Ashley’s POV
The walls of the cottage closed in around me, the weight of it all pressing down on my chest. My palms were damp, my breath ragged, and no matter how hard I tried to calm down, I couldn’t.
I paced back and forth, my feet ringing out in frustration and worry. The wooden floor groaned underfoot, but I barely noticed. I was too busy thinking-thinking that wouldn’t quiet, thinking that harassed me with relentless persistence.
Everything was happening too fast.
Too much all at once. Too much that I wasn’t ready for.
A father I thought was dead was suddenly alive. I found out-just last night-I was a witch. Liam, someone I had once considered family, had changed sides. Freja was dead. The pack was lost.
And then there was Steven.
Steven, who had left without a word. Steven, who was injured and unhealed. Steven, who hadn’t given me the chance to stop him.
The thought of him out there, alone, without backup, was an ache in my chest I couldn’t even begin to describe. My chest tightened in agony, and I dug my nails into my palms as I fought to suppress the overwhelming sense of helplessness clawing at me.
I was so far gone in my spiral of negative thoughts that I barely registered the footsteps approaching me.
“Ashley?”
Mabel’s firm but gentle voice sliced through my daze, bringing me back to reality.
I looked to find her standing a short distance away, regarding me with worry. She took a tentative step closer, her eyes searching my face as though attempting to decipher my thoughts.
“Luna, what’s wrong?” she asked softly.
I drew a shaking breath, raising my hands to my temples. “Everything, Mabel. Everything is happening so fast, and I’m not even able to keep up with it all.” I let my hands fall to my sides, my voice growing more desperate. “I met a father I thought was dead. I learned I’m a witch. Liam betrayed us. Freja died. Our entire pack-our family-has been stolen. And Steven…
I gulped, forcing down the lump in my throat.
“Steven went off on his own. He’s not even fully healed yet. I don’t know where he is, and I’m afraid he’s going to do something stupid, something that will put him in even more danger.” My voice cracked slightly, but I didn’t care.
Mabel was quiet, her expression unreadable. Then, after a pause, she let out a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest.
“You know, when you initially told me you were going to marry Steven, I knew something was amiss,” she said.
I looked at her. “What?”
She gave me a knowing look. “It was obvious. Something in the whole situation didn’t sit well with me, so I dug around. A one-woman background investigation.”
My stomach tightened. “You investigated him?”
“Of course, I did.” She shrugged. “I found out he’s a werewolf Alpha. Not just any Alpha, but a powerful one. And I realized that he was forcing you into that marriage.”
My lips parted, but nothing came out.
“I wanted to help,” Mabel continued, more softly now. “I really did. But in the end, I decided to let you do it on your own. Tribulations make people stronger, Ashley. And the stronger you get, the stronger your powers will be.”
She gave me a small reassuring smile, but it did nothing to dispel the tempest inside me.
“This-everything you’re going through now-will only shape you into the person you’re meant to be. And as for Steven?” Her head tilted to the side a bit. “He’s an Alpha. He’ll do what’s best for his pack. That, I can be sure of.”
And with that, she turned and went back inside again, once again leaving me to my own thoughts.
I stood there for a long while, still worried in my heart.
I tried to wait.
I really did.
But I wasn’t the kind of person who could just sit and do nothing when someone I cared about was out there, potentially in danger.
So, without a second thought, I trailed him into the woods.
The air was colder than I had expected, wrapping around me like a concealed shroud. Shadows stretched between the trees, twisting and turning with every step I took. The pound of my heartbeat echoed in my ears, but I ignored it.
“Steven!” I called out, my voice cutting through the quiet of the forest.
Nothing.
I swallowed and stepped deeper in. “Steven!” I called out again, louder this time.
A few seconds passed. And then I heard it.
“Luna?”
The voice was faint, barely a whisper, but that voice I would recognize anywhere.
Relief flooded me as I turned around in the direction of the sound. And then there he was-Steven-limping along towards me, his figure barely visible in the darkness.
“Oh, Steven!” I exclaimed, running to him and throwing my arms around his exhausted figure. “I was so afraid. You left in such a rush, and I thought-” My voice shook as I stepped back to look at him. “I thought your temper would get the best of you, and you’d rush off and do something foolish. Thank the Goddess you didn’t.”
Steven exhaled shakily, his arms tightening around me as he buried his face in my hair. “I’m sorry, Luna. I’m so sorry.”
The sky above us darkened suddenly, a low growling noise humming through the trees. A boom of thunder cracked in the distance, an eerie shiver coursing through the air.
Then, I felt it.
Something was behind me.
The sensation was immediate-a chill down my spine, a feeling of being watched, of something lurking just out of view.
I stiffened. My breath froze in my throat.
“Steven.” I breathed.
“Don’t turn around,” he whispered, his voice low and urgent. “Don’t move.”
A laughter-soft at first, then growing louder-sounded through the forest. It was unnatural, uncanny, as if it came from all directions around us at once.
Fear knotted in my chest. “Steven… what’s going on?” My voice barely registered. “There… are there people behind me, aren’t there?”
There was a pause. Then the voices replied.
“We are The Skin and Blister.”
The way they spoke in unison, their voices layered over each other, made my stomach turn.
I shut my eyes. The Skin and Blister? The very name sent a wave of terror through me.
I felt Steven’s body tense beside me.
“What do you want from us?” he snarled, his voice slashing, threatening.
They laughed once more.
“Steven Blackwood, how the mighty have fallen,” they mocked. “You were once so proud, so merciless. What happened to all that pride? That ego?”
Steven clenched his teeth. “This is the last time I’ll ask-what do you want from us?”
