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ZAC'S POV
I should have realised. I should have recognised that this was all a goddamn fucking trap.
I should have.
But I didn't.
Not until the pain started.
It was indescribable, wrecking my body completely, the force throwing me to the ground as I clutched at my stomach. Breathing heavily, I dare to look down at my abdomen, wondering whether I had been injured, but no blood or open wound met my eyes.
It took me no more than a split second to realise that if I hadn't been injured, then the pain was Eves.
Instantly struggling to my feet, I limp in the opposite direction I had been heading- straight back to the pack house. I knew Eve was hurt and no matter how many times I tried to mind-link her, I got no response.
And what was more worrying, is that I couldn't get through to Kate either.
Turn back, I link the other warriors who had come out with me to scout out who had trespassed, it's a trap.
Of course it was a trap. Instinctively I had realised somewhere inside me that something wasn't right when the scent of the hunters led us further and further away from the house. We had chased them all the way back past the borders but it was only now that it finally clicked in my head.
The hunters were a distraction.
I tried repeatedly to get through the mind-link but again to no avail.
Please Eve, I plead, please be alright.
I used my advanced speed, pushing myself past my limits, travelling faster than I ever had before. The trees merged into a blur of green and brown, my feet hardly touching the ground as I pushed myself forward, the wind like sharp ice cutting against my skin.
My heart pounded fast, barely contained in my ribs as I saw the outline of the packhouse emerging in the distance and knowing I was nearly there pushed me further and I scrambled up to the entrance, thrusting open the door and ignoring the shocked looks on the faces of some of the members who were standing close by, I sprinted up the stairs to our bedroom, knowing that this is where she would be.
Safe and sound, I reassured myself. She's going to be safe and sound.
The smell hit me first, throwing me back as I reached for the door handle.
The thick iron like smell that wafted through the air, making my nose scrunch in disgust and panic.
Blood.
I don't hesitate, throwing the door open, my eyes first falling on a body nearest to the wall. Short black hair was all that was left to resemble my little sister. Her body cold and frozen, dry blood congealed underneath her lifeless body.
"Kate-" my voice breaks as my eyes roam over her face. Black, blue and purple were the shades that hid her features, her face and skull so smashed and swollen that you couldn't even see her eyes.
A cry breaks from my throat as my eyes fall to the other body a short distance away from hers.
Eve was deadly pale, her eyes wide open but any life in them quickly diminishing.
I fall to my knees beside her as I observe the gaping open wound in her abdomen, my eyes blurry with the tears that were falling from them. I screamed out loud in pain as I lifted her up into my arms, my body leaning over hers as I call out for help.
"Please Eve," I beg my heart breaking as I take in her cold body, "please don't leave me. I need you!"
Something flashes lightly in her beautiful brown eyes but its gone before I can figure out what it is.
Realising that she was bleeding out before me, I reach up and bite hard into my forearm, clenching my fists together to make the wound bleed.
My blood had healed her before, so surely it should work again.
Right?
I place my arm up against her parted lips, forcing my blood to drip into her mouth, but even a few minutes later, when my head feels fuzzy from blood loss I notice that her eyes are still glazed over and lifeless as before.
My wound starts to heal so I bite again, and place the open wound against her lips, over and over when the blood clots the up and my skin heals over.
I'm not letting you die, Eve. Never.
My hands tremble as I grip her close to me, my clothes sticking to me because of how drenched it was in her blood. I kiss her bloodied face, my tears mixing with the red liquid smothered over her cheeks.
Suddenly Demarcus and Jayden appear at the entrance to the door, their eyes and mouths open at the sight of the bloodbath that had occured in my room.
Taliya sprints up the stairs and arrives, shoving herself past the two shell- shocked males as she rushes into the room, her eyes flicking to Kate's body before coming back to Eves limp one cradled in my arms.
"SAVE HER!!" I shout, my voice panicked as I hold my mate tightly in my arms. I can't lose her, not again.
Taliya drops down beside me, her hands instantly going over Eves body. Her eyes lock onto the wound in her abdomen and immediately go wide.
"The baby..." her lips hardly move as she whispers and at her words my heart drops.
The baby.
Our baby.
How had I been so stupid? My thoughts had only been on Eve, that even with the gaping hole in her stomach I hadn't even considered our unborn child.
