06 - That Wicked Creature
1121 Words
“What is she doing here?” Janice spat with a disgusted tone.
“You haven’t heard yet? I thought everyone in the pack knew by now that Ciara is my mate.” Ashton tried to ease the tension with a laugh.
Of course the news had gotten to Janice, but she hadn’t believed it. Seeing Ciara in front of her eyes right now ignited an indescribable blaze of anger inside her.
“Let us in. We want to talk,” Ashton continued.
With a firm voice, Janice said, “I’m not letting her into my house. You can come in alone.”
Ashton was taken aback by this version of Janice. The Janice he knew was kind to a fault and polite at all times.
“Janice, don’t be like this. There’s an important issue we need to discuss,” Ashton said with a pleading tone.
Ciara wanted to sink into the earth. As an Alpha, Ashton could very well force Janice into submission and enter into her home to do as he pleased, yet, he was being so considerate.
Ciara didn’t expect to be so consumed by jealousy because of this. The fact that Ashton was courteous towards everyone and not her alone sparked spiteful feelings deep within her.
“I’m only doing this out of respect for you as my Alpha and my close friend.” Janice finally gave in, then faced Ciara with a fierce look, “Come in.”
The two mates stepped into Janice’s home and settled down, one comfortably, the other with deep discomfort.
“What is the important issue that you want to discuss? Can it wait while I prepare tea?” Janice said, looking at Ashton with love eyes.
“Thanks for the offer, but no,” Ashton turned her down, oblivious to Janice’s longing for him.
“Ciara and I are on a mission to unseal her wolf. A curse was placed on her and it can only be uplifted after she is forgiven by everyone whom she has offended. You were the closest in distance, so we decided to start with you.” Ashton explained earnestly.
Ciara couldn’t help but shrink into herself in shame. Ashton had just bared out her life’s problem to the person whose life she had once called meaningless.
After hearing that the important issue was regarding helping Ciara, Janice perfected a closed off expression on her face.
“Since that’s the case, I doubt I can be of any help. I don’t see myself forgiving this woman anytime soon.” Janice said with an equally earnest tone.
“But Janice-”
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Ashton’s words were cut off by the sounds of knocking that came from the front door. Janice looked between Ashton and Ciara before excusing herself to answer the door.
Half a minute later, a man in his mid-twenties rushed inside the Calore house and collapsed at Ashton’s feet.
His clothes appeared to be stained with blood and had claw marks on them. There were a few injuries on his body but the man seemed to be fine generally. It was just his actions that were alarming.
Ashton and Ciara stood up in surprise after taking in the state of the man.
“What’s going on? What happened to you!?” Ashton questioned.
“Alpha! We were attacked by vampires!” The man cried. “Dozens of us at the border. Some are even dead! The ones who survived are at the hospital, but most aren’t even faring well enough to tell the story of what we came across.”
“Vampires?” Ashton froze. “What are you talking about? How could vampires cause such damage to our pack’s members?”
With the rigorous training the warriors in the Black Star Pack were put through, how could they sustain such losses against vampires?
And why would vampires even attack them? Vampires and Werewolves have been at peace for five years now. The new king, Draven Brown, was not a fool who would breach a peace treaty so recklessly.
“They weren’t like regular vampires, Alpha. These ones were ridiculously powerful as they operated under the drained life forces of werewolves. In the blink of an eye, they had attacked us and drained most of our life forces before we even understood what was going on.
“I and a few warriors only managed to escape because the others sacrificed themselves for us.” The man lamented.
Ciara began to tremble.
Life forces were drained. The only person who operated with things like that was—
“You! You are the one, aren’t you!?” The man suddenly exclaimed as he noticed Ciara.
He rose from the ground and lunged to attack her.
“You did this, didn’t you!? You and that wicked creature! You both are working together again, right!?” he yelled at Ciara, grabbing the collars of her shirt tightly.
Ciara was too stunned to react. The man took the opportunity to grab her neck and began squeezing tight. Ashton finally acted, peeling the man off Ciara and flinging him across the room.
“Don’t you dare attack my mate!” he warned, then turned to Ciara. Examining her neck, he said, “Are you alright?”
Janice watched all of this with flames burning in her eyes. In her very home, her man was taking care of another woman right in front of her.
Ciara didn’t respond to Ashton’s questions. A different type of fear that she hadn’t felt in years enveloped her in a cold embrace.
Ashton was still holding Ciara, trying to get her to speak when Janice had just about enough of their display.
“Ashton, what are you doing!? Can’t you see that such a thing is suddenly happening because of her!?” Janice yelled, going to help the man on the floor who had become disoriented after being flung across the room.
Ashton detached himself from Ciara temporarily as he faced Janice.
“Ciara didn’t do anything,” he defended.
“How can you believe that?” Janice fired back. “Draining of life force; you know what that means, don’t you? Now that she’s back, how coincidental is it that such a thing is happening? My guess is that he is also back.”
A cold shiver ran down Ciara’s spine after those words. He was Damon Brown.
The former vampire king who had been so thirsty for power that he sought to drain the life forces of werewolves and kill them afterwards. He was also the same person who had tortured her half-sister, Elena, to the point where she almost died.
And he was also her ally, once upon a time.
- Writer
