More Surprises!

The four of them walk through the gates and enter into the territory. On the other side of the gates, she stood. She’s smiling and happy, almost bouncing as she looks at Amillia and Jackson. Her actions are confusing Khalil and Natalia who can’t help but to keep looking between Amillia and Jackson and this mystery woman who apparently they both know.

“I mean…. How? But why? I’m sorry, what?” Amillia stutters out in complete shock.

The world as she knew it has changed. Now she wants to know what is really going on, this just can’t be possible!

“Don’t I least get a hug?” The woman standing just inside the gate says, “I’ve missed you!”

Amillia shakes her head. At this point her brain is telling her to be happy and embrace the one person who has been her best friend and by her side for the last seven years, but on the other hand, she’s in shock and disbelief by the fact that she’s here.

The woman walks up and hugs Amillia, who returns the gesture. “But how are you here? How do you know about any of this?”

“I’ve always known, my parents weren’t from here, they were from Mystethikal,” she answers.

“Really, and after all that time you never thought that information would have been useful?” Amillia asks, rolling her eyes slightly. Nice to see she can still be dramatic.

“Nah,” she waves her hand of, “Besides, weren’t you in hiding?” She inquires, “I’m sure you’re not anymore considering this woman looks almost identical to you, so I’m assuming she’s a sister, and Cole does know that you’re in this world now, although he’s not sure where.”

Amillia grabs her by the shoulders and slightly shakes her, “Renee, stop for a second and breath, you’re rambling.”

“Sorry, I’m excited, I’ve missed you!”

“Why are you here?” Jackson asks.

Renee looks at Jackson with eyes made of daggers. “Wow, what did he do?” Amillia asks.

“I know who he is. I’ve always known who he is.” She responds. “He’s the one I was watching mostly, I mean, I was there to keep you safe as well Amillia but knowing that one of the princes of darkness was pretending to be your best friend but me on high alert.”

Amillia mouth makes the “o” shape. “Yeah… Well, see there’s a reason for that…” Before she could finish her sentence a very tall shadow falls on her and Khalil stands up right almost as if he’s standing at attention.

Looking up, Amillia can’t help the smile that crosses her face at the very huge man standing in front of her. The alpha has arrived, it’s obvious by the reactions of the shifters that are standing around them, especially the guards.

The alpha is at least six foot, four inches tall. He’s very muscular, with tattoos all over his body and facial piercings. He’s almost as wide as he is tall, and very intimidating. His face is looking stern, no emotions showing at all. He doesn’t say a word to Amillia even after her reaction to seeing him.

“Come inside and we can talk,” he says, then turns and walks back towards a very large mansion looking building that is off to the right side of everything.

Renee shrugs and links arms with Amillia as they all start walking after the alpha dude who is apparently a very fast walker, more than likely thanks to his legs. He’s tall.

Once they are out of ear shot of the guards and all of the people who were roaming around, “He still doesn’t like for other people to know he’s not as badass as he seems?” Amillia jokes, earning a growl from the alpha. Oooops, guess he can still hear her. She giggles lightly at that with Renee.

“Nope, you know how Seth is,” Renee responds, earning herself a glare as he opens the door to the mansion like house, disappearing inside.

The alpha isn’t the only one who had heard the women, Khalil could also hear them, and shock is running through him as he hears what they are saying about the alpha of shifters that no one else of their species would ever dare to mess with.

Once inside of the house, the alpha stops and waits on the others. As soon as the front door is closed Seth grabs Amillia up into a hug.

“I swear child you are way more trouble than it’s worth,” he says to her as he lets her go.

“But why are you two here, and together, and I’m confused and need answers,” Amillia blurts out a little quickly.

While she is excited to see the two of them, especially happy to know Renee wasn’t killed. After she burned her house down and left, she has no idea what happened to that small town where she lived, and that seems like forever ago. Hell, by this point Amillia feels as if she has lived three or more lifetimes, and she’s tired.

“Well, it came back to Avalon that you were here, and that Cole has control of a lot of shifters, so what better way to make sure they don’t go looking for you than taking control of them?” Seth asks shrugging his shoulder. “Oh, by the way Amillia, Sonja is here, I’ve tried to take as good of care of as I could without alerting Cole as to who I am.”

Amillia closes her eyes and lets out a sigh of relief. At least she’s sort of safe, she knows for a fact that Seth wouldn’t let anything bad happen to anyone that Amillia cares about. He’s one of the were wolf shifters that stayed on her side because even though she had been evil, she had never gone to their land with intentions to hurt them. There’s always more to the story than what is told.

“Thank-you,” Amillia says to Seth, “So where is she and is there anyone but us inside this place?”

“She’s in the dungeon currently and no, I dismissed everyone because Renee here came to me and informed me you would be on your way and that Cole’s prisoner is in fact one of the sisters you have been looking for. Once I was informed that changed everything, I’ve made sure that no one is left in here so we could talk freely, that is why I didn’t come out to meet you at the gate myself.” He answers.

Amillia cocks her eyebrow, “Can she be let out now?” She asks with a bitter sound in her voice.

