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Chapter 11

I could hear Drima’s shouts that the doctor needed to be called and my head was feeling like someone had bashed in my skull and a pain in my wrist shot through me into jolting up awake and found that Luke was biting my wrist. The same bite mark when he had appeared as my familiar.

“Sin…what happened? Are you alright? Oh dear!! Someone please call the doctor…” yelled Drima but I put up my hand and said,” I am fine. I am going to be late for the Summit. Let me up.”

“But Synthia you were attacked. You were attacked by that foul conniving bitch…how can I let you go tonight like this in this situation?” asked Drima and I could see the look of concern in her eyes and the worry etched on her face.

“Because you have trained me for this day since the day I have started walking and I am prepared for anything that comes in my way. That bitch might try to do anything but I am going to take her down Drima. It is only the second phase of the contest and you know that if I don’t keep my lead on the points then it is going to be a disaster. Under no circumstances I can allow that woman to take the throne and crown which is rightfully mine….so let me up and let me go,” I said with the command in my voice which made them all shiver slightly. I usually did not use the Alpha power over any of my pack members but right now I needed to make sure that I was fine and I could take on anything.

The dream had rocked my core but I could focus on it later on. Something was definitely up.

“Deke, check that arrow and also check that if there is any kind of psychedelic or hallucinogen attached to the tip which would work on me and me only and not on anyone else of you,” I said and then I rose up. I smiled at Luke gratefully and then checked the time on my watch. I was going to be late so I took the backpack and ran, and all the guards and Luke ran beside me and I did not bother on going to the great Hall and we directly met at the rendezvous point.

Rubina was standing there with Salazar still draped over her waist and I wanted to slit her throat with such burning intensity that everything flared up red before my eyes but the look on her face when she saw that I was standing two places apart from her just beside Blossom. Luke was standing right beside me as I soaked in further more warmth and strength from his presence. The Council looked at me and Nodded, as if they were waiting for my arrival.

The yellow ball of fire changed to hues of orange, and then almost tangerine. It merged with the sky, like juice-mix dissolving in a glass of water. The clouds were cotton-candy, as though they blushed at the warm touch of the sun. Silhouettes of birds flew home across a sky that was now magenta; and the sun was half into the water, but its reflection in the sea made it look complete. The mauve of the dusky sky intensified, and in just a while, the biggest star had set, giving way to a thousand others.

And just then Torah came forward and spoke,” All of the heiresses are now present here and we are going to begin. You all will be transported from here to an island close to Amorentia. It will be a neutral territory. We do not expect that there will be guests at this point of time in the manor or castle but there will be guards. And you all have to try and retrieve the object that is going to be hidden somewhere in the castle. It is a small stone egg which is an object of great power and value to the wolves and it was taken away forcefully from us in the last war.”

Something about her features said that she was not telling the entire truth either but then again that was not what I needed to think at this point of time.

Torah continued speaking,” All of you will have to return to the exact point that you have been dropped from three hours from when the drop happens. If not then the boat will leave and then you will have to find your own way back to Amorentia.”

“But how is that fair? We only know the island from the maps…you expect us to not get lost and retrieve the object and then come back in three hours?”

“Those are the rules of the game. If you do not like them Heiress then you are welcome to forfeit. No one is going to think anything negative of you. But when you are here and from the moment you step foot on that island remember that you are out of our control and presumably in enemy territory.”

“Any questions?” asked Mason and his gaze was trained on me. But no one spoke and I was a hell ready to take on anything that came in my way. What Rubina had done had only strengthened my resolve further and now I was going to channelise my anger and defeat her. Until I did that I wanted to crush the head of that snake under the heel of my boot…a bloody vicious snake she was and I did not want to give her any more chance than she had already got at harming me.

Bloody bitch!!

