Beneath a Flaming Sky - Book Three (Moon Child Series)

Chapter One

Mia POV

Leaves crunched beneath my paws as I ran, the cold wind whipping through my fur. I wound through the trees, dodging rabbit holes, and fallen branches, my lungs burning for air. I couldn’t stop running, I had to keep moving till I reached my hiding spot, or else they would catch me. The creatures that had been stalking me for 4 years. The creatures that the hooded man had set on me. They were after my magic, after my soul and after my life force. If they were to catch me, it would all be over. My lungs were on fire as I finally reached the small canopy of trees that I’d enchanted with a cloaking spell that would hide me from the creatures after me.  I collapsed to the floor, holding my breath as they screeched past my hiding spot in search of me. As they passed and faded into the distance, I breathed a sigh of relief as I took in some well needed air into my burning lungs. As I caught my breath, I thought back to the start of all this before I’d had places to hide to rest.

*4 years ago*

Darkness. I’m swallowed by it. Its all that surrounds me. I can hear echoes of voices, muffled by distance. But all I can see is a dark abyss, endless before me. Confusion and panic were coursing through me as the voices began to become clearer and I could feel soft hands stroking my hair. But I couldn’t move my body, I was paralysed in this darkness, only able to feel things around me and hear the words of those who spoke.

“Cousin, does your brother know you are out of your realm? I’m sure he wouldn’t be too pleased with it if he did.” The sweet voice sounds from above me, sounding so familiar to me, but I couldn’t seem to place it. Which frustrated me. A smug male voice replies to the question but was a little too muffled for me to hear. I was coming in and out of clarity as they spoke around me. A small growl sounded, loud and clear as I gazed confusedly into the darkness before me. It was starting to get frustrating only being able to hear and not see what was happening around me.

“She has been…sleeping curse. One that…written…Brothers Grimm themselves.” Once again, the words being spoken around me began to fade in and out, infuriating me. But I had gotten the gist of what the beautiful voice was saying. Adrienne had managed to place me under a sleeping curse. I’d read about them during my studies with my mother. Many believed the sleeping curse to be a made-up story only seen in fairy tales such as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. But they couldn’t be further from the truth. Sleeping curses although exceedingly rare now-adays, once had been quite common in the days of old and were very much a real thing. The first sleeping curse had unknowingly been recorded by the Brother’s Grimm themselves. They would travel around collecting old folklore and publish them in their books, and along their travels they heard the tale of Sleeping Beauty. Word of mouth had a way of changing the story over time but the part with the curse was always constant. A young woman pricking her finger on a spinning wheel, falling into a 100-year slumber until the kiss of her true love awakens her. The sleeping curse came in many shapes and forms in the old days, before it evolved to only one spell. I felt dread grip me at the thought of being stuck in this dark abyss for 100 years, maybe even longer, until words in the distance pulled me from my spiral of despair.

“Sleeping curses…broken by the…cast them…true loves kiss…Mia’s…mate.” My heart dropped even more at those words. In order for the sleeping curse to be lifted I had to receive true loves kiss, which for shifters was their mate. Jokes on me, I’d never met my mate, and never would now that I was stuck in this curse. Anguish gripped at my heart. I was stuck in this eternal darkness. I would never be able to see my family again. I would never be able to meet my mate, fall in love and have children of my own with them. The words surrounding me turned to muffled echoes as I fell into the dark abyss and my despair. My heart was breaking thinking of my parents. Of my brother.

“So she can’t be woken up? Except for by her mate?” my brothers grief-stricken voice rang loud and clear in the darkness and I felt my heart break all over again. Luca. I couldn’t stand to hear him in pain. After those heartbreaking words all I could hear was sobbing, and I wished that I couldn’t hear anything anymore. I wanted silence. The sound of my family mourning me was more than I could take. I felt my grief begin to vibrate under my skin, I felt pressure building up inside me. It was overwhelming me, making my blood sizzle in my veins and my head begin to pound. The pressure built to the point of agony before it finally burst with my scream. Light exploded behind my eyes and I fell to my knees. I could feel the coolness of linoleum beneath my knees and palms. Sounds were crystal clear, and as I opened my eyes, I had to blink a few times as my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness around me.

When my eyes finally adjusted to the brightness, I looked around me, not believing my eyes. Voices continued to speak around me as I took in the room I was in, but I was alone. I was in the pack hospital, in a shared room. I stood from my knees and searched the room. I could hear voices, but no one was here. I walked out into the hall and found that it too was empty. A full search of the entire pack hospital and the voices followed me no matter where I was, never fading, crystal clear. My search of the pack hospital done I made my way outside and towards the pack house. A search of it also revealed that I was alone. I stood in front of the pack house, gazing up at my home.

The sensation of a hand stroking my cheek had me reaching up to touch it, and my heart clenches as I hear the voice of my father and the creak of a chair. I feel the sensation move to my right hand and I glanced down at it, tears softly trailing down my cheeks.

“It seems only fitting to read you this now, a little ironic some would say. But you loved it as a child, and I hope it’s still the case.” I smiled sadly as I knew where my dad was going with this. The sun was setting on the horizon over the trees and I watched it quietly as I listened to my dad read me my favourite childhood story.......