Forget Me Not (Phased Moonlight Series Book 2) (20 page)

              Something flashed in her eyes, and hope swelled in Koda’s chest. She winced and gripped her head as she swayed.

Koda caught her and steadied her. “Are you all right?”

              She nodded. “I’m sorry. I just felt this really sharp pain.” When she looked up, she realized that they were no more than a foot apart.

Koda could feel her fast breath and hear her frantic heart. She looked from his mouth to his eyes and back to his mouth again. He slowly lowered his head, hoping she would take the chance and kiss him. She closed her eyes, matching his movement.

              “Sera!”

              She jumped away from him quickly, putting distance between them, and he bit his tongue to keep from growling. “Ceo, I—”

              “Was just about to kiss another man! Yes, I noticed,” Ceolus said, seething.

              “Don’t talk to her like that, Ceolus,” Koda said evenly.

             
“You have no right to tell me what to do when it comes to her, Koda. I took your little bitch and broke your bond. She doesn’t even remember you. She is mine now.”

              “You can’t take her from me. She is my mate, Ceolus. Nothing in this world is stronger than a mate bond.”

              “That may be true, Koda. Werewolves have the magic to generate a mate bond, but—”

              “Werewolves!?” Sera screamed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

              “What did you do to her, Ceolus?” Koda asked, snarling.

              “Let me finish,” Ceolus said with a smirk. “Werewolves can only have that strong of a bond because of how much magic is in our bodies, but humans can’t possess that kind of magic, can they?”              

              “You took away her wolf!?” 

              “That’s not all, Koda. I took away her love for you. I am the one she looks to for comfort now, the one she lies beside at night. I provide for her, and she’s my mate now.”

              Without warning, Ceolus lunged for Sera, and in an instant, they were gone.

* * *

Sera screamed as reality came crashing back. She was dropped on a cobblestone floor, and when she looked around, she saw that she was in a stone room, with bloodstained walls. She scrambled up to her feet, hyperventilating. She felt a hand on her shoulder and  jumped away. “Stay away from me!” she screamed at Ceo. “What the hell are you!?”

              “I am still the man you love, still your Ceo. Baby, look at me.”

              Sera couldn’t look at him. With every fiber of her being, she wanted nothing more than to run. 

              He lashed out and grabbed her chin sharply. “I said look at me!”

              She whimpered as blackened claws dug into her skin. Tears streamed down her face as she met his glowing gaze. “Please stop,” she begged.

              Instantly, his claws retracted, and his eyes returned to normal. He dropped her face and stepped away. “You know what I am, yes?”              

              “A damn creature from folklore,” Sera snapped, pressing her palm to her bleeding cheek.

              Ceo threw his head back and chuckled.
“Oh no, my love. I assure you that werewolves are not just a fairytale. We are very, very real. Tell me, do you know how werewolves are created?”

              Sera remained silent.

              “You’re either born this way or…” He looked at her, and his eyes began to glow again. His teeth sharpened to menacing points. “Or you are bitten by an alpha.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Who Is It?

Not everyone gets a happy ending. Hell, most of us will probably die a gruesome death anyway. I just never realized how much I have to live for. I have my family, my friends, and, most importantly, her.
~ Richard Sharp

            
 
K
oda stared at the old castle before him. He never once thought he would be back at that awful place, the place where his quarrel with Ceolus had started.

              “Are you sure she’s in there?” Jackson asked, standing beside his alpha. 

              Koda nodded. “I can feel her.”

              “There are no wolves scouting the forest. I don’t like it. Its a trap, Koda,” Trisha said.

              “I know.”

              “So you’re just gonna walk straight into his clutches? How is that smart in any way?” 

              Koda turned to look at Trisha. “It isn’t, but when your mate’s life is on the line, smart flies out the proverbial window.”

              She nodded, lowering her gaze.

              “All right, you two, get in position. Remember, no matter what happens, stay there until you hear the signal.”

              They nodded and walked deeper into the forest.

Taking a deep breath, Koda walked up the steps and walked into the foyer of the castle. The door creaked shut behind him, and he looked out at the destroyed castle. Rubble and furniture were scattered every, and he could smell the dust and musk in the air. He heard clapping, and Ceolus appeared between two large stone pillars.

              “Well done, Koda.” He smiled. “I must say I am surprised that you found us so quickly.”

              “Where is Sera?” Koda demanded. 

              Ceolus clicked his tongue. “Now, now. No need to rush things. She will be around eventually.”

              Koda lunged for him, but two males appeared next to him and restrained him. He knew they were laced with magic, for had they been of regular strength, he would have been able to rip their arms from their bodies.

              “If you’ve hurt her, I’ll—”

              “You’ll what?” Ceolus interrupted, laughing at him. “You’ll kill me? You should have done that long ago. Besides, this is
my
home, and you are the outcast here, a lone wolf.”

              “If you think I am here alone, you are seriously mistaken. My pack is with me, and they will not hesitate to destroy you.”

              Ceo laughed and clapped his hands again.

The front door of the castle opened, and Jackson and Trisha were dragged in. Trisha lay unconscious in another man’s arms, and Jackson was restrained by two wolves as he fought to get to his unconscious mate.

              “Is this the army you brought to destroy me? How hilarious!”

              “Jackson,” Koda said, “I am so sorry.”

