CHAPTER 193: CHAPTER 193

[DEVON’s Point of View]

“Dominic, stop!”

I didn’t understand what was going on.

All I knew was my Mom screaming at my father to stop from killing Uncle Killian. I didn’t understand why he suddenly turned violent, though, when it was he who insisted that Uncle Killian come with us. But from the level of rage I saw in his eyes, I knew Dominic had found out something that scared him and made him look mad like that.

But what did he find out about Uncle Killian?

I was too shocked and confused to react, so I just pulled Mom away from them as panic started to cloud my head. I never wanted to think anything negative about my father, especially considering all the sacrifices he made and the risks he took to keep us alive in that place where the old man took me and Diana. I just couldn’t understand why he suddenly wanted to kill Uncle Killian. Was it because of the shadows dancing around Uncle Killian’s body? And what did he mean when he said Uncle Killian was involved in an experiment?

“What are you doing, Dominic!? Stop it! He’s hurt!” Mom screamed at him again, her eyes filled with panic as she attempted to intervene, but I pulled her away with all my strength, wrapping my arms around her waist and preventing her from getting near those two terrifying Alphas. “Put him down! Now!”

“Dad!” Diana exclaimed as tears fell from her eyes.

I wanted to yell at him! I wanted to snarl at him and demand that he stop, but I couldn’t! All I could do was to glare at my father and let him feel my presence as my wolf started to surface from within me, threatening to let go and shift into his form.

Mom must have sensed my agitation, so she turned around, knelt in front of me, cupped my face with her hands, and whispered softly to calm me down. “Devon? Devon, sweetheart, look at me. Everything will be alright. You have to calm down, sweetheart...”

“Devon?”

Dominic looked at me with worry and then let go of Uncle Killian’s throat. He stepped forward to check on me, but Mom stopped him, lifting her hands in a gesture that he shouldn’t get any closer to either of us, and then she shot him a daggering glare.

“Explain to me what is happening here, Dominic!” She snarled, and Dominic was taken aback by the anger he saw in Mom’s golden, liquid eyes. “Why are you doing this?!”

“I told you already!” Dominic answered, looking at me and then Mom with frustrated eyes. It was too late for Mom to stop Diana, but my sister went running towards Dominic and embraced him. I watched how he carried Diana in his arms nervously, as if scared that he might go into an outburst again. If Diana got hurt because of his temper, I would never forgive him!

“KILLIAN, NO! WAIT!”

But it was too late.

We all watched with wide eyes as Uncle Killian went running out of the cave, so fast that Dominic didn’t have the chance to stop him. Even Mom was petrified and couldn’t believe that Uncle Killian just left! His wounds were still fresh, he was weakened by a poison, and he could barely control himself as the darkness within him tried to take over his head.

Could it be too late for Mom—for any of us to save Uncle Killian?

“Mom—”

I guess that was it. Mom had finally lost her patience and went marching to Dominic, her razor-sharp teeth bared at him. She was just about Dominic’s shoulder length, but she stood in front of him like he was nothing—like she could fold him into eight if she had to.

Goddess save us all! Mom was terrifying!

“Mom, Dad! Stop fighting!” Diana yelled at both of them and ran, putting herself between the two. “Please!”

“What is going on here, Dominic? What did Liam say about Killian? What do you mean, experiment?!”

I saw the hesitation on Dominic’s face. I didn’t know why, but my wolf was telling me that my father was hiding something from us, which I didn’t like. Why couldn’t he tell us? What did he and Uncle Liam find out about Uncle Killian?! What is happening?!

“We will talk about it later,” he glanced at Mom with an assertive tone after he decided to calm down and let out a heavy sigh. “Just... not in front of the kids.”

His eyes went to me, and all I did was glare back at him, not liking what he said. But I respect Mom’s decision. Uncle Liam told me before that a powerful man should only speak when he has to. And since I didn’t have anything to say, I decided not to voice any of my opinion, knowing that Mom knew what she was doing. I just couldn’t trust Dominic that he could do something about the situation we were in after I saw that anxious look on his face.

