Chapter 7 When Worlds Collide

• KAEL
• "Show yourself."
• I had no idea who I was speaking to, yet the words ripped from my throat, raw and demanding, driven by a hunger I couldn't control...
• Someone was here. Someone had to be.
• Thorne's argument echoed in my mind, reminding me that I shouldn't be here... I shouldn't be roaming the pack grounds... Especially on a full moon night. This was dangerous... I was playing with fire...
• But his protests felt distant when compared to the unstoppable force surging through me.
• How I'd broken out of the dungeon, past his doubled silver dose, still amazed me; it should've stopped this restlessness. Yet it didn't, and I could feel it growing by the minute.
• My heart was beating rapidly against my chest, creating an ancient war beat as it demanded what it sensed.
• They found no one? How could they not see it?
• Struggling with the urge to reach behind the tree and snatch out whatever or whoever it was, a low growl erupted from my chest...
• "I said, show yourself."
• At that precise moment, I felt a light tingle brushing at the wall of my mind, and her voice flooded in.
• "It's not you. He can't b...b...be speaking to you. Have you for... forgotten this is a dream? Stop trembling; you'll wake up any... anytime soon."
• The hell?
• How was she doing that? Invading my mind, speaking to me as if she knew me... as if she belonged there?
• Unable to control myself, I took a step forward, staring at the shadows clinging to the oak tree. The smell of antiseptic and pain relief patch clouded my senses as I tried to get a whiff of her real scent.
• "I can hear you," I grunted, waiting to see the foolish woman who dared to walk into my territory. "You have less than 10 seconds to come out, or you'll be dead."
• Still, she didn't come forth immediately; the agonising wait stretched for what felt like an hour, and then, as if in slow motion, she finally revealed half of herself. My world was jumbled as I waited for the fierce warrior I'd imagined to show up from behind her, but I saw no one else but a girl... a child.
• She looked like a ghost; the visible parts of her hand and leg, which I could see, were covered in fading bruises, as they showed the extent of her malnutrition.
• What in the world is this?
• She looked so frail... like just a little heavy wind could lift her off her feet, so how did she get past our defence... past my men?
• Is this a scheme? A plot to bring my pack down? A plot to lure me out?
• Anger began brewing in my chest, fuelling the usual taste of blood that flowed within me.
• I wasn't going to fall for this... whoever sent her needed to know he'd made a mistake. My hands reached out, ready to snap her head off her neck the moment she materialised completely before me.
• But I'd barely touched her when she gasped and fell to her knees. I frowned, my lips curling up into a snarl.
• "What is the meaning of this?"
• Her lips parted to speak, but a soft cry came out in its place. Beads of sweat began to appear on her forehead, and I watched her begin to tremble violently.
• "Who the hell are you?" I growled as a wave of pain crashed upon me.
• What was happening?
• She looked to be the one in pain, yet I was the one feeling it. My hand clutched at my chest, trying to pry off the weight that pressed against my lungs as I struggled to breathe.
• Her back arched, a crescent mark appearing on the side of her arm, burning bright red, yet I was the one who let out a thunderous roar from the heat. My whole body was on fire, or at least that was how it felt.
• And I knew it wasn't a reaction from the full moon. I'd spent too many years living like this not to know if it was.
• "Kael!"
• Thorne's worried voice yelled behind me.
• When did he return?
• I couldn't answer the call. My eyes were locked on the figure on the ground in front of me. I could hear her heartbeat. Something in me pushed forward past the smell of antiseptics, finally picking up the subtle smell of flowers in the air, and the tingling spread through my veins.
• Impossible!
• "Kael! Get back; your fangs are showing!"
• What? My fangs...
• A raw snarl tore from my throat. I needed to get out of here, and fast!
• Finding out who the child in front of me was could wait; the safety of my pack members came first. But before I turned to run, my vision blurred, a white fog taking over, and I squinted, trying my best to see through it.
• "Get the hell back to the dungeon, dude! You're losing control... this is not going to end well..." Thorne boomed, his voice rough with fear, and I snapped, letting out a frustrated growl.
• "I can't see a fucking thing!"
• I shouldn't have come here... This wasn't the turn I'd expected. He was right.
• A memory I'd sworn to bury a long time ago, one that would haunt me till I died, resurfaced in my mind.
• Suddenly, I was no longer in the present.
• I found myself in the past, over tens of decades ago, sitting in a room whose wall was decorated with splashes of blood. I had just shifted back to my human form, and my naked self was lying in a pool of stickiness surrounded by its metallic stench.
• They say time heals it all, but the agony I felt was a wound that remained as fresh as it was that night. The immense guilt in my heart and the lack of injury on my skin confirmed the blood wasn't mine.
• That is, if the number of dead bodies scattered around me didn't already do that.
• With one look at my bloodied hands, the culprit was found.
• I did that. I did...
• I killed my people...
• And I could never let it happen again.
• So with great difficulty, I pulled away from the bind that held me down... that connected me to the child.
• "Get me out of here now!" Even as the words tore from my lips, a treacherous part of me wasn't sure if that's what I wanted.
• I hadn't felt this way in a long while.
• Not since... No... It couldn't be...
• Yet, doubt crept in...
• Could it... Does this make sense?
• This wasn't how I remembered it to be, this feeling... It shouldn't be so... destructive.
• I needed to see who she was... to speak to her... but my pack...
• I needed to protect them from myself... from the monster I am...
• A sharp intake of breath pricked at my ears.
• "Holy fuck, Kael! You're shifting!"
• What?
• No way! The curse...
• The pull between us tightened as I felt something trying to claw its way out of my chest. Then, I began to feel it, that feeling that couldn't be described. The one I haven't felt in years...
• Kael...
• A gruff familiar voice called in my head...
• "Ry?"
• How can this be?
• My head began to split, my eyes nearly rolling into the back of my head as it found the girl again.
• Of course, that's how...
• To hell with walking away; I wasn't leaving without answers.
• Letting out a brutal roar, I lunged for the figure before me just as her small form jerked around, revealing her face. Pain, like never before, took over me. I fell to the ground, meeting her bulging eyes as her mouth fell open, but no sound came out.
• Something was happening.
• Her form began to blur...
• And just before she disappeared completely, fresh bite marks appeared on either side of her neck, finally pulling off the lid from the bloodlust I'd been trying to suppress.
• She can't be mine...
• Mine was dead. But who dared...
• Who... dared...