Laurel should have never been born, and yet she exists. A tragic event led her to a path of darkness, revenge, blood, and death. Allies turned into foes, and hell soon consumed her.
Friends became family and helped her heal and live. She left a pas...
The first thing she saw was the dark red stain that covered James' white shirt at his left shoulder. The second thing was his look. He didn't seem scared or perplexed, only a little surprised and something else. Was it sadness? Saying nothing, she picked up her knives and slowly cleaned them with Graham's clothes.
One of her mate's men went close to Graham and made sure he was dead. The other one had started cleaning the place. A dead human was something they would conceal, but a dead vampire? At the morgue, they would see his teeth, and the blood tests would prove the abnormalities in his blood. People would only get scared and suspicious and would start digging. That never ended well. The only choice was to clean up the place and burn the body.
"We need to talk," he said to her with a stern look.
Her watch started beeping.
"Asher," she whispered. "Clean this mess, please," she said, turning to James and started walking.
He caught her by her wrist and stopped her.
"You can't avoid me forever." His voice was strong, clear, and promising. His eyes were darker than usual while the Alpha in him was slowly taking charge.
"There is nothing to talk about," she insisted, trying to keep a poker face even though she could feel her skin getting warmer and her heart beating faster.
"You aren't human. You can't go on pretending you don't know what we are."
"There is no 'we', " she hissed and looked deeply into his eyes. "Let me go," she thought. "I can't handle this, too."
He tightened his grip around her wrist and pulled her closer. She wasn't expecting the sudden move and didn't have time to resist.
"We are mates, whether you want to admit it or not. I'll let you go this time, but it's the last one. No more running."
Her eyes traveled to his lips and then, back to his eyes. Millions of thoughts passed through her mind but the stronger one silenced them all: the curse.
Sooner or later, he would get hurt because of her. She wanted to break into tears and fall into his arms, erasing everything else.
"No," she said to Lyra, understanding what the wolf would say.
She removed her arm from his grip and looked at his eyes for one last time. She couldn't be the reason for his downfall. She glanced at his shoulder and the stained shirt. A thought tried to form but Asher's image came into her mind.
Turning around without uttering another word, she heard him speaking.
"We took care of the second one. There was no other vampire with them."
She nodded and started running toward Asher. Luckily for her, he was near, toward the house of her friend. The place was deserted with no lights other than the moon.
"I didn't do it. She was dead, but I couldn't hold myself completely," he said the minute he saw Laurel, with lips red with blood. He seemed scared and worried like a kid that's caught cheating.
Behind him, on the side of the road, there were the two girls that Graham had killed in a sitting position.
"I didn't know what to do with them. I thought it would be bad if they were found like that."
His skin was paler than usual, and he avoided looking straight into her eyes.
"It's okay, Ash. I know they are dead because of him. You did well. We couldn't leave them there for everyone to see."
"Do you think he turned them?"
"I can't tell unless they wake up. This could take up to 24 hours. We must get them to the house and wait there. And Asher, clean your mouth. The last thing I need is someone seeing you like that."
"I'll get my car." He licked his lips clean, his eyes glowing in pleasure for a second.
While waiting, Laurel sent a voice message to Sara telling her not to worry and that she was with Asher, safe, comforting him about his mother. The ride toward the house was quiet.
She didn't want to talk about the fact that James knew that she was messing with him, while she knew they were mates. Or the fact that he would try to find out why he couldn't sense or smell her wolf. In her head, everything was simple. If she were to find her mate, she would ignore him, he would have a confusing moment, but he would know that she was human and humans don't feel the same way as werewolves.
That was Laurel's problem. Sometimes she wanted so bad for her plans to succeed that she didn't take into consideration that people's feelings were so strong and powerful that no plan stood a chance when feelings are involved.
Finally, they reached the house. The lights in the living room and the kitchen were on. Asher picked up the two bodies and put them on his shoulders while Laurel was searching for the key.
"There are people inside," she said. "Let me get in first," she added while unlocking. She opened the door, making sure Asher was behind her, only to be faced with a familiar face.
His sunkissed, blonde hair was ruffled, and a warm, welcoming look filled his acorn brown eyes.
"Thomas?" she exclaimed in utter surprise.
Her best friend was back without previous notice. She ran to him and hugged him tightly, ignoring the tiny thought that his sudden visit was strange and ominous.
She melted into his hug while his strong arms were embracing her and making her smile peacefully.
A tall girl appeared from the hall smiling at her.
A young man with a tablet under his arm and a petite girl with dark brown hair and a purple strand showed up from the kitchen.
"Lena? Chloe? Zach? What the hell are you all doing here?"
"We need to talk," Thomas said.
Laurel walked into the living room, and Asher got inside silently, closed the door, and left the bodies carefully down.
"What happened?" she asked worried, and certain that this sudden return of her friends was the beginning of something terrible.
"Charles is back, Laurel," Lena said confirming Laurel's worst thoughts.
Her heart sank. She wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Someone was messing with her. Problems kept coming at her with no intention to give her a break. What was next? Earth colliding with the sun or aliens invading their world?
"And he is planning an attack. Do you understand what that means?" Zach added.
Of course, she knew. Charles was her enemy, and he wasn't supposed to come back ever again. Last time she had done something wrong. This time she couldn't afford to make the same mistake.
At their last encounter, she had convinced herself and Thomas to spare his life in an attempt to prolong his misery. She failed to predict his return, and he had come back.
Death would follow if they didn't stop him.
"I do," she nodded. "It's time for the beast to wake up."
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