Chapter 18:Dolores

Carina's POV

"You are late", he said.

"I didn't know that it would be a full moon today; I heard it was tomorrow", I said, and in my head I added, 'and I had to dodge some wild werewolves around, so it's sort of a miracle that I am here without a missing limb.'

"Are you ready to see your mother?", he asked, his voice going hoarse like he was holding back something. I stopped closer to him so that I would be able to see his face clearly using the little moonlight that had started shining. "Yeah, I am." Honestly, I was not ready. I was scared of how I was going to react if I saw her. I was scared that this was all a trap on Conall's part; maybe he planned to hurt me.

"You don't seem confident", he stated flatly.

"I—"

"Follow me", he said, grabbing my hand a bit too roughly and pulling me along with him. I wanted to complain about the roughness and tightness of his grip on my hand, but my entire body betrayed me; it went completely hot. Why was I suddenly feeling hot? Why did I suddenly feel the urge to kiss him? When we got to a particular point and the full moon was on us, we switched to our true form. I could see Conall visibly vibrating, but I did not know why he was shaking.

"What is the matter?", I asked because curiosity had gotten the best of me, but the look he gave me in response to my question told me that I needed to be quiet. Some werewolves spotted us but did not dare make a move toward us; they looked afraid of Conall; some even ran away. Maybe truly, Ciball was very ruthless.

We got to an extremely dark spot, and he changed into his human form, and I did as well. But there was something weird that I noticed, and that was the fact that I did not transform to my human form by myself; it just happened when we got to that spot. I wanted to ask Conall why that had happened even though he had shot me a 'do not speak' look previously, but he best me to it, "Stay here and don't say a word."I

figured it was best to keep quiet, as he instructed. He left for a while before returning shortly. "Follow me". He had an effect on me each time he spoke, and that was something only Anderson could do to me, and now Conall had started to take over. It made me feel like I was betraying Anderson but I could not help it. 'I'm doing this for you, Anderson', I tried convincing myself, but my inner mind did not seem to agree with me.

I followed Coabll to a point that looked like a jail, but there were no guards, as there were supposed to be. I wondered how Conall was able to take care of the guards since there was no single guard in sight, but then again, Conall was a very powerful person, so it should have been easy for him.

Conall switched on a light, and a wild animal ran but hit its face on the iron protector of the Cell. It was clearly an insane werewolf; it was Dolores—my mother. She kept trying to break free by hitting the protectors of the cell and howling, but maybe it worked. There was no way Baldar would lock her up in a place that she could break free from; he was too smart.

Dolores did not recognize me; she kept hitting the protector, and each second that passed, she got more and more aggressive. She was hurting herself and probably did not even know that.

"Dolores", I called quietly, trying to calm her down. Although I very much disliked her, I did not want her to hurt herself to death; I was already seeing her bleed. But she was not listening to me. I called her three times, but she was not listening. I turned to look at Cinall, who was as quiet as ever and did not seem like he was going to say anything or try helping me out.I had to think of a way to make her stop hitting herself by herself, and there was only one way I thought would work.

"Mum", I called, and immediately she stopped hitting herself and howling. She looked at me behind the iron barricades, her eyes glittering due to the light Conall had used to point at her.She looked at me deep in the eyes, perhaps expecting me to say more, but I could not quite say another word. I froze. I expected her to run wild immediately, but she did not; instead, she turned to her human form and clung to the barricades.

"Carina, my dearest daughter,", she started, and I could feel my eyes go wet without my consent. "Oh Carina, all I ever did, I did for you."

That was not the complete truth, but deep down, I knew it was partly the truth. If she knew that I was an Omega from the beginning, I may have been killed, and Anderson may not have been in live contact with me, but then—

"But you are so weak. Very weak", she said as she started laughing. With the speed almost as fast as that, she might have wanted to stretch her hands and drag me to hurt me, but Conall was faster than she was; he hit her hand so very hard, and she was screamed in pain, switching to her werewolf form howling.

"Let us go. Your time here is over", Conall says, pulling me away without giving me a chance to say anything, not like I could say anything anyway. He pulled me to some bush."I need you to get out of here. Go back to your safe place with the free packs", Conall ordered me.

If only he knew where my safe place was, he would not be ordering me to go back to the free packs."

"I don't want to go", I said.

"What do you mean by you don't want to go", he said, probably shocked at my refusal. "I have helped you by showing you to your mother, and now I want you gone."

The words stung, and I don't know why they stung so badly. I did not know how I was able to do what I did next, but I did it anyway. I hugged him, and I felt his whole body go stuff when I did.

"What are you doing, Carina?", he asked, breathing hard. I did not answer him, nor did I let go. I clung harder to him, even though he did not hug me back.

"Carina, please quit what you're doing and go home", he said, his body vibrating now.

"No", I stubbornly insisted, still hugging him.

"Carina, I'm going to hurt you if you don't stop", he warned.

"I don't care", I said. I had no idea what had come over me, but I did not care what he wanted to do; I was comfortable where I was, hugging him. After all, if he wanted to kill me, he would have done that.

Suddenly, I felt a sharp oath on my neck, and I winced in pain. It was Conall who had dipped his sharp fangs in my beck and was holding me so that I would not escape. I felt both pain and pleasure—more pain, but that did not mean I wanted to let go. I clung even harder as he sunk his fang deep down in my neck. I was sobbing, but I refused to let go of him. When he was done giving me with the most painful but pleasurable bite that I had ever felt in my life, he hugged me. Yes! He hugged me, the hug that I had craved from him since.

"I am sorry", I heard him mumble almost inaudibly. I did not say anything to him; instead, I hugged him and soaked his shirt with my tears. We remained there, like forever, before I finally drew away.

"I'm sorry about all that; it's just because..."

"Your mother", he said.

And you.

"Uhm, yeah, my mother", I said, my house still shaky, although I had stopped crying now.

"Do you—do you want to talk about your mother for a bit? I think you will feel better if you do", he said.

"I don't have anything to say about her", I said. I wanted to get back to where I came from.

"But I do. If you don't mind, I will tell you all I know about shape shifters, why your mom is the way she is, and why Baldar is holding her hostage instead of killing her and some others", he said. His voice had this icy edge, like he was forcing himself to act right. I wanted to go away because he had a strong effect on me, but the information that he wanted to give me could be helpful, so I agreed to stay and listen to him.