Chapter 41: Five AM

Amina’s POV

The shadow flipped on the room’s light switch and it took a minute for me to adjust to brightness that suddenly went off. As my eyes were still desperately trying to make out the true figure to which the shadow clung, it began to speak to me again with complete disgust.

“I’ve wanted to see you for ages, my dear. The irresistible Mina.” The shadow kept talking as it approached me. “I must say though, I was expecting so much more.”

Finally face to face, it took on the distinct form of a tall and slender woman. She had a pale complexion and silky dark hair. She couldn’t have been older than my mother, but her face bore the unmistakable aging signs of a life that wasn’t easy.

She pointed to a couple of out-dated wooden chairs that I had failed to see in the dark and ordered me to sit down. Her voice was high-pitched and her eyes showed contempt. I had never seen that woman in my whole life and yet, she acted as though my existence was the worst insult that she could possibly take. She sat down in front of me and gracefully crossed her long legs together before studying me with her piercing black eyes.

“I’ve always wondered what I would do to you if you were ever in my hands…”

“Where am I?” I asked, choosing to ignore her threats.

“Would I kill you? Imprison you as a slave? Or embrace you as a daughter?”

“Who are you?” I asked in a low breath taken aback by her words.

Deep down, her and I both knew that I didn’t need to ask. He looked exactly like her and her behaviour perfectly mirrored his. There was only one person in this entire world that she could have been. She let out a deep chuckle as she watched me come to terms with reality. I was in the presence of my abuser’s mother.

“My name is Gisele Bailey.” She smiled wickedly.

“What do you want?”

Still sneering, she leaned over and ran her hand through my curls to look at me unimpeded.

“I want to see the face of the woman who messed up all of our plans.”

“The only messed up thing that I know came from you.” I lashed out at her, disgusted that she would ever lay her hand on me. “You and your fucked up son need to leave me alone.”

I had barely finished screaming when her hand rose up in the air and landed heavily on my cheek with a thunderous sound. The burning sensation that her strike left on my face caused my eyes to well up in return. Tears rolled down my face and all that I could feel was anger.

“My son and I had been planning to destroy the Millers for years. They killed my mate and we were going to avenge his death. All he had to do was kill the youngest to start.” She said giving me a glimpse of who they were.

She got up and began circling the room. Gisele looked at me like a vermin that she needed to exterminate and her speech well reflected her hatred of me. She suddenly stopped behind me and whispered her resentment in my ear.

“That’s when you came in the picture and made him lose focus. You made him pitiful, weak and unreliable. Luckily, the more I was ashamed of him, the more he hated you. Knowing that he was killing you slowly with his hands became my sole comfort.”

“You’re pure evil, just like your mate was. You turned your son into a monster.” I snapped at her, finally understanding how someone like Micheal came to be. “I hope your entire family rots in hell.”

Gisele’s chilling smile fell and her face slowly twisted as she threw off her human mask and let her animal urges take over. She grabbed my neck and tossed me across the room in one rapid movement. I landed on the floor with screams of agony after hitting the wall with my injured arm.

She ran back towards me and held me up against the wall. Her fingers were coiled around my throat and I could feel her claws digging into my skin. She looked at me like I deserved to be killed and it reminded me of all of those times that Micheal had done the same.

Gisele let go of me as two more werewolves entered the room in a hurry. They heard my screaming, but had come to help her. They barely spared some glances my way while gasped for air, caving back onto the floor.

“I’m fine. I almost killed the bitch, that’s all.” She let out in disdain, retracting her claws.

I sat up with my back leaning on the rough wall when I finally let my eyes stray away from Gisele and truly noticed the two strangers in the room with us. Only, they were no strangers. The she-wolf I recognized as the nurse who had lured me away from the hospital and brought me here, but it was the presence of the man next to her that sent a shock wave through my body. I had seen him many times before, disguised as one of Benjamin’s strongest ally.

“Craig?” I called out to the werewolf standing in front of me.

“Hi, Mina.” He smiled back innocently. “Before you say anything, I’m sorry about your head. I just couldn’t let you hit my mate and risk driving us off the road.”

“Wh- Why? What are you doing here?” I stuttered over and over again, unable to wrap my head around the idea that Craig was betraying his own pack.

All three of them laughed at my distress then picked up their conversation as if I had not been there.

“It’s almost five in the morning so if everything is alright here, we’re gonna go back to the pack before anyone suspects anything.” Craig said to Gisele who simply nodded her head in approval.

I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing, Benjamin had always spoke so highly of him as his friend and patrol Captain. He trusted him with his life and those of everyone in his pack. Craig and his mate had committed the worst betrayal and the more that I thought about it, the clearer the extent of their crimes became.

“You let the rogues pass the borders and attack the pack, didn't you?” I yelled out to him before he stepped out of the room.

“Yes, I did.” He turned back to face me and didn’t hesitate to answer my question.

“And you made sure that Benji could never catch Micheal, right?”

“Yes.”

“You have caused so many deaths, Craig. Your karma will come back for you.” I let out in a quiet voice.

“My karma?” Craig laughed maniacally as he made his way towards me. “If anybody’s karma is at play here, it’s Benji’s.”

He crouched down to meet my eyes with a sinister look in his own.

“Four years ago, your precious Alpha let my parents die at the hands of rogues and since then, I vowed to take my revenge when the time was right.”

“So you’re teaming up with the people that killed your parents?”

“I killed the rogues that murdered my parents.” He yelled smacking the wall besides my head with his palm. “Now, there’s only Benji left.” He scoffed at me one last time.

He stood back up and left the room with his mate who hadn't said a word but whose actions proved her loyalty to him. Gisele and I were, once again, alone in the room. She leaned back in her chair smiling and let out a long, satisfied sigh while I remained shocked and confused.

“The Miller boy is being betrayed by his brothers and he’s probably at home thinking that you betrayed him. You see, we picked up your stuff and made it look like you were abandoning him. I'm betting that he's already all broken up about it." She stopped to think about her own dysfunctional relationship that she had shared with her dead mate and a flash of sadness crossed her cold eyes. "There's nothing more stupid than a werewolf in love, trust me.”

She got up from the wooden chair, slivered to me and soflty wrapped my hair around her fingers.

“Still the question remains. What am I going to do with you?” She smiled smugly.

“You will do nothing. She’s mine.” A rough jealous voice spoke from behind her.

She dropped her arms to her side before turning back around with haste.

As for me, I didn’t need to look back. I already knew who had spoken. His voice was enough to make my blood run cold. I kept my eyes on the ground as he ordered his mother to leave. The moment that I dreaded the most since his disappearance had finally arrived. For years, no matter how hard I tried to forget everything, there was always this giant clock in the back of my mind, mockingly spinning the seconds away until we met again.

Micheal walked up to me in an unhurried pace, chuckling under his breath.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick.

He pulled me up on my feet and brushed his hand against my cheek to wipe away my tears.

Tick… tick… tick… tick.

The taunting clock slowed to a complete stop when he placed a finger under my chin and forced my eyes to lock in with his.

“I’ve missed you so much, my little flower.”