Ensnare

Epilogue

Another short chapter, but here you go. Are you sure you're ready? :p

The sun was sinking behind the mountains, casting a pink glow across the sky. Golden light filtered through the trees and played on the ground below. The wind rippled through my black hair as I took a deep breath of fresh air.

                I lifted a hand from the cold metal railing of my balcony. Rubbing my eyes to try and bring myself back to a normal state of mind didn’t work. I sighed and unbuttoned the first couple buttons of the white dress shirt I was wearing.

                Less than an hour ago I’d met someone whose existence I’d only discovered a month ago.  The first time I’d heard of my sister had been an assignment my father had given me. Only when he decided he that she would be useful did he disclose the information that I had a twin. A twin sister. Flesh and blood that I’d never even known I’d had.

                That was the way my father was: cold and manipulative. He chose who knew what and when. He controlled his pack with an iron fist. Every move he made was strategic. Even if no one understood his motives, there was a grand scheme behind it all.

                The scheme behind this latest development was still waiting to be unveiled. I could only guess what he had in mind. One thing was certain though, he hadn’t brought my sister home to welcome her with open arms. He’d brought her home as a pawn in his game of life. A new player on the board. He saw some way to use her and he was determined to capitalize on the opportunity.

                Though he used me as he wished my entire life, I still felt like Laura was being dealt a worse blow. I’d always known the lengths to which our father would go. I knew how he thought. He was playing for power and was void of emotion. The hug he’d given her was a display to win her affection. To control her. She was being tricked into thinking she was loved by her own father. It sickened me.

                If there was anything I could do to stop it, I would. But I was my father’s son after all. Living in the shadow of a sociopath made conscious of the way other’s thought. How to predict and plan for their every move. I wasn’t as clever as my father but I knew when it was time to deliver this heart-breaking information.

                There was no possible way I could tell Laura now that she was being used. She was too fragile from shock. She mind had to recover. She also had no proof of what I would be saying. She needed to glimpse to truth to believe it. My father had told her the truth today and she knew it was true. Everything he’s said has been true to date. Yet when she was wrong in assuming that I had bitten her, it would seem as though I had lied; even if it was a simple misunderstanding on her part.

                When the time was right I would burst her bubble, but for now I would stand by her. Though my father didn’t care about her as family should, I was determined to be the family she never knew. She was my twin and I would be there for her. Though she would be living in a web of lies, I would do my best to be the truth. She needed someone fighting in her corner. And that’s where I would be. My father could crush her with his cruelty but he would have to go through me first.

                My whole life my father had been the only family I’d known. He refused to speak about my mother and banned the others from telling me. I had never seen her picture or heard stories about her. I only knew what she was, not who.

                When my father had first given me the assignment I’d immediately began to wonder what my sister was like. I wanted to know if she looked like my mother, if I would get a glimpse of the woman who had given birth to us through my twin.

                When I’d finally found her in the woods that day I had been surprised by her looks. She looked like my father and I. Yet as I looked closer I could tell there was something else that looked unlike my father. We had the same green eyes. Those must have come from our mother. We also looked so much like each other. We’d inherited most of our looks from our father, but some from our mother as well.

                With only the information my father provided, I had looked only to him as a parent. He was cold and calculating, not a source of love. Now that I had been reunited with my twin, I planned to stay by her side. Because as much as she needed family in a time like this, I needed it too. I only wished that my hopes wouldn’t be crushed by yet another malicious family member. We came from a long line of serpents and I hoped that just maybe I could find a single caring blood relation. 

                When I’d first seen her come down the stairs I could tell that she was Stone River. She carried herself with dignity even though it was clear that she was scared and angry. She had been dressed up, just like the rest of our pack though at the time she hadn’t known we would be formally attired. When she walked into the room you could smell Stone River. The scent of power.

                Stone River pack was one of the three families that began to colonize North America for werewolves. With such an old blood line we were stronger than any other North American pack. We had numbers too. My father would know the exact number, but I estimated that we had approximately two hundred members. A real supernatural army. A force to be reckoned with.  

                As twins we had similar scents. Along with the ozone and running water that was Stone River signature, I found we shared a hint of wood fire and vanilla. Something else mingled in the mix too but it was impossible to tell with your own scent.

                As I played back the scene of what had just happened in my mind, I began to question everything. I knew my father had put on a show of deception. But who else in the room was presenting an illusion? Had Laura, with the blood of a sociopath running through her veins, deceived us all?

                First impressions aren’t always right. There’s always something deeper lurking beneath the surface, I though as I looked out to the mountains. The sun sank behind them, flooding the world with shadow. You can never trust appearance, and my dearest sister was about to find out just that.

Leave a comment! What was the biggest surprise in Ensnare? Who is your favourite character?Have any comments or questions? Please let me know, input will help with writing the sequel (which is on it's way, check my profile to see when it gets posted). It shouldn't be long before the sequel is out, a couple days is my guess. Maybe more (probably not) maybe less. Thanks so much for reading! Hope you enjoyed it :)