HOLLOW

•TWENTY-SIX•

•Natalie's POV•
•

I couldn't stop staring at my belly. There was a small bump that was beginning to form. The first time I noticed it, I shed a few tears. "You've been staring at that thing all day," Zephyra said. She arrived about a week ago along with some things we might need. "It's not a thing, it's a they." I correct, rubbing my belly.

She snickers as she takes a seat in the old fold-up chair. "You know that we're leaving soon, right?" She asks. I nod and continue to rub my belly. Even if we were stuck on the run from Winston, I will not fail to give my pups all the love they deserve.

I suddenly felt a strong pain run through my body, causing me to double over. "What happened?" Zephyra and Ioanna were by my side in milliseconds. I could only squeeze my eyes shut and gasp for air as I tried to recover from the blow. "One of them kicked me." I managed to say. As soon as I got the words out, I was clenching my fists, trying to deal with the pain again.

•Winston's POV•

Three weeks. Three weeks is how long it took me to realize that Athanasios' mate is not even in Washington. That warlock is a liar and waste of time. Because of him, I wasted a week on planning to find her and two weeks on looking for her. I had to know who was against me and who was with me.

I threw open the door to the coven and called out to him. "Lukas!" I was fuming. If I find out that he lied to me, I would be livid. I quickly marched up to his door and pushed open his door, forgetting to knock. He looked up to me with his eyebrows raised in a bored expression. "She's not in Washington," I explain with my nostrils flaring.

"She might have changed locations then. It has been three weeks since I informed you of her location." His nonchalance was making me angrier by the second. If that was the case then it would be months until I found her. Considering the time it takes to plan and travel, it would be a never-ending cycle of duck-duck-goose. "I'll check once again." He says.

Like last time, he closed his eyes and kept his breathing even. It was like some type of meditation. "She's in Arizona." His eyes looked to me once again. His eyes studied me until I grew uncomfortable under his blank eyes. He's an odd one. I turned on my heels and headed for the door. If I find out that he's lying, it'll be the last time he pulls one of his tricks.

"Beatrice!" My voice bounced off the walls as I made my way through the halls. I turned a corner only to almost run her over. She looked pissed. Even more than usual. "Uh- are you okay?" She ignored my question and continued to stare at me with none other than pure hatred. "Why the fuck did you do it?" She spat.

My eyebrows furrowed as the question rang no bells in my head. "Do what?" I ask, cluelessly. "You killed him. You fucked up fucker! You killed him, you motherfucker!" She screamed in my face. I remained still as tears began to spill out of her eyes. "You killed Xenos. Admit it. Admit to all the childish shit you've done." I looked at my feet, shamefully.

I did kill him. He had messed with me and I was only getting even with him. "I am sorry, Beatrice," I said. A hand came in contact with my face right before the slap echoed around the halls. "I helped your sorry ass." She pointed an accusing finger at me. "I helped your sorry ass at your weakest moments and how the hell do you repay me?"

"You do what has always gotten you into the hole that I have to help you out of. You kill. You kill people and run away from the consequences. Admit it. Admit that you're a psychotic lunatic that deserves to die!" She closed her eyes and let out a frustrated shout.

A burning pain shot through my abdomen. I dropped to my knees and began coughing. I felt like I was drowning, yet there was no water. I wanted to gasp for air but I was afraid that the pain would only increase. I fell onto my side as blood began spewing out of my mouth. My eyes remained wide as Beatrice looked down at me with apathy.

She was happy to see her father's murderer lying there, drowning in his own blood. I would be happy too. And I was happy. The fuzzy memories of Xenos begging for his life and praying to the moon goddess came flooding back to me. It was an enjoyable moment.

The blood soon came to a stop and the pain slowly died down. I looked to Beatrice with my tired eyes. "You're not going to kill me?" I question her. Her eyes were blank for a moment before she returned to herself. "Oh, I'm going to kill you. You are just going to suffer a huge amount of pain until it becomes too unbearable- even for immortals. Even though you already deal with pain every day, I just thought that I'd speed up the process... you know?"

She swung her leg back and kicked me in my stomach at full force before turning and leaving. I picked myself up and practically crawled out of the coven. I could already feel the pain kicking in and I didn't know how long I had left.

If I was going to be dead soon, and if I died, Athanasios' mate was going with me.

•Athanasios' POV•

We had sculpted the perfect plan. And that plan required me to go to where Natalie was hiding. Winston was known for doing sketchy things and it wouldn't be a surprise if he showed up with packs of rogues by his side.

"Are you sure you can handle the pack by yourselves?" I ask the two goofs before me. They nodded with sad looks on their faces. "I'll be back," I explain.

"Just don't want to lose my best friend," Orion says. I nod and give them both a reassuring smile. Socrates looked like he was already at my funeral. "I'll be back," I say once more before shifting and running off.

•
A/N
I AM SORRY FOR THE WAIT!!!
I was extremely busy these past two weeks and it left me with little time to write... Oh, and btw... we are near the end of this book!