But I don't have to look far.
A few feet away from Eve's body was a small a small object. Or what at first looked like an object, but the moment by eyes locked more carefully I knew exactly what it was.
Two curled up little fists and feet with the most incredibly small little fingers and toes.
My body jerked at the sight, Eve's limp body slipped from my lap and landed back on the floor. My body moved on auto-pilot as I crawled towards the baby, each step closer my heart thumping painfully, my breathing faltering until finally I hovered over the tiny little body.
My tears dropped like falling stars as they burned a hole in the floor as my hands slowly lifted towards the ball of tiny hands and feet and wrapping gently I bring it to my chest, a silent cry of pan ripped out from my body as my whole figure shakes and trembles.
So fragile.
So tiny, that if I wanted I could hold it in the palm of one hand, but I didn't. I just held the icy blue body close to my beating chest, tears dropping fast as I throw back my head and scream, my anguished cry echoing through the room.
In a matter of an hour, I had lost everything.
★★
The sky was dark and cloudy, signs of turbulent weather promised as we all stood around dressed in black. The funeral has just finished and now with Kates body six feet in the ground all signs of joy and happiness in the world seemed to have perished.
I had cried and screamed as they had lowered her body into the hole, my heart shattered to pieces. There was nothing I could do, but it didn't stop me from banging on her coffin begging for her to come back. Jayden and a few others had to finally hold me back in order to bury her. I was no longer the same person as before, too much heartache and tragedy had made me a shell of the Alpha I had been previously.
Kate had been my whole world for all my life, my number one priority being her until I met Eve. As children we loved each other but after the
death of our parents and our lives as rogues, we became inseparable. We had built this pack up from the ground and now she had disappeared into the afterlife without even a goodbye.
Jayden appeared next to me as I stared emotionlessly at the tombstone in front of me. Kate Stone
23 years young
A beloved daughter, sister and friend. Taken far too soon.
"You should go and check on Eve." Jaydens voice interrupted my thoughts and I look up at him, noticing his red eyes and tear stained cheeks.
Kate was like a sister to Jayden too. He was the first person we allowed to join the pack when it was first created and ever since then, he had always been at our side, protecting both myself and Kate with his life.
I listen to his words but I stay sitting, my eyes then roaming to the next tombstone next to Kates, and even though I've cried a river full of tears already, my eyes burn once more when I read the engraved inscription.
Baby Stone
If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever.
It was a baby girl.
And she was so bloody perfect.
But even Demarcus and Taliya with all their powers combined couldn't save her.
We didn't name her because it was too painful for the both of us. Eve never even had a chance to hold her as she was still healing from her wounds
when we buried her.
I feel Jayden's hand squeeze my shoulders but this time I avoid looking at him, instead standing up and with a sigh heading back inside.
Jayden was right, I really needed to check on Eve.
She was exactly where I knew I would find her, her body sprawled out on the floor of the nursery, her eyes trained on the ceiling, watching emotionlessly as the rainbow rays reflected above from the chandelier. Her eyes were wide and but her face expressionless as she lay completely still, in her outstretched hand she gripped tightly to the plush toy that Carla had given her.
Carla... she had disappeared soon after and we all realised that Demelza must have relinquished the mind control and when Carla found out that she was the traitor she had run away. At first we all thought she must have run away to hide away in fear of what she had done, but then two days ago one of the border guards had found her body at the bottom of a waterfall nearby.
She had committed suicide, no doubt because of the guilt.
It didn't mean I forgave her, I had search parties looking for her the moment I found out she was the betrayer. Inside I knew it wasn't really her fault, she was under Demelza's mind control, but regardless of that, her actions still resulted in the death of my sister and my unborn baby, so she would have had to die anyway.
But Eve couldn't forget her and worse she couldn't forgive.
She blamed herself for being so trusting and then she blamed Carla for falling so easily to Demelza's control. But most of all, she blamed Carla for dying without saying goodbye.
Eve loved Carla like a sister and now just like me, she had lost her baby, Kate and now Carla too.
Her whole world had crumbled before her eyes and it left her devastated and empty.
Demarcus had managed to revive Eve back to health, but looking at her now, I can tell that other than her physical body, everything else had died along with our child.