“Yes ma’am, as you wish,” Seth says walking away and towards a door that looks as if it would lead to a coat closet behind the staircase.

“Amillia, what is going on in this world? It’s chaos!” Renee asks. “When you left that town, I left not long after. I wanted to see the rest of the world and if what is said the end of this world will be is close, and Lord have mercy, what the hell?”

Oh Lord, Amillia thinks to herself. That’s a whole different story all in itself. Is this really a story that she wants to get into right now? After all, it will take some time to tell it all and do they really have that much time to wait?

It’s not as if Renee what all has been going on in this world if she’s only been here the last seven years. What’s going on in this world has been going on for centuries, well, pretty much since the beginning of time in this world. No one ever really realizes how much bigger the real picture actually is, at least not until it’s too late.

Everyone knows why the worlds were created, and that out of all creations the humans, mortals, were favored the most. The same darkness that is trying to consume one world is the same that’s trying to consume them all. Some of the world’s know more about the “higher-ups” than others. For the most part, they’re separate for a reason and that even means that they are separate in their knowledge of each other. Knowing their existing and knowing in detail about them are two totally different things.

This world was never meant to last forever, nothing is meant to last forever. Everything is supposed to be, not multiple. It’s not right. It will be corrected, everything ever written in history says that it will be corrected, and everything will be as it should. Honestly, no one should be shocked by what’s happening in any world, especially this one where the mortal humans are gullible.

Out of all of the different worlds, or realms, for some reason this world is the one that had been picked to be the center of the war that’s been raging since the dawn of time. That part makes no sense at all, but it is what it is, nothing much they can do to change the setting of the stage.

“Do we have to go into all of that right now?” Amillia asks. “Let’s just call it this, we’re in a middle of a war and this is where the two parties are meeting for their battle.” Simply said.

“Ha! That’s putting it mildly,” Came an unfamiliar female voice from behind everyone in the direction of the stairs that contain the door that Seth disappeared through.

Everyone who had been standing there turns around and see’s Seth back from wherever he disappeared too and he’s holding up some girl who looks too pale and too skinny for her own good but is wearing a smile on her face.

She can’t believe she’s free! It’s been too long. She had known that her sisters would come for her, and that thought alone is what had kept her going all of these years. They’re finally here and she’s finally free!

The most surprising thing though isn’t that Sonja is alive, but Khalil’s reaction to meeting her. Who’d have thought it possible, but yet again, here we are.

When the word “mate” slips from Khalil’s lips, barely audible, everyone stops what they are doing, the hugging and reunion, to turn and look at him. His eyes are wide as if he’s just as shocked as everyone else by the word that came out of his mouth. No one moves or says anything, not knowing what to do or say at this point.

Khalil

After all this time of traveling with these people I never would have imagined things would end up the way that they have. I had been content in life, my best friend, Natalia, is amazing, and I would do anything for her. I knew where my life was headed and what was coming next. I knew we were preparing for some sort of supernatural war and that once I took over my pack as alpha that it would all fall on me to continue having everyone prepare.

Not once did I ever think that life would take the turn that it did. I find myself questioning everything I’ve ever known or been told my whole life. Since Amillia came into our lives everything has been different. Everything has changed. I don’t do good with change.

I didn’t trust Amillia at first, I’m still sure if I should. I think about the conversation between Cole and my father about Natalia and I find myself questioning her even, something that I never thought I would do to be honest, yet here we are.

As it turns out, Amillia isn’t the one that I shouldn’t have been questioning this whole time. In fact, the person who deserved all the questioning is in fact my father. He’s blindly following in the footsteps of his father knowing good and damn well that us shifters are capable of more than just following the instructions and directions of a family of hunters. HUNTERS! Why the hell would a shifter, the one’s normally hunted want to fall in line with a family of fucking hunters. It makes no sense.

I’ve stayed quiet for the majority of this trip. Observing. That’s the best thing to do in an unknown situation is to observe the situation at hand instead of just acting on impulse. If I had acted on impulse, then I would have torn into everyone the first time that Natalia went down inside of Jackson’s house.

I had always wondered why I was so attached to Natalia, even though she isn’t my mate. My father had asked me numerous times if I’m sure that Natalia isn’t my one true destined one, but no, I’ve never felt that kind of attraction to her. I’ve always just wanted to protect her and be there for her. I couldn’t explain that feeling of protectiveness until now. Now I understand it all and I have to give the moon goddess credit for this set up. I can honestly say I would have never seen it coming.

I could sense her before I seen her. The sweet smell of honey sickles and roses mixed together, a wonderful smell. I hadn’t any idea where it all of a sudden came from, but it had my wolf, Thaddeus, on edge. And then she walked through the door.

Yes, she did look pale, underfed, and is a complete and total wreck, but at least her sense of humor had stayed intact through all of her misfortune. The perfect Luna for me. She’s beautiful despite her current appearance. I couldn’t believe it; how lucky I must be!

