ARTEMISIA
I open my eyes, and I regret it instantly.
Holding my head, I hope to make it stop spinning around, and I groan in pain as I touch the big bump on the back of it.
“What the hell,” I murmur.
“Sorry, you weren’t meant to get hurt,” Lisa says, attracting my attention to her as she paces up and down. “You were planned to get delivered without a scratch.”
Looking around, I shudder uncomfortably. The place is wet and dark and I guess that we are in some sort of cave. “Are we even still on the territory?”
“Yeah,” Lisa laughs sarcastically as she continues to walk back and forth. “The stupid shields of the witch were too strong, so we had to improvise. Stupid idiot.”
I gasp, touching my belly, but my pups seem to be alright. “What did you do? Lisa, this is insane!”
“You call me insane?!” she shouts at me, pointing the knife to her chest. “You are just stupid. And egoistic.”
Gulping, I stay quiet, scooting a bit backwards as she scoffs. “You don’t know what love is. You are just a naive little girl who never learned what it meant to work, or have any responsibilities more than just being pretty. And popular.”
“Why are you doing this?” I ask, but she just laughs at me.
Walking towards the entrance of the cave, she lets her voice echo from the walls as she groans. “Ugh, Logan is taking too long.”
“Logan?” I ask, a stabbing pain piercing through my heart. “Logan is behind all of this?”
“Duh!” she answers with a grimace, spreading her arms. “See! Stupid.”
Playing with her knife, she actually looks like a madwoman. “I was always meant to be his Luna. He doesn’t care about you.”
I whimper as I scoot back to lean against a cold stone standing in the middle of the cave as I feel like it’s getting increasingly difficult to breathe.
Logan, really?
I definitely know that he was acting strangely and that the excuses he told us about the blackouts he had were sketchy, but he had been actually kind of loving towards me in the last few days, and he had reassured me over and over again about him not wanting to hurt me.
During the preparations, he looked so happy and as Cayden had his faith restored in him and gave him nearly all his tasks back, he was over the moon.
Several times he had told me how he was looking forward to the marking.
I clasp the fabric of my dress, feeling my pups stir, and I lower my head, sobbing lowly.
“Ooooh, don’t start crying now, you useless being,” Lisa yells, pointing the knife towards me.
Actually, I feel a little bit bad at being relieved that Fynn is not involved in this.
But I was so scared that he had played us all to get the pups and live happily ever after with Rachel.
Well, I guess that dream would be over now anyway.
Raising my eyes back to hers, I see her crazy eyes moving around the cave. “What is this?”
“My pups,” I close my eyes, taking a deep breath and she pushes out a single laugh.
She follows the sound of the low growling resounding against the cage walls as she kneels down next to me.
“Such a freak show,” she shakes her head. “Well, I just hope Rick will get good money once he sells them to your family or the high court.”
I let my arms slump, sighing exhausted, “How much money can you even expect from a pair of twins?”
“Demonic twins,” Lisa chuckles with a sparkle in her eyes. “Logan bribed a doctor of the royal pack as he found out about the gene, and had an idea of what they are capable of! You would be amazed too.”
She waves her hand dismissively in front of her face as she giggles. “I didn’t understand it. Not that I would care. But he surely will give all the information to Rick, so he can act accordingly.”
“Fynn will kill you,” I whisper, and she just shrugs.
“Not if we kill him first.”
Gasping, I turn my head to the side as she leans in, hissing. “The plan is already running. There will be nooo one who will be able to stop us. We will take over this pack because, uuuups, everyone died. Just that they don’t know that we gave you to Rick as a little present. As a thanks for helping us. But you don’t have to care about that now. Just be a good girl and keep quiet, will you? I’m so sick of hearing your stupid voice. Or seeing your stupid face.”
Holding up her knife, I clench my eyes closed as she nears it to my face. “I would like to scar you so that you will remember what you did to me. But Logan asked me not to. I guess it would reduce the price Ricky would pay us.”
She chuckles as she shifts, sitting down cross-legged. “This is going to be so good.”
I take a few calming breaths, pressing myself against the cold stone as I try to keep my body temperature down as I feel fire rising in me.
Feeling like I’m about to hyperventilate, I turn my head slowly, finding Lisa humming and watching the entrance of the cave with love-struck eyes.
‘Who is she calling a freak show?’ Cassy snarls, making me chuckle.
I think of sending Cayden or Fynn a message through the mind link, but it seems to be still blocked by something, so I just hope that Hendrick can still hear my thoughts even if he hasn’t fed from me for days in preparation for the marking.
Damn him and his romantic idea of wanting to make it more enticing.
Panic is just about to conquer me, making my chest squeeze painfully as I halt, holding my breath.
Come to think of it.
With a fast movement, I jerk forward to grab Lisa’s arm. The fire streams through my nerves, inflaming my blood as I tighten my grip.
She screams in pain, letting the knife fall as she pulls her arm back swiftly.
Standing up, she looks at the mark of my fingers around her wrist as the fire mark continues to burn into her skin, making it bleed. I guess she has lost the usage of her hand as she screeches in pain, holding her forearm just below the wound.
“You stupid bitch!” She spits at me, and slaps me straight across the face, making me fall to the side.
I pull myself up, careful not to crush my babies as a deep rumbling voice enters the cave. “Lisa!”
Our heads snap to the dark figure simultaneously, and I smile, just until I recognize that it might not be a good sign if he is here.
Lisa, who has looked at the cave expectantly and with a sparkling expression, loses her smile as well, as she gulps.
“What are you doing here?”