Old Version Shatter Pieces

Epilogue

Carter

The room was cold and I felt as though nothing could ever make me warm again. I tried to figure out why I felt this way, it was obvious that there were blankets laid over me and yet I still felt as though I was stuck in a snowstorm. But I could come up with no reason for this coldness and could not stop the chills running over my skin.

Elinn, that was the first thought I had as my consciousness began to return. The bed underneath my body was definitely my own, only it felt bigger than it had before. Maybe that was because Elinn wasn't in the bed with me, where had she run off to?

My eyelids folded back and I was greeted by the sight of my family and Elinn's gathered in my room. My father was holding my mother whose shoulders were slumped as though the heaviest load in the world had been placed upon them. Adara had tears running down her cheeks and Zayden simply stood staring unmoving gazing out the window.

Xander was sitting on the couch while his mate rubbed his hand comfortingly. Darius was pacing the room and running his hands through his hair. Nathan was sitting near my bed looking exhausted while Jenny stood by his side rubbing his shoulders probably trying to relieve some of the tension.

"What's going on? Why are you all here?" I asked my voice was raspy and I was in desperate need of some water.

Everyone shot out of their seats and all their eyes were stuck on me. Some like those of my parents and Jenny were filled with despair and sympathy, while Adara and Zayden's eyes were filled with loss and questions. Darius, Xander, and Nathan's eyes all appeared to be filled with anger, but I couldn't figure out why they were all acting like this.

"Carter, do you remember what happened? You and Elinn were on a trip at the summer house when...." Jenny's voice was soft and her voice filled with anguish. Then it all began to come back to me.

"Elinn decided that she needed to run away, that it would be safer if she was gone. She got it into her head that the Bastard was doing this all just to get back at her and leaving kept the rest of us from harm. So she ran, Elinn ran off and probably wouldn't have come back unless she had heard what he wanted her to hear.

He knows how she reacts to things, he's had years to study her behaviors. Thousands of hours of torture and bloodshed learning what she does when aggravated, scared, in pain, he knew she was going to run. So he planted men in the forest so that she could overhear fake plans for her to believe to be real. Made her think that he was going to destroy the pack no matter what she did or where she was.

She ran right back to the house leading them right to us. I made her drink scent concealer and Granthian to make sure that she couldn't try and give herself up. I hid her in the secret passage in the living room to keep her out of his hands, but it wasn't enough.

I wasn't strong enough to protect her, I couldn't protect my own mate. I let what he said get to me, let him get me angry so that I wasn't able to fight well. I was sloppy and it was entirely my fault that he pinned me and got me down like that. I have no idea what happened after he knocked me out.

I learned who he is, I found Elinn's parents house with a little help. His real name is Aurelio Santini and he is the first rogue ever created, the one from the legends. He wants to use her as a weapon, I don't understand why though. She is harmless and would never hurt anyone." My mind's going a million miles an hour and I can hardly keep track of what's going on around me. I knew that Elinn was gone, I knew that Aurelio had taken her. That she was once again a prisoner to that animal.

Before I could continue there was shouting heard from the hall. We all turned to face the doorway but even without werewolf speed, we were not fast enough to stop whoever it was bursting through the door. All of the people in the room became defensive some of them even shifting in order to better protect those around them. I recognized the man who was now standing staring at all of us and I heard shocked gasps come from Zayden and Adara.

"Where is she? Where is my daughter?" Elinn's father stood in front of all of searching the room for his daughter. There was a weight that had settled on my shoulders that I knew would be placed ten times more upon this man's when we told him.

"Alpha Ecstan, your daughter, my mate, she's been taken." The words sounded foreign coming out of my mouth as if someone else was saying them.

"NO! You're lying to me, she was here she was safe." His gaze turned to the King and Queen whose eyes were cast towards the floor.

"I told you to protect her! I told you to watch her carefully and what did you do? You let her get taken not once, no but twice! Do you realize what you've done? At least before she wasn't old enough for his plan to be completed, but now...." His voice trailed off and that was when I realized what day it was.

My hand shot to my pocket where I felt something that hadn't been there before. I pulled out a folded piece of paper that I had found folded next to the story Ecstan had written for his daughter and unfolded the message addressed to Aurelio's former friend.

I passed him the sheet and he ripped it open and stared at the dark words etched onto the page. He tipped his head back and howled letting the page fall to the floor for the rest of us to read.

"Happy Birthday dear Elinn, happy birthday to you! Now you're 21".