Then it all hit me like a ton of bricks falling from a demolished house. She’s one of the Black sisters, she’s one of the one’s that are the most wanted out of all the supernatural’s in any community apparently. Well damn, isn’t that just some shitty luck.

I never dreamed of finding my mate before, nope, not ever. Never wanted to if the truth is to be told. I was perfectly happy with the way that life has been going, but no. I found my mate finally and from the look on everyone’s face, I’m not the only one shocked by the discovery. Even she looks shocked, of course, being who she is she has no idea of the instant love I have for her, how strong it is. She can’t feel it the way that I can. Amillia had warned me of this when she asked if Natalia was my mate. I didn’t believe her then of course, considering that was when I still didn’t trust her, still don’t honestly. But from the look on Sonja’s face, Amillia had been telling the truth the whole time.

(3rd Person – Present)

“Excuse me?” Seth says, holding Sonja up and helping her stand, which in turns makes a growl come from Khalil’s body.

Everyone is still looking at him in shock. Did he honestly just say that Sonja is his mate? They don’t even have mates like that, how can it be possible? What kind of joke are the deities of this world trying to play?

“She’s my mate,” Khalil says again only this time louder. “I don’t know why or how, but even my wolf is telling me so.”

Sonja shakes her head. This instantly makes Khalil’s heart drop. Yup, here it comes. She’s so not ready to just accept him as easily as he is her, and even Natalia takes a step away from him as if he just announced he has something contagious or something along those lines.

“How is that even possible?” Seth asks, “She’s not a wolf and she’s not from this world, so why the hell would the moon goddess make her your mate?”

His voice sounds as if he’s accusing Khalil of something which just angers Khalil and his wolf more. Jackson is standing by the front door with his arms crossed just watching this situation unfold. He has no opinion in the matter, but he can tell from Khalil’s response that he’s not telling a lie.

“I don’t know how or why,” Khalil says through gritted teeth from being so frustrated. “I just know it is what it is.”

Amillia interjects before tempers start to rise even more. “Look, we can discuss this later, right now honestly isn’t the time. I’m sorry Khalil, but as I’ve said before, she won’t feel the connection.”

Sonja takes a step forward. The freedom feels weird. Walking feels weird. Not being chained up feels weird, although she can feel her powers coming back to her as if a sleeping bear has been awakened.

“I know how it’s possible,” she says. “Cole done experiments on me. He wanted to try to see if I could turn into a shifter so I could be under his control. I do have shifting blood in me now, heightened senses and all that stuff, but Cole isn’t a god so he couldn’t just plant a wolf, or whatever animal he was going for, inside of me.”

Amillia nods her head slowly her mouth forming the letter “o” as she also says “ooooh”, aloud and slowly. That kind of makes more sense than the moon goddess just randomly assigning a mate to someone as they had originally thought.

Then anger started to rise up inside of Amillia at the thoughts of what all Cole has done to her sister. That bastard. He’s really more trouble than he’s worth, and this is a lot of trouble. One day, Amillia will have her revenge on the bastard, and he will pay for everything he’s done to her and her family.

“Wait, Cole did what?!” Amillia exclaims after what Sonja says fully registers in her head. Surely her sister can’t be serious. Then she turns to Seth, and even though he looks shocked to learn this himself, Amillia still asks, “Did you know about all this?”

Their blood isn’t meant to be mixed with supernatural beings, not of this world. They’re not even supposed to be in this world! How the hell did Cole manage to do this experiment without any of the deities being tipped off about it? Why isn’t he being punished by them for his crimes? Yes, it is a crime against any god to tempt fate and change what has already been set into place.

Seth shakes his head, “No, Amillia, it wouldn’t have happened if I had known about it.” He states plainly with a hint of guilt in his voice.

Finally, it’s time for Jackson to intervene in this whole mess. He’s been quiet through all of this trying to give them time to figure out what’s going on, but now the more important matters.

“So… When is Cole supposed to be returning. According to Khalil and the rumors going around this is his main shifter base in this world.” Jackson asks.

Seth looks at Jackson in confusion for a moment. He had forgotten all about him being here since he’s been a silent observer for the last little bit.

“That’s a good question,” Seth answers. “I’m not sure, Cole hasn’t been here in almost three weeks as of yet, he normally comes at least once a week so he could honestly show up any minute.”

“Shouldn’t we be scarce when he shows?” Natalia asks.

As much as Amillia would love to be present when Cole shows up, she knows that Natalia has a point. Neither Natalia nor Sonja are in any condition to be fighting, and if Cole shows up with any member of his family, especially Erik, then they’re just setting themselves up for failure by sticking around. But there is one problem.

“If we leave with Sonja, which I promise we will do, then what will be said about the prisoner just escaping when you done made everyone leave the house. He’s going to blame you, or Renee, and neither of you guys deserve the blame for what we did.” Amillia inquires.

This is something serious to ponder on. They’re going to have to pretend that Amillia and the rest of them broke Sonja out of the dungeons. This is going to involve some serious lying and cover ups. The only problem is, there’s always the possibility that Cole already knows that they are here and that they were let in the gate.