StarShine (Temporarily On Hold)

9

Just kidding! Haha
This is a double update! Read chapter 8 first!!! ⚠️⚠️
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"It all started five years ago," Bennett was careful not to catch Elara's eyes. 

Telling this story was going to be hard enough without her blue eyes drawing him in. 

With that one sentence, Elara's mind had already begun to race with questions. Bennett had said that his father and brother died four years ago. Could her parents' death be related to his loss?  

Surely, the Moon Goddess wouldn't be cruel enough to tie them together in such a twisted way?

"We had been attacked in the middle of the night and never caught the wolves responsible. At least, we believed it to have been wolves." Bennett ran his hand through his hair, letting out a frustrated breath. 

"We took all the measures we could think of, but it never kept the attacks away for long. So many lives lost. They left no survivors and we still had no idea who was attacking us, until a year later."

Elara held in the gasp at Bennett's words. Her heart sinking with the realization that she was, unfortunately, right. She and Bennett were a little more twisted together than just mates. 

They were bonded by a much more cruel fate. 

"They came out of nowhere, dozens of them, maybe even hundreds. At first, we thought they were humans just hunting some wolves but we couldn't have been more wrong. They were worse and they were ruthless in their kills. 

"It was shocking to watch. They were faster and stronger than any humans and for the first time, we weren't the predators, we were the prey." Bennett was getting worked up and somewhere Elara knew to reach out for him, but she was frozen. 

Why Bennett thought he could get through the story without reliving that horrible night, he wasn't sure. He could see his father and brother so clearly in his mind. Just earlier that day, they had been planning a hunt for later in the week. 

He made the mistake of glancing down at Elara. Her eyes a mixture of shock, confusion, and sadness. His breath caught in his throat and the words he was about to say, died on his lips. 

Bennett looked at his Alpha, silently begging for him to continue because Bennett couldn't. 

"They were acting as if they were searching for something and they got more than excited when I had arrived at the scene with Bennett and some other men. Makes sense that they'd be after the Alpha." his eyes had shifted to each face in turn before resting on Bennetts again. 

Elara knew what was coming and could feel her heart breaking for her mate. 

"I won't lie and say that it was easy taking them down. They fought hard and we had to fight harder, but it was still anyone's war. Until John and Ellis went down and Bennett lost control of his wolf." Elara couldn't contain her gasp that time as her head snapped to look back at Bennett.

She knew the pain of losing a loved one, two even, but she couldn't imagine being there to witness it!

"My dad and brother," Bennett mumbled towards a confused Everett and Grace, carefully avoiding having to see that devastated look on his mates' face again. 

"Bennett," Elara's voice was a broken whisper but it fell into the silence that has surrounded the room.

She tried to think of something, anything, to say but the only thing that came to her head was the same things she hated hearing when people heard about her parents.

She can't be a hypocrite and tell him what she had hated hearing. No matter how much it physically hurt her to say nothing at a time like this. 

"Suffice to say, Bennett went on a rampage, One hundred percent animal that helped us win. The last one we kept for questioning before we killed him. He told my Beta that it wouldn't matter that none of them got back because he'll know what they found and he'll come." 

"Who's he?" Everett interjected as soon as Alpha Rafael was finished speaking.

Elara couldn't feel her heart beating because it was going so fast. Everett had asked the very question she was thinking but her gut told her that she wouldn't like the answer.

"He called him, Sethos." the name alone sent a cold chill to Elara's spine and caused goosebumps on her skin.

Her mind flashed to those obsidian eyes that haunted her dream but she wasn't sure why. Fear pricked at her but she just assumed it was from being on edge with Bennett's history.

"There's more," Bennett finally found his voice and moved out from behind Elara to stand next to his Alpha.

Elara couldn't fathom how there was any more to this story.

"All the wolves that died that day, had similar wounds. That's how we based our search and your parents fit the bill." Bennett had knelt down in front of Elara and grasped her small hands in his larger ones. 

They both reveled in the warmth and comfort of each other. 

"The running theory is that they were scouting out an attack and your parents were just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Alpha Gabriel looked from Everett to Elara, not sure what type of reaction the siblings would give. 

Elara never took her eyes off of Bennett. She clung to his solemn face just as Everett was clinging to Grace. 

They were the anchors placed to keep their mates grounded. 

"They weren't killed by wolves? by rogues?" Everett grit out, not quite sure what this is leading up to.

The Alpha's shared a look, one that Elara couldn't decipher. 

"No. Vampires," Bennett's eyes stayed on Elara, carefully watching for any movement, but it was like she was frozen. 

The word rolled around her head over and over again. Images of the Twilight characters flashed behind her eyes but a cold dread hit her spine. They hadn't been describing your average literary, glitter-in-the-sun vampires. If this was true, they were something much more sinister. 

A part of her hoped that it was some joke. That any minute now, both Bennett and Alpha Rafael would start laughing before saying that it was in fact rogues that were to be blamed.

She felt terrible for wishing that it was rogues. She should be happy that they at least know what happened to her parents, instead of just hypotheticals that never really made sense. But the idea of a creature being out there, terrorizing packs while the wolves scrambled to defeat them, was terrifying. 

"We need to start training the warriors how to defeat them," Alpha Gabriel said and the other Alpha nodded in agreement. 

"That's why we're here," Elara could see that Bennett's mouth was moving, seemingly talking with both the Alpha's, but she couldn't hear any of it. 

It was suddenly too hot in the room and there wasn't enough oxygen to get to her lungs. The chair skidded back a little bit with how fast she stood and mumbling a quick apology and excuse, Elara ran out of the office to get some fresh air. 

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