~Celine~
Watching Ethan leave made my heart ache, but there was nothing I could do about it. He had been such a good friend to me, and the best I could do was be happy for him.
While I sat in my room, feeding Kendrick, there was a knock on my door.
“Celine?” I heard a feminine voice call my name. I creased my brows and looked at the door.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Ashley.” She answered, making me scoff.
“What do you want?” I asked in a cold tone, carefully placing Kendrick on his bed before heading to the door.
“I just want to talk to you, Celine.” She answered, and before I said anything else, I opened the door.
“But I don’t want to talk to you,” I answered.
“I know you hate me because of what I did to your mother, but can you at least let me explain?” She asked, and I scoffed again, moving away from the door after leaving it open.
“I should let you explain why you had to be with your sister’s husband of all men? Of course. Explain. I want to hear what you have to say.” I uttered, and I heard her sigh loudly behind me.
“Your mother and I never really liked each other. I was adopted by our parents and they showed me all the love and care in the world. I was the happiest child on earth until your mother showed up. The real child of our parents.
“The love they showed me dropped drastically. It was like I became so invisible to them even though I lived in the same house with them. Anytime I had a fight with your mother, they’d always support her. They called me names and even told me they regretted adopting me in the first place.
“Sarah hated me even more than our parents. She wanted everything I had, and never wanted me to be happy. I really wanted to be close to her as a sister, but she made me feel like an orphan in our parents' house.
“This continued until I was finally an adult and I left my parents' house. They were so happy I left and didn’t even check up on me to see how I was doing. After some years, I heard that Sarah got married. I won’t lie, I was so bitter that everything was going so well for her, while I was still battling with the trauma she caused me.
“Then I decided I was going to cause her pain too. I went after Darius, and as I wanted, he noticed me and liked me. We started dating even though he was married to Sarah, and I was so happy I could finally get back at her. Until…” She paused and looked at me with remorse in her eyes.
“Until?” I asked with tears in my eyes.
“I heard that Darius killed her. I couldn’t believe it, and I became so scared. That was when I knew I shouldn’t have anything to do with Darius. I tried to run away, but you know… He is Darius.
“You can’t run away from him. I am so sorry for what happened to Sarah, and Celine. I’m very sorry she had to die when you were still very young. I still hate that we couldn't settle our differences before she died. But I can still make something happen. I don’t want you to hate me.”
“Why? Because you feel guilty?” I asked.
“Not only that. But because right now, we are the only ones against Darius. I know you don’t want to be here…”
“You don’t know anything about me. Stop talking like you do.”
“Celine, Kilhan is in that cell room. According to what I’ve seen and heard, you are in love with this man, and you have this baby. But Darius isn’t ready to even let him go. Do you think you can still cope here? In this house?”
“So you want me to leave?”
“Don’t you want to?”
“I can’t just leave. Not when Alpha Kilhan is still stuck in that cell room. He has to let Kilhan go first.” I answered firmly.
“Well, it doesn’t look like that will happen. He has stepped on Darius’ toes. He won’t just let him leave. You’ll have to make that happen.”
I creased my brows and tilted my head slightly. “What do you mean?”
She heaved another sigh and stood up, she moved closer to the bed and sat next to me.
“Do you want to be with Alpha Kilhan?” She asked, making me narrow my eyes even more.
“I guess…”
“Then find a way to get him out of here and run as fast as your legs can take you.” She stated with great urgency.
“But why?? He promised he wouldn’t hurt us.” I answered, and she rolled her eyes.
“C’mon, Celine. You and I know that Darius can never be predictable. You should be scared and vigilant. The blood moon is in two days. On a day like this, you know how unstable your father can be. His wolf would do absolutely anything that day. Get Kilhan out of here before that day.” She warned, and I went speechlessly.
I began to think about what she had told me. She was totally right about my father being a jerk on the Blood Moon. And as I can remember, he kills anyone without remorse on this day.
“You have the keys, don’t you? To his cell room?” She asked, jolting me out of my thoughts, and I nodded.
“Yes, I do.”
“Great. I’ll help you out. We are going to get him out of there on that day, okay?” She asked in a reassuring manner, and I nodded.
I wasn’t sure if I could trust her, but…
‘I need all the help I can get at this point.’
Before she could say anything else, there was another knock on the door.
“Celine?” I heard my father call, and my eyes slowly widened.
“Father,” I called back, looking at Ashley who nodded at me, telling me to get the door.
Opening the door, I saw a look of surprise on his face after he saw Ashley sitting on my head.
“What are you doing here?” He asked her.
“Catching up with my niece.” She answered, letting out a warm smile.
“Oh. Should I come back later?” He asked, turning to look at me.
“No, it’s fine. You can just tell me whatever you want to tell me.” I responded, and he nodded.
“I need the key to Kilhan’s cell room.” He uttered.
“What? Don’t you have spares? You have one too. Why do you need mine?” I asked, and he let out a deep breath.
“Celine, I need the keys with you. Don’t ask me questions.”
“No! I’m not giving you the keys! You promised me you’re not going to hurt him!” I cried fearfully, moving away from where I stood.
“Not after you went ahead to ask him for my grandson's name. What part of not letting him know he has a son didn’t you understand, hun?!” He asked angrily.
“Wait. I haven’t told you his name. How did you know?”
“Oh please, Celine. You’re in my house! I know everything. Give me the keys or things can get messy for Kilhan.”
“But I didn’t tell him…”
“Celine!” He roared and I jolted in fear. With tears in my eyes, I ran to my shelf to pick up the keys and I gave it to him.
“Please don’t hurt him,” I mumbled.
“You’re prohibited from going to see him. The maids can give him food. Stay here and look after my grandson.” He uttered and turned to leave.
“Dad! Dad!” I called as I proceeded to follow him out of the room.
“Celine!” Ashley called from behind, grabbing my hand.
“Let me go! I can’t just let him…”
“Shhh! I knew it was going to happen. That’s why I’m here right now. I want to help you and I will. You have to show him that you don’t care about this man anymore. I bet you can do that for two days. Then on the Blood Moon, while he’s busy trying to get his enemies out of the way, we get Kilhan out of here.”
“But how are we going to do that? The cell will be heavily crowded and he has taken the key.” I mumbled in tears, but she smiled softly.
“I have a plan.”