We all climbed into the large speed boat and wore the orange life suits so that we were protected. And as soon as everyone was on board the motor boat engine roared to life and almost immediately we had to catch hold of the railing to help ourselves from toppling over. I watched as the shore receded from sight and Luke was standing there with his eyes on me and then he put up his snout up in the air and howled. And all my pack members joined it. I was filled with confidence that whatever might be the situation they were always going to have my back.

Finally about twenty minutes later on the water and making me nauseous we reached the island. Yes, wolves by nature are good swimmers but that does not mean that the lurching over a huge water body would always elicit a good feeling.

As soon as the boat stuck in the sand we all jumped on. The other heiresses took the path which would take them straight to the castle but I did not. I did not even look at them for once. I closed my eyes and then let my wolf come to the surface and allowed her to take reins. When it came to memorizing routes and directions she would always come through even if I failed. It did not take me a long time to reach the small forest.

Thankfully I could see in the dark and I paced as soon as possible in the direction of the cliff. It was practically a madness trying to climb it with minimum tools and focusing on sheer good luck and that too if I was not seen by any of the vampire guards. But crazy had more chances tonight than the full proof plan or so I thought.

I took out the tools from my backpack and then started climbing after looping the rope harness along my waist.

The rock falls away beneath my feet. I know there is a ledge, otherwise I'd be falling, but I can't see it at all. If I turn my head too far I could unbalance and the drop is further than I can see. Already the adrenaline coursing unchecked, urging me to do what I cannot. Sure my muscles are stronger and I'm more awake than I've ever been, but this isn't a situation where running hard for a long time is going to help. There are hand holds here, I know it. I just have to think back to my training. It's so easy in the gym with the air conditioning and the smiling staff. Out here there's no safety rope, no soft mats to land on. I wish the human body was wired differently, I wish I could get the increased strength without the urge to run but I can't. All I have is the rock, the wind and a long way down. How could I have thought this would ever be fun?

“But you are not human, Sin. You are a wolf…and think like one. You never were taught to give up and you will not give up,” said Luke in my ears and immediately a strange warm comfort wrapped around me like the covering of a blanket in a cold night.

And then I saw that I was almost at the top. My knees and elbows were grazed and cut beyond repair but I could see the manor. And there was no human figure in sight.

The dark room was like a place out of time, a place to rest without consequence. The darkness in that way was a sanctuary, a place to recharge and forget the things the world said had to be done. It wasn't that I couldn't or wouldn't, but rather that I needed that sense of stepping out of the craziness for a while. So, in the darkness that stole even my own form, I was content to let the night pass and awake when daylight streamed in with its bold confidence.

There was something in the darkness that was like a promise, like the world before dawn. It was a room as a canvas rather than a finished work of art, and to me, it was all the more exciting. With each movement something new came to my hand, a tiny fragment more of the furniture and antique ornaments took form, as if they were waiting for me to make them real.

Darkness came like the thick velvet curtains of the theatre. It was as if the daytime had been one part of a play and the rest was to come after this intermission of night. I let my eyes wander the furniture, the audience to the dramas played out in that room, to the highs and lows of emotions, and to the love that dwelt in that house. But what I did not expect at that point of time was someone to be exactly in the same room that I was.

As usual and as it was natural to him, he wandered to the window to gaze at the stars, to peek into the universe... the spectacle that was given when all else was taken... as if commanding him to look and feel both his smallness and his oneness with something greater. I knew that I could smell the man and he was not a man. He was vampire. The blood that throbbed in his veins was dead and stale and I could almost taste the bitterness in my mouth. Usually I should have been caught by now but I had been quiet as a church mouse and had made no movement to alarm the man when suddenly in the light of the moon his features became clear and my heart lurched inside my rib cage and I felt that it would come out of my mouth.

“You forget, little wolf, that your blood is elixir to me. And right now it is calling to me like a Siren’s song,” said the vampire as he turned to look at me exactly at the point where I was hiding and I could not stop myself from gasping out all of a sudden.

I was done for.

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