The voices purred with amusement.
“And if we don’t respond?” one of them mused. “You are weak, Alpha. Broken. What hold do you have over us now?”
I had heard enough.
“Enough!” I snarled, tearing myself from Steven’s grasp and whirling to face them. My anger overshadowed my fear as I faced them. “I will not have you insult my husband!”
The three shapes stood before me, dressed in billowing white, their features hidden by the dim light. They were supernaturally still, their white robes blending with the mist curling between the trees. There was something unearthly about them-something ancient, something that hummed a low, primitive warning through my flesh.
Steven was still rigid beside me, his breathing slow but even. I could feel the tense line of his posture, the bunching of his muscles as if poised for battle.
One of the women stirred finally, moving forward with a grace that was nearly inhuman. Her lips smiled, but there was no warmth in it-only knowing.
“Ashley Green,” she said, her voice containing an unsettling smoothness.
“The wildflower we’ve been searching for,” said the second, her eyes gleaming in the dark.
“And finally, you have been found,” finished the third.
My heart pounded.
They knew who I was.
They had been looking for me.
Steven stepped in front of me instinctively, his body creating a shield between them and me. His protective stance sent a thrill through me, but I also recalled that these women weren’t ordinary. They weren’t something to be fought using brute strength alone.
“You won’t do anything to her,” Steven said, his tone flat but edged with restrained anger. “I may not be up to par yet, but I’ve lived my life protecting those I care about. I’m giving you a promise-if you lay a finger on her head, I’ll come after you. And I’ll kill you.”
The women regarded each other, smiles unfolding on their faces, something gleaming in their eyes that I couldn’t quite decipher.
“The passion with which you defend each other is most admirable,” one of them stated.
“We do not come to fight,” another assured.
“We come in assistance,” the third asserted.
A wind rustled the trees, carrying the scent of damp earth and something old, something almost metallic. The air around us appeared thicker, charged with a secret energy that danced across my skin with a slight humming.
I swallowed, glancing over at Steven, then back at them. “Help?” I tried.
The middle woman leaned forward slightly. “We are looking for the one who bears the name of your father.”
I held my breath.
“Ivan?” I tried hesitantly.
They nodded.
Steven’s grip on my wrist increased by a fraction. “Why?”
The right woman stepped forward in a fluid movement, the drapery of her white dress unfolding around her ankles like a mist. “As you, dear Alpha, we have a long history of protecting those we love.”
“And for those who do us harm,” continued the second, her eyes darkening slightly, “we hunt them to the four corners of the earth. Until we have our revenge.”
I had a shiver run down my spine.
“Ivan was to be sacrificed at birth,” the third woman spoke now, and there was an edge to her voice that hadn’t been there before. “His existence was a sacrilege. But he escaped our clutches and lived. And not only did he live, but he came back to get one of our own pregnant.”
The words churned my stomach in unease.
There was a heavy, fraught silence between us.
I knew they were talking about my mother.
The woman who had taken me in, the woman who had loved me-had been one of them.
One of The Skin and Blister.
The first woman breathed out slowly. “The plan was to kill you when we ever found you, Ashley.”
My blood ran cold.
“You are the outgrowth of a sacrilege, an existence that should have never been,” she continued.
“But… ” The eyes of the second woman softened slightly. “You are also your mother’s daughter. And she… she was a wonderful woman. A woman who was important to us.”
The third woman met my gaze. “And for that, we will spare your life.”
I felt Steven’s entire body tense up next to me.
“On one condition,” the first woman added, her face growing sharp once more. “You will only use your power for the good of others. The moment you use it for anything else-”
The air grew thicker, the area between us charged with an invisible tension.
“-we will find you,” said the second woman, her voice like the edge of a knife.
“And we will do what we should have done from the very beginning,” the third woman finished.
“Kill you.”
There was a loud, deafening silence.
I exhaled shakily, my head reeling from everything they had just revealed to me.
“I… ” I wetted my dry lips. “You don’t have to worry about that. I-I don’t even know how to control my powers at will. They just… come and go.”
The three women glanced at one another and then nodded, as if they already knew that.
Steven spoke suddenly, his voice low and measured. “You said you were searching for Ivan.”
They turned to him.
“Yes,” one of them answered. “Is something wrong?”
Steven’s jaw tightened. “I know where he is at this moment.”
The air around us vibrated with new energy.
“He has joined forces with someone I once trusted. Together, they attacked my pack,” he continued, his voice strained with withheld anger. “Ivan is my enemy also.”
The three women made no comment, their faces expressionless.
Steven took a breath prior to speaking: “So what do you say we join forces to seek revenge against those that did us harm?”
A moment’s pause.
Then-laughter.
It wasn’t derisive this time. It was amusing.
“You were furious with us a moment ago,” one of them mused. “And now you’re asking for an alliance? How… unexpected. Especially from someone as haughty as you.”
Steven exhaled heavily. “Times change,” he said curtly. “My pack’s survival is more important to me than my pride. And unexpected challenges require unexpected allies.” He returned their gaze unflinchingly. “I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
A spark of something passed through their eyes.
Finally, one of them stepped forward. “You precede your reputation, Steven Blackwood,” she murmured, a hint of a smile playing on her lips.
“Even in weakness, you refuse to back down,” another added.
“You have spoken like a true Alpha,” the third said, stepping forward.
Then, slowly, she extended her hand.
Steven didn’t wait.
He extended his hand and took hers in a firm grasp.
“Allies,” she said, sealing the deal.
And just like that-our war was no longer ours alone.
It was theirs too.