49

G E O R G I E

✿

They came to me in the middle of the night. I felt the foggy cold enveloping me. The whispering voices that crawled up my bones and flowed through me like liquid ice.

Transform, transform.

You are just a wolf. No maaaaaaan.

Kill, you wanna kill them all.

My head was banging on the pillow and I narrowed my eyes. They sounded full of madness, so full of aggression and bloodlust. I was scared and I wanted to scream. You should get out of my head!

We want your wolf! show us your wolf!

Show us your claws, your fangs and tear their throats.

We want Bluuuuuuuuut.

Then the emotions swept over me like an avalanche. Raw rabies, the lust to taste and destroy blood, filled my veins and flooded me while all I saw were black shadows before me, gleefully laughing at me.

Help! A silent cry escaped me, then I opened my eyes. Disoriented, I scanned the area, trying to remember where I was. My eyes adjusted to the night vision instantly. My heart pounded against my ribs as I took everything into consideration. I was on a large bed, white curtains flapping in the wind, and I caught a glimpse of the balcony.

Right, I was in the palace on Minkaujin, the Fire Islands. Reassured, I blinked away the shock and was about to peel off the bed when I felt a hard chest against my back and the heavy protective arm wrapped around me, touching my skin. My heart warmed. Beau. It was like part of him was trying to protect me even in his sleep.

I tried to steel myself out of bed under his arm. He immediately pulled me towards him. "Stay," he growled.

A small smile crept onto my lips and I turned to face him. "I just need to go to the bathroom."

His hand grabbed and held me tightly, his eyes still closed. "No."

"Beau!" A small laugh escaped my lips, the horror of the nightmare still clinging to my limbs. "I'm going to pee my pants!"

With a grunt but the corners of his mouth twitching, he reluctantly let go of me. I hopped out of bed and padded across the rice carpet to the bathroom. I splashed water on my face and tried to think clearly.

Okay, Georgie, calm down. Nothing has happened.

It really wasn't, was it? My hands clenched around my pelvis and I had to force myself to stand on my shaking legs. Because I knew who these voices came from, I would recognize them anywhere. It was the shadows, the shadows behind the mirror in the catacombs. But how could they find me in my sleep? Was that some magic? Magic? Or did we have a connection?

It seemed like I was the only one who seemed to have heard her at the mirror, because Hades didn't or he would have spotted me when they called me. But what did it all mean?

What they told me today, the feelings they sent me... So much aggression and ferocity. I was sure that if I felt my wolf she would have freaked out and it would have driven her to the brink of insanity. She would have felt compelled to transform. The question was whether she could have turned back.

Was that a curse that doomed you to be a rogue? Am I now cursed?

I grabbed the white cotton cloth and roughly wiped my face. There was another variant. I hadn't felt my curse, I had felt Beau's.

I looked up into the round mirror over the sink and stared straight into my face. Large, grey-purple eyes look at me. Was that my healing powers? to feel curses? communicate with shadows? Or was that because of my... blood?

My stomach turned at the thought and I could throw up just remembering that I was a Blackblood.

I swallowed back the tears and stared at my hands. Concentrate! I admonished myself, trying to call upon the warm, healing light that was meant to be my gift. My palms flared and shone with a golden light. Just for a second, then all the spitting was over and they went out.

ARGH! Why didn't it work! I could have hit the mirror, I was so angry. Hades threatened us, there was a gateway to the underworld and Beau was about to give himself to his wolf forever and what could I do about it??? Nothing and again nothing! I was so stupid, so useless! I couldn't even unleash the powers I've had since I was born, could you believe it?!

The crushing feeling of worthlessness pressed on me and threatened to suffocate me.

Don't focus on the superficial wounds and injuries, or on the energy cords, go deeper. find the shadow Search the abyss.

I kept looking down at my hands. What did Reyna mean by that? find the shadow search the abyss

"It'll be fine," I heard Beau's voice behind me.

My head snapped up and I stared into the mirror into his green eyes.

He wrapped his arm around me and held me to his bare chest. "And even if you're not, you're still perfect."

I felt his steady heartbeat on my back, felt the safe warmth radiating from his body. I didn't want to say the next words, didn't want to bring the cruel shadows between us and reveal to him how dark my soul really was.

I kept in mind what I had promised him a few hours earlier. No more secrets. So I pulled myself together, put my hand on his thigh and whispered my darkest fears: "You think I'm evil?"

His eyebrows shot up and he looked at me like I was teasing him. "You're asking me if you're angry?"

I stayed serious, not a muscle in my face moving as my fingers dug into the fabric of his jeans. "Yes I do. Do you think there's a part of me that's evil? Please be honest."

"Hehe." He turned me around and gently lifted my chin for my face. "What's up, huh?"

He was right, there shouldn't be a single secret between us, but telling him what was running in my veins was harder than I thought. I lowered my gaze. What if those green eyes that were always looking at me so longingly and possessively suddenly showed rejection? What if he was afraid of me? Or even disgust? Oh you moons, I was so ashamed...

“Little one, look at me. You can tell me anything.” He rubbed his nose against mine. "We belong to each other, remember?"

No, I didn't. I gritted my teeth and looked up, trying to hold back the tears that were swimming in my eyes. "I'm a black blood," I blurted out.

A steep crease formed between his brows. "What? What makes you think that?”

I pushed back, needed the distance. But Beau made me back up just enough to get to the sink and I was trapped. I gasped in frustration. 'Malvera, she read it in the bullet. She showed me the past, I saw how-' I shuddered at the memory, but then I took a deep breath and told him everything I had learned at Malvera's. Beau listened to me carefully.

“I'm a creature of the underworld, Beau. Dark, bad blood flows in me. Maybe that's why I can't heal because I'm too bad!"

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Hey, hey, hey, slow down. You are neither evil nor from the underworld."

I looked at him in bewilderment. "Didn't you hear me?!"

'Yes, very clearly. And yet I stand by my statement. Your parents were werewolves. Hades may have experimented with your blood, but that's only a small part. That doesn't mean you're evil or bad. You're still Georgie.” Now he came closer again. “My sweet little Georgie, who has a lot of courage in her damn big heart.”

My heart pounded in my throat at his words, but I couldn't just take it like that, much as I would like to. Fear got the better of me. "You do not know that. You don't know what a drop of black blood can do."

His fingers stroked my lips and his intense gaze bored into my soul. “Oh yes, I know you better than anyone. And I know exactly who you are.”

I wanted to hold on to that belief, but forced myself to ask again, my voice shaking. "So you don't think . . . that I'm evil?"

"No." Sheer determination.

“But . . . but my powers. I'm not a healer werewolf, not really. She should have given me hints about my powers too, but there-there was nothing.' I reeled. “There at the mirror, by the catacombs, that was the first time I felt like I could do something. It was the shadows, it was as if they were calling me, as if there was a connection." The same blood, it echoed in me and made me nauseous.

“No matter what it is, whatever powers you have, they're not bad, you aren't bad. I refuse to even believe it.” He gripped my face tightly in his hands, staring at me intently. “Look at you, you're bright as the sun, Georgie. You could never be anything but good."

I stared into his sparkling eyes, feeling the slight pulsing of our bond between us. How could I not believe him either? If only because I want it so badly. It should be the truth. "OK."

"OK?"

I nodded. "More than okay."

I pulled his head down towards me and reached out to kiss him. As soon as our lips met, my body whirred. His scent was everywhere, his hands on me as they pulled me to him, traveled to the back of my neck and cupped him.

I gasped as we parted. "I can't sleep now."

"Come on then," he said simply, and led me out onto the balcony.