am not giving him up just because you don’t want to share”
“Share? My life has been solely based on you, always
helping you so for once do the right thing by me and give me my mate. I refuse to come second with him”
“Shirley just stop, We called off the wedding for you to get used to the idea, we are having a baby for Goddess sake, I am not going to give up my mate for you” I tell her,
turning to leave the room.
“He’s not yours” My mother screams before punching me.
Her fist connected with the back of my head.
I stumble forward into the mahogany dresser, just
managing to catch myself before I fall.
“Sh*t! Kath I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry” she says grabbing my shoulders. I pushed her away with my hand just
wanting to leave, shocked she would hit me.
“You need help Shirley, I can’t believe you would do that” I tell her rubbing the back of my head that was throbbing. I walked out of the room and into a hallway with pink floral wallpaper and the grey carpet soft beneath my feet.
“I didn’t mean it,” she says, clutching my hand. I shake
her off rubbing my huge bump.
“Katherine,” my mother pleads.
“No Shirley, I am done with your jealousy either accept or leave” I tell her, walking toward the staircase at the end of the hall.
I hear a growl before spinning around, my mother rushing
at me, and an enraged look on her face, one I had never witnessed in my life.
“Shirley?” I scream but it’s too late, her body smashing into mine and I feel myself falling. My heart skipped a beat in pure panic as one hand went to my round bump,
needing to protect it. Everything felt like it was in slow motion as I tried to grip the handrail on the stairs, my
fingertips slipping off and I was thrown backwards down the stairs. A loud snapping sound and pain radiates up my spine, before I roll down the stairs landing on my stomach.
My mother’s frantic voice screaming at what she had down
before she rushes down the stairs.
“What have I done, what have I done” my mother
frantically cries as she rolls me over, clutching my face, she starts fussing over me, her hands checking my body.
“Shirley, call the doctor, get Derrick” I cry out, pain
radiating through my abdomen, my breathing coming in gasps.
She shakes her head, frantically looking around. And I
don’t understand why she isn’t helping me, tears streaking down her face.
“He will find out, I can’t have him find out” she says.
“You’re bleeding,” she shrieked but the room was growing
fuzzy. I tried pleading with her to get the pack doctor but the words can’t leave my mouth, I couldn’t feel my legs,
couldn’t feel anything but pain from the waist up.
“He can’t know, he can’t know” I hear her say, her voice
getting lower and I feel a tear run down my cheek as I fight to stay conscious.
“Forgive me sis, I didn’t want this to happen” she says
clutching my face. Her face blurry through my tears when she lets go. I feel pulling, I try to clutch her arm, my
fingers falling from her arm as I try to move. Severe pain as my flesh tears, I scream gasping in pain when I hear a man’s voice.
“Shirley what have you done?” I hear their voices
becoming soft murmurs as my hearing starts to go.
“Alpha, it was an accident. You need to help me, help me get the baby out” she says. More pulling, more pain before I hear the sound of a baby cry, my vision going and I can’t breathe, can’t breathe.
The last sound I remember is hearing her cry, my baby I
think before everything goes black.