50

Claire’s POV

The darkness became so suffocating and I tried to claw my way out of it which proved impossible.

Fear gripped me and in panic, I began to flail my arms at the thick darkness that surrounded me and was threatening to snuff the life out of me.

Where had all the light gone? I vaguely wondered.

There was nothing but darkness and I was beginning to forget what exactly light looked like.

All I wanted though, was to escape the current state I was in.

“Just let go,” I heard a voice say and a tiny bit of hope flickered in my chest.

Someone was right there with me though I could neither see nor feel them.

“It's going to be alright if you do,” the calm voice said again.

I stopped moving my arms and tried to focus instead on my heartbeat despite the fact that I could barely breathe. It wasn't like panicking was going to help my case anyway.

A tear rolled down my cheek as I embraced the fact that I was going to die.

No one was coming to save me.

As soon as I closed my eyes, the pressure from the darkness started to lift and I could breathe properly again.

I didn't dare open my eyes though for fear that the suffocating weight was going to return.

Suddenly, I sensed a change in the level of brightness behind my eyes and slowly opened them.

The darkness had disappeared and I realized that I was looking at a face very much like mine.

It took another second to discover that I was also in the arms of this woman.

I tried to say something and found out that I was incapable of speech.

Panic hit me and suddenly, the cries of a baby filled my ears.

“It's okay, baby,” the woman murmured and began to gently rock me.

That was when I realized the cries were coming from me.

As soon as my cries ceased, an unfamiliar male voice spoke.

“We can’t stay here for much longer, Elena. They are going to find us and kill us if we don't leave this place soon.”

The woman’s arms tightened around me. “Are we going to keep running like this for the rest of our lives? Surely there must be a way we can end all of this.”

“We’ll think about that later, Luna,” the male voice replied. “But for now, we are going to have to run. I'm never going to forgive myself if anything happens to you and the baby.”

“They are here already,” another voice suddenly announced. It was a woman’s and it was filled with so much fear and panic.

“We need to leave now, Elena.”

The voice sounded really familiar.

“No, Lora. If they are here already like you said, then it's too late to run. Take the baby and leave. Sebastian and I are going to try to delay them. Please keep her safe,” the woman called Elena replied.

The sorrow in her voice was enough to cause me to start wailing again.

And as she handed me over to the other woman, I realized that I didn't want to be apart from her.

She placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. “I’ll always be with you, Iris.”

“You should go with them, Luna,” the male voice spoke again. “Your baby needs you.”

“He is right, Elena,” the familiar voice agreed. She was close to tears. “We can escape from them together. Iris is going to need her mother.”

“I wish,” Elena replied. “But he is not going to be able to distract them for long if he’s the only one facing them. I can't risk anything happening to Iris. The future of our Pack depends on her. I’ll stay and fight. Now go.”

The next sound I heard after that was a very frightening and deafening bang followed by loud cries.

“Claire, Claire, you need to wake up,” I heard the familiar voice say and immediately after, felt a pair of hands shaking my shoulders.

My eyes flew open with a start and I noticed two things at once.

I was sitting upright and my cheeks were wet with tears.

Ms Lora’s face swam into focus after a couple of seconds.

“It was just a dream, Claire. You are safe now.”

She wrapped her arms around me and rubbed my back in soothing motions.

After a short while, I pulled away from her hug to look around me.

The last place I remembered being was in the woods and now we were in a room that I was certain wasn't in the Castle.

The tastefully furnished bedroom bore a smell different from the general smell that every room of the Castle carried.

“Where are we?” I queried.

“My house,” she replied and then rose from the king-sized bed. “You should rest a little bit more before dinner is ready.”

Why was she acting like everything was normal?

“Why do you work as one of the palace servants if you have a home like this?” I queried, allowing my eyes to roam around the large space.

It wasn't as big as the Alpha’s room but still big nonetheless.

The beautiful sculptures on the other side of the room were clearly expensive and so were the peculiar artworks on the pastel-pink walls.

“We’ll talk about it after dinner, Claire,” she replied in a kind but firm tone. “You’ve been through a lot and need a lot of rest.”

I opened my mouth to protest but she placed a finger on my lips.

“I promise to tell you everything after dinner, okay?”

Reluctantly, I nodded and her lips curled into a small smile.

“Please feel at home. I’ll let you know when dinner is served.”

With that, she turned and walked out of the room, leaving me more confused than ever.

After a moment of just staring at the door, I swung my legs off the bed and the room spun sickeningly when I got to my feet.

I guessed I needed to take Ms Lora’s advice and rest a little bit more.

Focusing on a spot on the ceiling as I lay on the bed, I tried to make sense of the dream that I had a couple of minutes ago.

Something told me that my suspicions were right but I could only be very certain after hearing what Ms.Lora or Aunt Lora, whatever, had to say.

Iris.

The woman who looked just like me had called me that. Was she truly my mother?

The only woman I had ever known as my mother died when I was just ten years old. That was about a year after she got married to my stepfather.

We had looked nothing like each other but that never raised any doubt in me. She had loved me so much and that was all that mattered.

She hadn't wanted to remarry after the death of my father but she did it because she claimed I needed a dad.

I scoffed.

If only she could see how badly the monster treated me. It would have been much better if she hadn't married him. Being fatherless wouldn't have hurt half as much as being with my stepdad.