My Fate That I Don't Want

Chapter one: Transformed

JEREMY’S P.O.V

“She’s what?” I asked Genevieve, but I didn’t have time to ponder over Eve’s claims that Libby was a phoenix, because at that exact moment I felt her go limp in my arms, and a tearing pain filled my entire being.

Ulrick howled in pain as I looked down at my now dead mate, horrified.

“No, no, no Libby. Please… Come back, I- I need you, I…” I was yelling out nonsense.

I knew she was gone. I felt it. The pain was unbearable as I looked down on her, she was covered in blood and color was quickly draining from her beautiful face. Her eyes met mine in a blank, empty… dead stare.

Tears were flowing freely from my eyes as I shakily brought my hand to close her eyes. Once they were closed, it almost looked as if she was sleeping if it wasn’t for all the blood and her sickly colorless skin.

I hugged her to my chest, tightly, never wanting to let her go… I couldn’t… I-

“Jeremy! You have to let her go, we need to get away from her! We don’t have much time!”

“I won’t leave her!” I growled at Eve, who was trying and failing to drag me away from Libby's dead body.

I heard her mutter something furiously under her breath, and suddenly I felt my arms slip away from Liberty, leaving her on the ground as I walked away against my will. I quickly realized what was happening as I looked furiously at her. She only offered me an apologetic look.

I wanted to throw myself at her, she forced me away from Libby, oh Libby. My Libby, the Libby that was gone, just the thought of never getting to see her expressive eyes again killed me. The broken bond was sending bolts of pain through me, and Ulrick going on a rampage in my head didn’t help.

He wanted out and I wanted to let him, but I couldn’t. Eve was forcing me to remain in human form. I was growling at her, probably looking terrifying right now. I didn’t care.

Libby was gone. Someone had taken her from me. Why? What did she ever do? And who the f**k did it? I promised myself then and there I was going to hunt down whoever dared to take her away from me. And I was going to give them the most terrible death there is. I had to revenge her!

Suddenly something happened. It was as if the previously shattered bond inside me that was Libby was slowly reassembling. Disbelief and joy filled me as my eyes shot to where Libby was now lying alone on the grass.

But how can that be? She… she looked the same, but then what was this fluttering, amazing feeling filling me? How was it that Ulrick had suddenly calmed down?

It was at this point I realized how the whole hill had gotten considerably warmer, so warm that it felt like I was going to burn up. The heath was pulsating, and it was then I realized the core and cause of the unnatural, pulsing heath was Libby herself.

I looked at her, something strange was going on, it was as if she was… almost alive. Like she was somehow dormant and waiting to wake up. I didn’t understand what was going on in the slightest as the heath intensified.

At some point, it got so hot it seemed like a miracle that the whole hill hadn’t caught on fire. Then, something happened. I gasped, horrified, as I watched Liberty suddenly catch on fire. Slowly, I watched as she was lifted up, her feet floating just about a meter above the ground. Her hair was floating out to the sides of her face, it almost looked like gravity didn’t apply to her, like she was something beyond this world. Flames were engulfing her, and yet they didn’t hurt her, it was almost like they were healing her. She looked so eerie I was doubting if this was real.

Suddenly, a white light emerged from her, engulfing her completely, and I was forced to look away from the ultra-bright light. Seeing it subtract, I looked back at her and the sight astonished me. In front of me was no longer Libby, but a magnificent, huge, beautiful bird. It was like something straight out of a fairytale with a lean face, a knife-sharp beak, sharp burning eyes, a lean body, huge graceful wings, sharp claws, and a deep red to a bright range of orange colors on its feathers.

The bird, or Libby, stared back at me for a few seconds, its wings keeping it afloat with their powerful strokes. I looked straight into her still blue eyes. I saw a flash of recognition and for a moment I couldn’t believe she was back. I felt tears slipping from my eyes once more, tears of joy.

Then she suddenly averted her eyes from me, looking straight at the forest. Letting out a powerful shriek, the bird suddenly flew at lightning speed towards it. What the hell was she up to?