              “Don’t be. You would have done the same thing if Trisha was missing.”

              “How sappy! Please excuse me while I vomit.”

              “Where is she, you fiend?” Koda bellowed.

              Ceolus rolled his eyes and sighed. “If you must be so persistent…” 

              With a snap of his fingers, Sera slowly appeared in a crumbled heap on the floor. When she fully materialized, she looked up and scampered away from Ceolus. Her body was marred with bruises, and her white hair was streaked and clumped with brownish red. 

              “Sera,” Koda whispered, his heart shattering.              

              She looked up at him, with tears in her eyes. “Are you one of them too?”

              “Aw, baby,” he cooed.

              Ceo grabbed the chains on her wrists and yanked her up.

She cried out, trying to get away from him.

              “Stop struggling, Neve, or it will only hurt more.”

              He tied each end of the chains to one of the pillars, stretching her arms out.

Sera tried to pull against her bindings, but her human body was to weak. “Please,” she said, sobbing. “Please don’t do this.”

              “Oh, darling, it’s too late for that,” Ceolus said, walking toward her.

              “Ceolus, stop!” a familiar voice cried out.

              Koda froze as the bane of his past shimmered into the room. “Bianca?”

              Bianca smiled at him and waved. “So you remember me.”

              She looked exactly like she did back on the day when she cursed him. Her long, wavy brown hair flowed with elegance down her back, framing her round face. Her onyx eyes twinkled with delight, and her red lips were turned up in a smiled.

              Koda looked back and forth between Ceolus and Bianca, snarling. “You! You did this!” he said, steaming mad.

              Bianca laughed. “Congratulations. You aren’t as stupid as I originally believed.”

              “Why, Bianca? Why did you do this? As if taking away my chance to have children was not enough!”

              Bianca’s smile disappeared, and a grimace replaced it. “It was your fault! You’re the reason our child died!”

              Ceolus’s eyes widened. “Aw. I see now. No wonder she is so bloodthirsty.”

              “It was not my fault, Bianca, and you know it! It just wasn’t meant to be, and neither of us can change that.”

              Bianca snorted. “Yes, it is in the past, but I will never be able to forgive your weakness,” she said. She then turned to the cowering Sera. 

              “If you hurt her, I will kill you.”

              Bianca looked over her shoulder and smiled “Hurt her? Why, I can do better than that.” She turned back to Ceolus and said, “Turn her.”

              “No!” Koda screamed as he thrashed against the hold the two males had on him.

              Sera screamed as Ceolus sank his teeth into her soft neck. The sight sickened Koda to his core as he watched his enemy drink his mate’s blood. He had never been so filled with rage.

              Ceolus stepped away from Sera as her body began to shake. She looked miserable and tried to wrap her arms around herself. She screamed and cried as the change took hold of her. She started making inhumane sounds as she struggled with the change.

              She snarled suddenly and broke through the pillars to free herself from the change. She rolled in agony on the floor for several minutes.

Koda watched as her bones broke and reshaped into the skeletal structure of a wolf. Slowly, her transformation completed, and a dark gray wolf stood from the ground, shaking out her fur. Saliva dripped from her jowls, and her body was rigid as she paced back and forth.

              “She is beautiful, isn’t she?” Ceolus said as he watched her in awe.

              Bianca slapped the back of Ceolus’s head. “Make her submit, you fool!”

              Ceolus growled and gripped Bianca by the throat, then held her above the ground. “I am tired of you, witch.”

              With all his strength, he threw Bianca against a stone pillar. Koda heard a
crunch
of her bones as she fell to the floor. He could still hear her heartbeat, faint as it was.

              Ceolus shifted into his wolf, lunging at Sera. She growled at him, nipping at his fur. He snarled at her, trying to expel his power over her. She didn’t seem the least bit affected and lunged for him, catching him off guard. She latched her jaws on his neck, and when he ripped away, she tore out a part of his jugular. He whimpered and tried to run away, but the dizziness quickly claimed him, and he fell. Sera pounced on him and continued to rip at his flesh.

              “No!” the wolves holding him cried. They released Koda, Jackson, and Trisha and lunged, shifting in midair.

              Sera faced them, baring her bloodied teeth and flipping her tail back and forth. Her ears were not preened but were standing upright. She didn’t see them as a threat; rather, they were nothing more than prey. 

              She lunged onto the first one and ripped part of his hide away. While she was focused on another wolf, another jumped on her back and bit into her shoulder. Koda raced forward and grabbed the wolf’s tail in his hand. Using all his strength, he threw the wolf at the wall. He smiled as his skull connected with the stone and split open. He turned to help Sera with the other wolves, but she had already killed them.

              She watched Jackson, who now had his back to her, holding Trisha. She kept her body low to the ground, inching closer.

              “Jackson, get out of here!”

              He quickly turned around and noticed Sera. He grabbed his gem and put Trisha’s in her hand. He closed his eyes, and right as Sera pounced, they disappeared.

              She whined, scratching at the spot where they were only seconds before. 

              “Sera,” Koda whispered.

              She looked at him, raising her lip in a snarl.

              “Baby, come back to me.”

              Sera stopped snarling and looked at him. She kept her body taut, but her ears weren’t perked or flattened. She was merely assessing him.

              “Sera, my love, please remember who you are.”