“Devon, stay with your sister. Your Dad and I need to discuss something.” Mom gripped both of my arms as she remained calm and gentle in front of me, not wanting me and my twin to panic or get scared. “We will find Uncle Killian once we know it’s safe to go outside.”

“What if Uncle Killian doesn’t want to be saved?” I asked her, my voice sounding adamant as I stared at Mom’s worried eyes. “What if he wants us to stay away from him?”

“That’s not true.” There was surprise on her face about what I said, but then she paused as if contemplating something, and then looked at me again; her eyes were steady and certain. “We couldn’t leave him like that, Devon. It’s something that he had no control over. I believe your Uncle Killian doesn’t want this to happen to him.”

But still, the rebellious side of me was not convinced that Uncle Killian had nothing to do with everything that happened to us. “What if he chose to be like this, Mom?! What if he’s really on the side of the enemies?! Because if he’s not, he won’t let them poison his mind and body like that! He will never become a monster!”

“Devon.” Diana’s small voice awakened me from the rage that suddenly clouded my head, and then I dropped my stare from my Mom’s shocked face.

“I am sorry,” I murmured, pained by the uncontrollable pain and guilt, and I didn’t know where those feelings suddenly came from. “I just... maybe I am scared for all of us, Mom. I am scared for Diana.”

“I know, Devon. I know...” Mom’s eyes suddenly welled with tears, and guilt once again pierced my chest as she grabbed me and embraced me tightly against her, kissing the top of my head. I am so sorry, sweetheart. You shouldn’t be dealing with things like this. We shouldn’t have put you into so much danger. I am so sorry.”

Behind Mom was Dominic, who was staring at us with sadness in his eyes. When I lifted my eyes to meet his gaze, my heart dropped when Dominic averted his eyes from me and then slowly walked outside the cave.

Yeah. You’d better walk out.

*****

“Devon?”

“Hmm?”

“I saw something. A dream.”

Another nightmare. I wish I could save my sister from them.

“What is it?” I asked gently as I felt her shift to her seat and then lean her head on my shoulder. Our little backs were against the cave wall while we both stared at the bonfire, waiting for Mom and Dominic to come back from wherever they went just so we couldn’t hear whatever they wanted to discuss.

“It’s the black wolf again,” she lifted her head to look at my face, and I saw fear in there as she returned her gaze to the dancing fire in front of us. “I saw it sitting on an Altar, licking its wounds.”

Diana’s nightmares didn’t always make sense to me, so I let her talk while my mind wandered elsewhere. I grabbed my Mom’s rucksack and fished something inside it. Something I was starting to grow fond of.

The necklace.

I stared at the thing in the middle of my small palm. I couldn’t explain the feeling every time I had this thing on me. Like I had a strong connection to it. Mom said it was from Grandma. But why did it feel as if the thing had chosen me? Or was it just my playful imagination, hoping that I had a big role in whatever was happening to our family?

As I held the thing longer in my hand, I noticed the pricking feeling on my skin until I felt that it was burning! I tossed it in front of us in panic, and Diane pushed away from me in surprise, confused about what had happened.

“Devon!?” she exclaimed, sounding annoyed but with panic on her face. “What was that?!”

“I don’t know! The necklace just suddenly turned very hot!” I explained to her. It was really strange, and I tried not to sound stupid.

But both of us were distracted from the necklace—it cast a massive shadow of a wolf that appeared with crimson eyes on the walls of the cave. The shadow seemed to glare down at us, as if it knew where we were.

Terrified at what she witnessed, Diana scurried hysterically to me, and I caught her in my arms. We both trembled as we lifted our faces, our eyes growing big with horror at the black wolf staring down at us!

But then I remembered what my grandma said. “Where the shadow wolf points, that’s where the truth is hidden.”

And the shadow wolf pointed at the south.