Pureblood's Forbidden Love

A'S

chipped drywall of Ryder's dingy apartment. Beside me, Cass was shell-shocked into catatonia, k

of...of whatever that nightmare at my home had been. Every few moments he'd pause, running anxious fingers through his tang

ing heartbeats. Flashes of grisly recollection would paralyze me - my father's mutilated body, those demo

ately recoiling from acknowledging such horror with desperate in

f arterial sprays splattering every surface, the rancid copper-penny stench of freshly sp

ng force in a futile attempt to block everything out and regain some semblance

tany. Ryder halted in his pacing instantly, eyes brimming with empathy as he hurried to crouch before me

n in those steadfast irises boring into mine. "We're gonna get through this shit, no matter how messed up. I promise you, I'm

presence radiated a balm of solidity keeping me tethered, the only anchor in a swirling void of darkness. One I

g out for Cass's clammy hand to clutch like a vise. "What it was rambling about, calling me some 'heir of the Mo

sobs. "W-Werewolves..." she rasped, sounding almost lucid for a flickering instan

ewilderment we all shared. "Whatever the fuck that was back at Lara's place, it obviously wasn't just some furry

as the gruesome scene replayed itself vividly once more. There was no denying the utter sinister men

landish, so antithetical to everything I'd ever known or been taught about the rational boundaries of our morta

my birthrights and some dormant savage power destined to awaken sooner or later? What coul

behind my eyes. "W-We have to find her, that thing said she might still be alive! If any of w

with feverish urgency. "She has to know what's happening, what that beast wanted from us...from me! Maybe

ned his tone, I didn't want to hear it. Not when my mother's fate still hung

most primal imperative driving me forward. "You're welcome to lay low and wait this out, both of you

of open concern and dread. But to their credit, neither argued or tried

iolence and unearthly revelations had supplanted the quotidian routines of my once-mundane co

If there was any chance at all of rescuing Mom, of peeling back the layers of mystery surrounding what that...

ver revealed to me about the cosmic machinations at work. I just prayed whatever insight she possessed would

the doorknob, fingers splayed and trembling against the tarnished

nd a retort blazing in my gaze. But Cass's expression stopped me short - no longer the ho

fast as they bored into me imploringly. "As much as every molecule in me is screaming to storm back and get some damn answers about

s. What did I really hope to accomplish by stumbling back into that fresh hell-scape without a shred of preparation or ins

pivoted to face my two best friends in the world. The twin tethers keeping me from un

ving them slumped in weary resignation as the scalding current of emotion ebbed for a fleeting instant. "I just

ntly soothed, closing the distance in two strides to gather me up in a grounding embrace, one hand cradling th

ng over even as I curled into his solid warmth and familiar scent of sandalwood body wash. Cass

sed thoughtfully over the crown of my bowed head. "And it was ranting this deranged shit abou

even a chance your mom knows the truth, what it all refers to and why this is happening to your family, then we n

rucial intel we're missing here, pieces being kept from you for god knows what reason. Knowledge that could help us decipher what's really going on and prevent any more

hock and confusion into renewed blistering wakefulness. I absorbed their words, their sober couns

ng tooth and nail to extract those truths would be worth any risk or suffering. I would do anyth

uest, Ryder shifted his weight almost imperceptibly from one fo

low. There might be a faster way to blow thi

th Cass's. "Meaning what?" she blu

ne as he met my eyes dead-on, somber yet inextinguish

dad might st

s through each hastily-erected layer of fragile composure with cruel precision. I physically rec

head mutely in anguished denial. "

rictus of grim acceptance. "That sicko straight-up said your mom was still breath

nd grief so stringent it manifested physically. That twisted, beast-like shape had spoken thos

that defied what my senses had processed. Some glimmer of hope

cating register aimed at soothing my fresh spasm of anguish. "And trust me, I wouldn't even be going

ct yet, allowing him to continue unrav

d out of the picture for a very specific reason." Ryder paused, letting those loaded suggestions linger in our devastated headspaces before pressing his advantage. "W

u've already endured tonight, or try to rationalize the things you saw and experienced at the epicenter of hell itself. But...if that creature really does believe you're t

er face in her palms for a sobering moment. "Lara, he might be onto som

er root within my fracturing mindscape. Every logical impulse still gamely grasping for normalcy

e self-assured menace radiating from that unearthly entity. How it had moved with impossible

ith such ravenous, predatory intent, as if my awak

truth to flood my tear-stung eyes at long last. They nodded somberly, reflecting

that my dad was spared to be used against m

om the reality sinking its obsidian talons ever deeper into the fabric of my existence. If my father yet

lane giving way to vaulting revelations that would irrevocably transform the pe

ll that mattered now in the face of such e

es for another fraught heartbeat before turning on my he

n finality. "First light, we start unraveling this

nal haunted look over my shoulder at the two people who had always bee

ing back to the beginning, to

s of their solemn irises. Three sets of eyes swiveled to stare down the hallway, as if our collectiv

n us, equal parts dreading and accept

all changed with the very turning o

e only place where the answers seemed to reside, lying in wait amongst the still-s

wouldn't demand too unbear

rwise. This path would extort unfathomable sacrifices from us all

tually came due...and the mercy not to break under burdens that could shatt