Ashborn Luna's Revenge

Chapter2

I could not see anything. I only heard the fast heartbeat of my parents as they held me between them. My own heart was beating hard in my chest. I was on the ground, pressed between my mother and father. From where I was, I could only see the paw of the wolf with icy eyes.

Then he changed into his human form. “Burn them all.” The order came.

The rogues laughed. I still remember them saying that if they only attacked us, we might heal. But if they burned us, no one could survive.

Soon I smelled gasoline. My mother held me even tighter. She tried to shift into her wolf, but she couldn’t. My father stroked my hair. His gentle touch was trying to calm me, even his own hands shook.

Then suddenly the fire started. Flames rose high around us. My parents covered me with their bodies. The heat was strong, and my throat became dry. I started crying.

“Mom… I’m scared now.” Those were the only words I managed to speak after I came out of the hiding spot.

“Hush, Scarlett,” my mother whispered. “Don’t cry. We will protect you.”

It felt like thousands of knives were stabbing into my body at once. I couldn’t breathe. The pain was so sharp that it cut off my screaming. It felt like…like my body was on fire…Like I burnt. I saw my parents slipping away from me. My mother’s painful cries, my father’s muffled sobs.

“Mother! Father!” I screamed with all the strength I had.

“Scarlett!” My aunt’s voice came as she shook me hard.

My eyes flew open. I stared up at the ceiling, my chest heaving. Sweat covered my face.

The m******e that took my parents and my whole pack eight years ago never left my mind. Every night it returned, and I was forced to live through it again.

My aunt reached for the glass of water on the bedside table and handed it to me.

“I told you not to think about it. You didn’t drink the herbal tea last night, did you?”

I shook my head. I had forgotten. Every night she gave me that tea to help calm me, but last night I missed it.

She was the only family I had left. That night, only the two of us had survived. No one else.

She placed her hand over mine and said, “Since you were awake, why didn’t you help Emmy? She really needs you this time.”

I lived in the human world, pretending to be one of them. Emmy was my friend. She worked for a mafia boss, something my aunt never knew. Whenever she got herself into trouble, she always came to me.

I tried to get out of bed, but she gently stopped me. “Don’t do anything silly. Your eighteenth birthday is tomorrow. It’s a big day for you.”

I nodded and got up, but her voice followed me. “No more fighting!”

I paused and looked back at her. “The game hasn’t even begun, and you’re already telling me not to fight.”

****

“What happened, Emmy? Aunt said you’re in trouble?”

She looked up at once, her eyes full of tears. She jumped from her chair and hugged me tightly.

“Scarlett, I messed up. I’m in big trouble.”

I held her shoulders, trying to calm her. “What happened?”

“I… I was on a mission. I followed a guy into a club to spy on him. He made an ammo deal there. I had proof, but I got drunk and left my phone behind, and he took it. My boss ordered me to get it back, no matter what.”

“That’s bad… but how can I help?” I asked. I didn’t know the location, and it wasn’t like I could just snatch the phone from a gangster.

“They called me on my personal number,” she said nervously. “They gave me a time and place to meet so I can get my phone back. But I’m scared. I can’t go there.”

She wanted me to go instead. I still didn’t know why she worked for the mafia when she was such a soft, harmless person.

“Alright, relax. Send me the time and location. I’ll go.”

Less than 2 hours before my eighteenth birthday, I found myself walking through the thick, dark forest with a tracker strapped to my hand. The location they had sent to Emmy was a basement inside an old warehouse at the far edge of the forest.

As I made my way forward, I caught the sound of something running in the distance. My wolf hadn’t awakened yet, but even so, my senses were sharper than any human’s. At that sound, the hair on the back of my neck stood and a knot twisted in my stomach. Without thinking much, I ran desperately to get out of this place as fast as I could.

I couldn’t see much in the darkness, but I could tell the place was old and worn down, with the nasty smell of burnt rubber. I stood at the doorway when I sensed movement behind me. Before I could turn to see who it was, a foul cloth was pressed hard against my face, particularly on my nose. I fought back, grabbing at the hand holding it, but the grip was rough. Within seconds, my eyes grew heavy, and my body went limp.

A sudden splash of freezing cold water hit me, soaking me from head to toe. My head, which had been hanging forward, lifted slightly at the shock. My vision was still blurry at first, but after a few moments, everything became clearer.

In front of me stood three men, all built strong and rough-looking. They were dressed completely in black. Two of them stood on either side. The one in the middle had a smirk tugging at his lips as his eyes ran over me as if he was enjoying the sight in front of him.

“Wake up, you b***h! Get ready for your punishment.”

I tried to jerk my hands free, ready to fight, but nothing happened. Confused, I looked down and realized I was strapped to a chair and both of my wrists tightly tied so I couldn’t move. My throat went dry, and I finally understood,

I was in deep trouble.