Born To Be Your Apocalypse

Unexpected Figure

Sabrina's POV

Every head in the room turned in unison as I braced myself for whatever these people are up to.

My brows furrowed in confusion as my eyes landed on an old woman standing just inside the threshold.

She looks too old for her age not to be leaning on a walking stick or something, yet she stood straight-backed and steady, silver hair braided neatly down one shoulder, eyes sharp and clear.

The way she carried herself…shoulders squared, chin lifted…said she must have been a warrior in her prime. Something in the set of her jaw still radiated quiet command.

The omegas still scattered across the floor didn’t need a second invitation. They scrambled to their feet, grabbing at one another’s arms, pressing hands over bleeding cuts and limping toward the nearest exit as fast as their injuries allowed. Within moments, the room had emptied of everyone except the three of us and the old woman who had just claimed the center of it.

“Grandma…” Zane began.

Grandma?

She raised one hand without even glancing at him. The gesture alone was enough to silence whatever he had been about to say.

Then she started walking toward me. Her steps were slow and measured…her eyes never leaving me as though I will vanish if she blinks. Each step closed the distance until she stopped right in front of me.

Urgh. Here we go again. What next? Another bash? Another mouth ready to open and spew the same old hatred?

I braced for it, shoulders tightening, the knife still warm in my grip.

But that wasn’t what I got.

To my complete surprise, the old woman opened her arms and bent slightly, as if she meant to hug me.

What the hell?

Instinctively I stepped back and raised the knife higher, blade angled toward her throat.

“Zane! Look at her! She wants to stab your own grandmother like killing your mother wasn’t enough?!” Lyria’s voice rang out, high and frantic.

The old woman didn’t even look at her. Her eyes stayed locked on mine as she spoke, voice low and steady.

“Will you make her keep quiet, or do I have to tell you everything, Zane?”

Zane’s jaw flexed but he didn’t ignore her. “Just keep quiet, Lyria. What are you even doing here? Leave!”

Lyria’s face flushed an ugly red while her fists clenched so hard her knuckles went white.

“I should leave? Really? You let this woman taint our future bedroom with her curse, you hit me, took her side, and now even your grandma…who as a matter of fact, has never let me anywhere close to her or appreciated my effort…is acting like a docile lamb in front of her, and you want me to leave?”

Before Zane could answer, my attention snapped back to the woman standing only a few feet away. Why was she this close? What the hell did she want with me?

She took another step closer, hands still open, palms facing me in a gesture that felt almost gentle and motherly.

“It’s okay, child,” she murmured. “I know this household has given you enough reason to hate us… but I just want to hug you once more. I just want to welcome you home, little Sab.”

Home? I’ll rather be a wanderer than…

Hold on. She called me little Sab?

The nickname hit me like a physical blow. Why did that sound so familiar? No…why was I even wondering? What if this was some messed-up spell she’s trying to cast on me? What if their plan was to make me lower my guard, put me back in chains the second I let myself believe a single soft word and then use me for whatever reason they dragged me back for?

I was so lost in the spiral of suspicion that I didn’t see her close the last of the distance. I only felt warm arms wrapping around me.

The embrace was soft and firm at the same time, the kind of hug that didn’t demand anything, only offered.

It felt so annoyingly soothing, so painfully familiar, that the backs of my eyes burned. I almost bawled right there. Almost.

But no. This pack, this realm… They would never see me cry again.

I stayed frozen, knife still half-raised, body rigid as she patted my back in slow, steady circles, muttering quiet, comforting words against my hair.

“You’ve grown so much, Sab. I’m sorry that I wasn’t there when it happened. Goddess knows I would never have let them do that to your family. I know more than anyone that there’s no way Celine would hurt…let alone kill…Renee. I watched them grow up. I watched them start their families. They were more than best friends… they were sisters. I would have stopped what happened to them, little Sab. I would never have let—”

That name again… Little Sab.

Something inside my chest cracked wide open as realization dawned.

“Na… Nana?” I whispered, voice broken and small.

She pulled back just enough to look at me, eyes already glistening.

“Yes, child. It’s me. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I couldn’t protect you. When I came back and heard everything…”

I didn’t let her finish.

The knife clattered to the floor as I surged forward and threw my arms around her, holding on so tightly my shoulders shook.

Silent tears slipped down my cheeks before I could stop them. I told myself I wasn’t crying for this pack. I would never cry for this pack again. I was crying because it was Nana. Because the one person aside from my family, who had ever treated me like I mattered was suddenly real and warm and here.

Memories flooded in faster than I could stop them.

Nana took me everywhere in the pack when I was little, her hand wrapped around mine like I was her own grandchild. The way she would ruffle my hair and tell me I would be great when I grew up…wolf or no wolf.

She was the Alpha’s mother. Zane’s grandmother. But because our families had once been so close, she had been mine too. She taught me the names of plants and the uses of herbs in the quiet corners of the gardens, back when this pack still felt like home.

And then I remembered hating her.

Hating her for not stepping in. For never coming to see me while they tortured me in that cell. For never showing up on the nights I prayed someone…anyone…would just hold me and tell me it would be okay.

All those years I thought she had chosen them over me. And now she was saying she had been away?

I tightened the hug, burying my face against her shoulder as she kept patting my back with the same gentle rhythm she used when I was small.

“It’s okay, child. Nana is here. I have been waiting for you to come home, my sweet girl. Let Nana take a look at you.”

She pulled back with a soft laugh, hands cupping my face, then my shoulders, then turning me slightly so she could study me from head to toe. Her smile widened, eyes shining with something dangerously close to pride.

“Oow, you lost some weight? Awww, what has my chubby little rabbit been going through to lose so much? And you grew your hair out so long… and your face is even prettier. Ooow, you look like the goddess herself!”

Despite everything, heat crept into my cheeks. I looked away, suddenly shy under the open affection.

Behind us, Lyria’s voice sliced through the moment like a blade.

“This is unbelievable! What is happening here? She’s a murderer’s child and you’re hugging her? I’m supposed to be your grandson’s wife! I’m the future Luna of this pack!”

Nana didn’t even glance in her direction. She simply kept smoothing my hair, eyes moist as if she was fighting not to cry in front of me.

Zane’s voice came out next. “Just shut up, Lyria. In fact, come on. Let’s go.”

He reached for her arm to pull her away but she planted her feet and yanked free.

“No, Zane! She needs to leave now. This is our room! I have the right to it as much as you do,” she replied stubbornly.

Nana continued as if the two of them didn’t exist, their exchange fading in the background. Her gaze drifted over my face again, softer now, searching.

“Tell me, child… you’re glowing specially, like someone is particularly spoiling you silly. Is there…”

She didn’t finish the question before I caught what she meant.

“Yes,” I answered, voice quiet but confident.

Nana’s entire face lit up. She clapped her hands together once, then reached for mine and started gently pulling me toward the large bed against the far wall.

At that moment, thoughts of escape shifted to the edges of my mind for the first time since I had been dragged back here.

“Come, child. Tell me all about him,” she giggled, settling onto the edge of the mattress and patting the space beside her. “Do you love him?”

I sat beside her, hands still linked with hers. The two figures by the door still hovered like flies, but Nana’s presence made them feel suddenly distant.

“With my life,” I said without hesitation and just then, a low, feral growl cut through the room.