“Mommy won’t let him ruin you. Isn’t that right, sweet boy?” the woman says as her lips turn up in a snarl. What I find strange is that this snarl, the anger – it isn’t aimed at the man, but at the baby, while she clearly voiced that the man is a monster.
I watch in horror as the woman raises the baby above her head and the man, who I now know is an ancestor, one that contained Kaif, rushes forward, hands out. His eyes are set on the baby in her arms, his hands tremble as he appears to plead with the woman.
“I won’t let you turn him against me! I won’t allow him to be a monster!” she sneers as her eyes turn an unnatural pitch black.
The man shifts and Kaif rushes forward, just as she turns and is about to throw the baby out the window. Kaif’s hand snakes out just in time to grab the bundle of fabric while his fist connects with the side of her head.
He clutches the baby to him while the woman goes sprawling. She staggers back and Kaif reaches for her, trying to stop her from falling when she smashes her head on the corner of the dresser.
Kaif stares at her in panic, and the baby starts crying. I watch as he soothes the screaming baby and my eyes move to the woman. Blood starts pooling around her and across the floor. Kaif looks down as the trail reaches his feet. He jerks, startled and then, he glances over his shoulder, to see her bleeding out.
It looks like he screams. I assume, but I still can’t hear a word that leaves his lips. The man places the baby back in the tiny crib and rushes toward the woman.
He clutches to her with desperation as he tries to wake her. But I believe it is too late already. Her body lies completely lifeless in his arms.
The memory fizzles and I am tossed into another one, and another, the same cycle repeating as I watch them all try to kill his child. And the worst part is that those he didn’t kill, the women Kaif managed to stop, they all tried again and again. They never gave up on the idea of killing their children until Kaif was forced to kill them.
I close my eyes, unable to witness the never-ending horrors. I can’t watch the awful things each woman is trying to do to their own young as the shadows overtake all of them.
The shadows – they change and destroy the women. I can’t take it, I feel sick to my stomach. As I am startled by Kaif’s growl, I open my eyes to see that Kaif is now standing upright.
He growls at Marabella who looks at him, clearly horrified.
“Kaif?” She whispers
The problem is that he doesn’t see Marabella. It isn’t her, Kaif is looking at someone else.
I gasp as I realize who he sees before his eyes. Instead of our Ella, it’s his last mate, the same woman who tried to drown their four-year-old son in the bath. I know that he thought he managed to break the curse with her. So, he marked her the night before. But now, his burning anger vibrates through him and I try to shove through the barrier.
I scream at him that it isn’t her. It’s Ella, our mate, not the woman who tried to kill his son.
Marabella scrambles backwards on her hands and feet, trying to get away from him. Kaif slashes the air, narrowly missing her face with his claws. A high-pitched scream leaves her lips as Marabella scrambles to her feet.
He growls right before he chases after her as Marabells shifts, and Kora takes off. My surroundings blur out as she races toward the forest, everything turns into a blur as Kaif chases her. She darts amongst the trees and a sense of Deja-vu washes over me.
The trees zip by in a blur as we chase her. Kora darts between the tombstones and along the track as she tries to remain on the path. But Kaif is faster and she is forced to divert away from it.
She is forced to flee into the thick brush but it is no good as Kaif lunges forward. Just seconds after, her deafening scream infuriates him more. Kaif commands her to shift back. I try to push on the wall with more strength, but no matter how much I push, punch and scream, it doesn’t affect him. Not in this state.
“Shift,” he yells in her face as Kora squirms and thrashes in his arms, trying to break free.
Her body tenses in his arms. She shudders and her ribs crack as he squeezes her tiny wolf form, Kora refusing to give in tries to fight the power of his command. However, eventually her bones start snapping and she is forced to shift in his arms.
His grip never lessens and Marabella’s screams, rattling off words that… if they were used on just me, they would disable me, but a monster like Kaif is unstoppable. One that holds the power he has, filled with rage he feels – the words have no effect on him at all.
Now, I finally understand it. I understand it all. The shadows of our ancestors have never been the Octavian bloodline at all. Those are his past mates, ghostly shadows of the past. Now, I know why they refused to go back to Marabella. All of those shadows knew that Kaif would do anything to protect her. Instead of killing their off-spring, the shadows now want to kill the very source, which is Mabella.
All of his past mates want revenge. They are using Kaif, that’s why I can’t get to him. They know that they can end the bloodlines by ending our mate. By killing Marabella.
An unnatural, forgein laughter leaves Kaif as he squeezes her. Marabella gasps as she thrashes against him and tries to break free.
I almost freeze, but manage to force out a scream as I shove forward to stop him right as Kaif aims to rip her throat out. The shadows, and crazed past mates, they won’t stop until they kill her. Making him kill her, somehow realizing Marabella can for the most part contain them, seemed to anger them.
“Kaif No!” I scream in terror as I smash my hands against the barrier that separates us. His body jolts and his teeth miss her throat, and instead of killing her, he marks her.