Chapter 113

Nyla's POV

I did my best to stop the rogues from pouring into the palace gates, but they were more than I could eviscerate at once. Besides, I did need some of them to pass through—so they could destroy the faces of my enemies, at the very least.

I knew I was getting surprised looks because of the way I looked and I basked in the moment. Most looked at me with fear and slight admiration for my figure. I knew most of them had never seen a figure like me and most probably would never in their lifetime. I was what my grandfather had described as an abomination—well, Samara's grandfather. He had been so scared of what she would become that she would morph into me and he would not be able to control her.

With my fiery golden eyes, I watched the rogue wolves push forward foolishly, afraid of my bulk and yet charging forward foolishly like they had been programmed not to run away from anything.

I felt warmth in my belly and exhaled. The result of that was fire that eviscerated the line of rogues in front of me. Adrenaline rushed through me—I had just unlocked a new skill.

I breathed fire from my lungs again and that pushed the rogues back for a bit. The ones who were not burned stopped just for a second before rushing towards me again. But when I tried to breathe fire on them again, I was out. Nothing came out.

They seemed to notice and jumped in my face, trying to scratch me from all sides. I trashed my huge bulk to get rid of them but they just wouldn't stop coming. So I began squashing them like the ants they were. Left, right, front, back—they began falling down to their deaths all around me.

Until they stopped.

But when I turned back, I saw the palace grounds in absolute chaos. Many of the rogue wolves had made their way past me and they were clawing and biting at the guests. Some were entering the palace too…

I turned to look at the gates. Freedom was just three steps away. If I left in the midst of this chaos, no one would find me. Samara and I would be able to escape from this nonsense. But when I turned to look I saw Aeron trying to fight off three rogue wolves at once. They were snarling at him and if I was being honest, he did not stand a chance against them. As one of the rogues tried to take a big chunk of Aeron's neck, I found myself abandoning freedom.

Samara's POV

"You're awake."

When I opened my eyes, I saw Lilian's dark eyes looking into mine. I blinked several times before trying to sit up on the soft bed. I looked around me. "Where am I?" I asked, slightly panicked.

Lilian smiled. "Don't worry. You're in the palace, but you're safe. No one really gives a damn about you right now. I mean, with the rogue attack and all, no one cares about fulfilling Laura's wishes."

I was about to ask what she meant by what she had just said, because I had no recollection of a rogue attack or Laura—who was Laura, by the way?—but a piercing headache took over my head. It felt like a screeching noise kept playing in my head.

I held my head together with both my hands and shouted, "My head, my head! What is happening to me?”

"Hey, hey," she said softly as she reached out to hold my hand. "You're all right. Wait, do you really not remember anything?"

I looked at her blankly. "No. What happened?"

She looked at me strangely. "But you know who I am, don't you?"

"Of course. We were at the library together. Oh wait, you called me to your room. Yes, yes—I think I remember. My memories are all jumbled together. I can't really remember much, and yet I feel like I'm not missing something. Am I missing something?" I asked, clearly confused.

She looked at me for a very long time and then said, "Well, tilt your head. Does it feel better now?"

I had to admit the ringing had stopped, but in its place was a blank that could not be filled. What had happened to me? Why did I feel like my bones had been broken into tiny fragments and then assembled again? Something was not right.

My fingers fingered the pendant on my necklace as I tried to recollect what had happened, but nothing was coming to mind.

Lilian held her hand out to me. "Come, I'll show you. Perhaps seeing will bring back memories."

I took her hand and she led me past a vast hallway that I remembered. I knew I was in George's palace—about that, there was no confusion. But what struck me as odd was the fact that there were no guards in sight. The place looked to me like it was in ruins. There was blood on the floor. There were body parts lying around.

I turned to Lilian sharply. "Wait, wait. What happened here? Why is there so much blood?"

And the smell—there was a stench of blood and gore that hung heavy in the air.

"You haven't even seen the worst of it yet," she said as she continued to walk past dead bodies in the hallway.

We finally made it outside, the hot sun in the sky hitting my face so hard it made me blind temporarily. I had to cover my face with my hands and look down.

"Samara," she called out to me. She had stepped outside already, but I stood at the very entrance, at the door, unable to move forward.

My head felt like it was underwater. Flashes of memory ran through my mind.

Something—something very ugly and dark was fighting George, and I was pulling that thing off him, but not without a huge scratch on his stomach. I blinked and tried to come back to the present to look at Lilian, but my head was filled with another memory. Something was fighting Laura. Ah yes, I remembered Laura now. She was the bitch who wanted me dead because she was going to marry Alpha George.

In the memory in my head, I stood there and watched while the rogue wolf attacked her face. Once they had taken a huge chunk of her face that would ensure she was permanently defaced forever, I stepped in and pulled the wolf off her. I did not want her to die.

What was happening? Who was this person that I was in my memories? How come I could not remember her? Why did I feel so different from that person and so disconnected from them? I tried to search within me for a voice, for something. I felt like I was missing a part of me, but there was nothing. The only thing that came back to me was silence.

And when finally I raised my head to look at what Lilian was showing me, it all came rushing back to me.

The blood, the gore, the screaming, the shouting, the shrieking—I remembered everything clearly, and I remembered Nyla. But where was Nyla? I couldn't find her. I searched within my soul for her, but there was nothing. In place of her was a void that haunted me from within.

Lilian looked at me. "Do you remember now?"

I nodded weakly. "I do."

"Then why do you look that way? Is something wrong?"

I could not tell her what was wrong. I could not tell her that a part of me was no longer here with me. Was it because I had just woken up?

I looked at Lilian. "How long has it been since...?"

She looked around. "A day."

"A day?" I asked, surprised. "What about the Alpha and the Beta? Where is everyone? Why is everywhere still like this?"

Her eyes were filled with sadness. "Laura, my sister... she has been chained down. She wants badly to die, but no one would let her. Alpha George has been trying to get the few that are left to clean up the palace, but everybody is dealing with one injury or another. There are only a few who are still able-bodied, like myself."

I looked at her. "What happened during the... you know, attack? How come you are unharmed?"

She smiled, and that was when I remembered I had protected her through it all—I mean Nyla, not me.

I wanted to ask her if she knew what I was. If that was why she had been there when I had woken up but how could I? I could risk letting her find out my identity and what would happen then?

“There are others too who are unhurt,” she said, “but many lost their lives and many were left injured including the Alpha.”

“Was there… Was there help?” I asked her, “did someone or something you know help during the attack?”