"Eve?" I call out, but she doesn't move. She just lies as still as before, her eyes fixed to the ceiling.
I slowly walk towards her and when I get close enough I do the same as her, lying on the ground, but instead of looking up at the ceiling, I just stare at her, taking in her beautiful features which all now seem dulled out by her blank face.
I still remember the first moment I saw her, the day she had trespassed with Gemma. I knew straight away that she was my mate and while her body was weak and so small, her eyes blazed with fire when she stepped forward and threatened the pack. But looking at her now, that fire was nowhere to be found, her shining brown eyes which often looked like swirls of melted chocolate, now deflated and vacant.
I lift my hand and link it gently with her slender fingers and it's only when my skin meets hers does she finally look away from the ceiling and back to me.
"Hey," I try to smile, something to get a different reaction from her blank face, but she doesn't do anything apart from stare straight back at me, though even that looks like she is staring straight through me and not actually looking at me.
"One more chance," she finally says where silence reigns for a while.
I look at her with questions lingering in my eyes.
She gulps, her eyes going back to the ceiling, almost transfixed to the same spot.
"...I just need one more chance to do it all again."
Her words pierce me through my soul and I know what she is talking about.
What I wouldn't give to get one more chance to do it all again from the start.
"I know baby," I reply, my hands clinging tightly to her. These days I feel like all I need to do is look away for one second and Eve would disappear.
That if I even stepped away for a moment, Eve would vanish like the passing wind and that scared me to the core.
I needed her. I needed her so badly, I questioned how I ever even lived without her?
"We'll get through it." I reassure her though every word feels like a lie.
"No we won't." Eve utters, her eyes closing, "Demelza's already won."
I want nothing more than to argue and disagree but how can I, when it's the truth? Demelza has single handedly managed to take away everything, right from underneath us and walked away leaving us winded and at her mercy.
"But it's still not over yet."
My eyes had closed as I wrapped an arm around Eve, holding her close against me, knowing well that we both needed each other now more than ever but at her words they open again.
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"The vision still hasn't come true yet."
The vision.
Where all of this had first started, the prophecy of what is to come. The destruction and death of the Red Moon Pack.
My death.
I feel my face tighten at the thought but not because I was afraid to die, but because my soul is tied to Eves and therefore my death would inevitably mean hers.
I cast her a glance.
But right now, I don't think Eve is too concerned about living anyway.
I notice her gaunt cheeks and her dry lips and I know for sure she hasn't had anything to eat today, so despite her resistant protests and her pleas to leave her alone, I pull her up and carry her down to the kitchen, which because of the funeral was deserted.
Placing her down by the wooden table I start looking through the fridges and cupboards, trying to find something easy to plate up for her to eat, but suddenly feeling alarmed at the deadly silence I quickly run back to where I had last left Eve, only breathing a sigh of relief when I find her still sat in exactly the same position as I had last left her.
I take a second to observe her and notice that her eyes are fixed directly across her, eyes narrowed as if in disbelief and curious as to what she was looking at, I round the table, stopping in my tracks when I see it.
"Is that-"
"A wine glass." Eve finishes my sentence her eyes in shock. We both remain as still as possible, focused on the glass filled with what looked like red wine. It was left on the side of the wooden table as if someone had rushed off in the middle of drinking it and had forgotten about it.
There was nothing ominous or deadly about it.
It was a just a glass.
With wine.
But despite that, time stopped and all the breath in our bodies left at once when suddenly the glass toppled on the surface of the table, before almost in slow motion it tipped off the side, the crystal glass smashing to pieces as the red liquid spilled across the floor.
Both Eve and I watched in horror as the wine seeped into the floorboards and when I cast my eyes over to Eve she was already staring back at me.
We both shared a fear stricken look as the most recent of Eve's vision came true.
And if it wasn't already terrifying enough, Jaydens panicked voice filtered through into my head.
Zac, there's about four hundred rogues and an estimated fourty dozen hunters heading in the direction of the pack.
Shit.
Jayden continues, And leading them is Demelza.
I can see it in Eves teary eyes when she stands up, her hands shake as she clutches at her chest, her breathing rapid, her voice fearful as she speaks.
"Zac..."
I don't look away, knowing whatever happens next is inevitable.
"The war is coming."