Chapter 20%
Since Maurine collapsed after the vampire hoodlum attack at that damned bar, confusion had wrapped itself around me like a suffocating shroud.
I sat on the edge of my bed, staring out the window where the pear blossom tree stood, its delicate petals fluttering in the cold night breeze. That tree had been the scene of so many memories, so many promises made and broken. And now, it haunted me again. Maurine. The key. The cure.
I rubbed my temples, trying to make sense of it all. “Why?” I muttered under my breath, voice rough with frustration. “Why did she get Infected if she’s supposed to be the cure?”
Beta Reid had been pacing the room for the past hour, no doubt just as restless as I was, ”
“Alpha,” he said finally, breaking the silence. “We need to watch her carefully. The infection might be hiding, but it’s there.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to say more. I’d left Reid in charge of guarding Maurine in the shadows while I went back to Silvana Pack, desperate for answers. Answers that seemed to slip through my fingers like sand.
The elders had been tight–lipped as always, but I pushed harder until they brought the seer to me. The old woman arrived that night, draped in black robes that fluttered like raven wings. Her eyes, cloudy yet piercing, fixed on me without a word at first
Finally, she spoke, voice rasping like dry leaves. “The vampire hoodlums multiply with desperation. They seek the key, the cure hidden in the life essence of your fated mate.“2
My jaw clenched. “My fated mate,” I repeated, tasting the words,
She nodded slowly. “But the she–wolf cannot feel the bond. The key hides herself, for she carries the fate of many on her shoulders.“”
I wanted to argue, to say I knew who she was–Maurine, beneath the fragile surface. But doubt crept in, cold and sharp. If Maurine was the key, why did the infection claim her? Why was she so weak, collapsing like that?
That question consumed me.
When the seer finished repeating the premonition, she gave me a warning: the key can meet you in the place where the pear blossoms fall, under the tree where fate first called you together.
That tree.
And fuck it, she already told me about the same premonition years ago. Why was she repeating it now as if i didn’t memorize it myself? I knew that tree well, better than anyone. And I knew Maurine was there once, waiting. But somehow something didn’t sit right. Back in my room, the weight of it all pressed down on me like a mountain. I paced the floor, fists clenched, trying to push away the doubt that was poisoning my heart. Could it be possible that Maurine wasn’t the key? That she wasn’t my fated mate?? The thought stabbed at me like a sharpened fang.
That night, when sleep finally claimed me, I was pulled into a dream sovivid it felt more real than the world i knew
was a boy again, no older than twelve, standing beneath that same pear blossom tree. The petals drifted down like snow, each one catching the light like tiny stars. The air smelled of spring and fresh earth.!
And then I saw her
A gin in a pink dress, her laughter bright and clear as she jumped around with a small white rabbit. She was beautiful in that innocent, untouched way only children can be. She didn’t notice me at first, too lost in her play.
But then I stepped closer. She turned slowly.
And my breath hitched in my throat.
It wasn’t Maurine!!
It was Rebecca.{
nd the lies. For a moment, time
Her eyes caught mine, deep pools of stormy grey that seemed to see through me, through the years and stood sull.L
“Hi,” she whispered, her voice like a song I hadn’t heard in years but never forgotten.
I wanted to reach out, to touch her, but something held me back. Shadows curled at the edges of the dream, dark and whispering warnings.
“Why are you here?” I asked, voice trembling with confusion.
She smiled softly, the kind of smile that both healed and hurt.!
“You’ve been looking for me all this time,” she said. “But you never knew.”
The petals swirled faster now, blurring the edges of the dream.
“Who is the key? I demanded, desperation rising in my chest.
Rebecca’s eyes held mine, steady and knowing. And then she was gone, swallowed by the falling petals.
jolted awake, sweat slick on my skin, heart pounding like a war drum. The room was dark and silent, but the questions screamed louder than ever.
