Half-Blooded | The Dark Child Prophecy Series [✔️]

Chapter 70: How the Story Goes

A couple months later...

I finished putting my shoes on at the foot of our bed before standing and adjusting the sleeves of my dress. I glanced at the clock to see it was a little after nine. Dinner would be served soon and I wasn't even there to entertain while Jason played bartender.

I sighed and checked my appearance in the full-length mirror. I immediately knew where the scars on my arms hid beneath the material, and I touched the one caused by the Moon Worshipper sword gingerly. Without being able to see them, I knew exactly where the others were beneath my clothes. I touched my abdomen as a phantom twinge spiderwebbed across my abs. Sometimes even the old emotional pain found me in physical ways. I checked my dress and makeup one more time, trying not to notice the body aches that threatened to get my attention.

The months had passed quickly since the night Page had created his hybrids. Summer had faded into early fall and the damage throughout the Pack house had been repaired. I had officially moved into Tanière du Loup a month after the incident, but it had only been with some stipulations on the chateau's security. I wanted the reassurance that what had happened to us wouldn't be possible ever again.

Thomas had taken a step back from his role as chief security officer, letting Canaan and Daniel handle the chateau's safety operations while he tried to come to terms with his new hybrid abilities and instincts. But it didn't relieve him of keeping a watchful eye over me at all times. He remained always in my shadow, followed me on runs, and remained close to our doors during the daylight hours. With his insistence, and my own demands, the whole property had been inspected and given security upgrades. The doors to the alpha floor were now equipped with locks, surveillance technology enhanced, and the windows had been reinforced with stronger glass.

I hated that it had to become that way, but it was necessary.

Page had escaped in the fight between his men, the hybrids, and my family's forces. Where he went, no one could figure out. But I knew it wasn't over for him. He would find a way to reach for Jason's crown again; it was just a matter of time.

Peter had been collected and buried after being found dead in the woods. He had died of his wounds from gunshots. Both he and Vraal were buried at Meadowlark in the D'Angelo family's large cemetery. The hybrids had all escaped during the chaos and were gone. Some of the men under Thomas's command had tried to track them, but their trails ended at the edges of the property. No one had seen or heard them since. We had even put out word across the Shadow Stalker networks to be wary of hybrids who didn't know how to control themselves, but all had been quiet.

Since the funerals for Vraal and Peter and the storm over, we were all trying to finally mend in the silence that filled us.

And I was recovering, too. I had managed to heal and put some weight back on after my captivity with the Purist wolves. I hadn't realized until after the bloodshed ended that I had become so thin from lack of proper food and nutrients. My injuries had healed up, my strength returned, and I had begun to feel somewhat normal once more. When I could, I traveled to the Capitol to take class with my grandfather to re-hone my self-defense skills. I had tried going back to my job as part of my aunt's administration; but after one meeting and having to guard against countless questions from coven members, I had asked for an extended leave of absence.

I wasn't ready to face the real world.

Jason had taken over his full duties as King Alpha again. While overseeing the repairs and upgrades to the pack house, he had also taken measures to eradicate his political rivals. Silvia Hunt had been stripped of her title as a pack alpha, placing Wolfe Mather in her position. He had never told me what had happened to him that night, when she had drug him off to the infirmary. And I had never asked. Where she went after her exile, I didn't know. Killian Page had a warrant put on his head as an enemy of the Pack and was to be taken, dead or alive, on sight. Anyone who deemed themselves a Purist was branded an enemy of the Pack and was advised to leave.