CHAPTER 68

Dex tried to hide it somewhat, but Lucas saw his Adam’s apple bob up and down, saw the single bead of sweat that rolled down the young man’s temple. There is no comfortable touch when Ema’s touch could be as terrifying as they are enticing.



“What would you have us do next, my lady?” Lucas directed this question to Ema and it made her shift her focus from Dex.


Ema’s smile grew, revealing only a small amount of her fangs. “Nothing for now. You have done a good job, my faithful dogs. Go home, eat, drink, and be merry. I need some time to relish and think about the next strategy. ”


The dismissal was clear. Lucas, Mara and Dex got up, touching their heads to the floor then turned their back and walked to the door.


It was at this juncture that Ema called for them again from the other side of the door as they reached the doorstep. “Oh, and Lucas? Don’t let anyone else know about our find. I won’t have anyone getting in my way. Do we understand each other?”



Lucas nodded solemnly. “Of course, dear, my lady, anything You wish. ”


And when both doors shut behind them, Lucas exhaled with what felt like the first breath he had been holding since that morning. They have achieved their objective, and have made Ema happy. But he could not take and idea that they had started something evil in their actions.


Back in her chambers, Ema got to the large map of Seattle which is spread on a table. With a perfectly painted nail, she underlined the route to Bookmark Haven, and her eyes looked unfathomably sinister.


“Oh, Amelia,” she whispered, or at least tried to while gritting her teeth, “did you think you could run away from me? Forever? Poor, silly mortal. You do not even have the slightest clue about what is in store for you. ”

Ema laughed aloud, shaking her head on the back of the ornate chair that she sat on. Finally, after all these years, her prayer was in front of her. Now the play proper was about to start, and Ema fully meant to enjoy it to the last drop.

When Lucas was moving his team away from Ema’s chambers, many thoughts were running in his head. So they have become the very thing they swore to bring down, have they not? He has witnessed the kiln of eagerness in Ema’s eyes that was enshrouded under a mask of disdain to be able to handle or be around Amelia.


“We should celebrate”, said Dex as they got into the common area of the complex. “First round’s on me!”


Mara gave a quick nod, but Lucas put up his palm. “Ring Frankfurt for me. ” “You two go ahead. I need some air. ”


Paying no attention to the audience’s questioning stares, Lucas exited the building taking huge gulps of fresh air. He stepped forward to the fence of the compound and looked at the city lights in the far-off distance.

Considering this, there was for the first time in Lucas’ mind a feeling of hesitation, as he was with Ema’s rogues. He had always believed and aspired to be the face of the movement believing that werewolves were superior to all other creatures, humans included. However the expression on Ema’s face tonight was far from mere ideology, and that look said a lot. Something darker, more personal.


Lucas sadly shook his head and tried to remove all these thoughts from his mind against his enemy. She was their leader; she was their hope. She has granted them meaning in life when their packs, to which they had belonged at first, had expelled them. Who did he think he was to doubt her intentions?


And yet… the episodes of Amelia’s life are rather trivial; she is calmly reading books during the day, not suspecting that death is slowly approaching the horizon. Despite a killer instinct that was as sharp as any man’s in the field, she had appeared so ordinary. Happy, even. Was that a fate worse than death to be in such a position as a hybrid like her?


“Hazardous ideas there, man,” said a man whom he did not recognize came from behind him.

Startled, Lucas turned around to meet Viktor, Ema’s right-hand man, who had stepped out of the darkness. The older werewolf’s face was blank and he moved next to Lucas.

“I don’t know what you mean,” Lucas said cautiously and moved closer to her, suddenly feeling his heart thump violently in his chest.


Of course, they were, Viktor chuckled, a low, mean sound emanated from him. “Come now, Lucas I have been observing you since you came back. I see the uncertainty of a wolf who is in doubt about his pack. ”


Lucas stiffened for the fight until Viktor raised his hand.

“Relax,” he said. “You don’t want to inform Ema on me? I’m not saying I am here to argue but we are strengthened when we learn to question and doubt. ”


Perplexed Lucas looked at Viktor’s face and tried to determine if he was telling the truth. ‘’Then why are you here?’’


Viktor did not speak for several minutes, he only looked at the lights of the city in the distance. Each time he would speak he did so softly almost with a hint of longing. “I have been Ema’s servant for a long time, Lucas,” Elbeg said quietly, “I have watched her grow from a commoner to a woman to be respected, even feared Indeed, the last four years have changed Ema a lot and, sometimes, I believe that she has paid the price for the power she has gained. Even after she was cast out by Elijah ”

He looked at Lucas, and there was pure hatred in his eyes that made Lucas wish he’d taken a step back. “Whatever Ema has planned for Amelia, I said it won’t be quick and it won’t be merciful,” He continued to taunt Savvy coldly, “Are you prepared for that? Can you stand by and watch it happen?”



Lucas wondered how he was going to do that when the man suddenly spoke. Lucas swallowed hard, realizing that his mouth was extremely dry. “We… we have to trust in Ema’s vision,” he said, but the words seemed to choke in his throat, as false as the expression of the three-faced folk they passed by.



Viktor nodded slowly. “Maybe, Then maybe it comes a time when people have to figure out for themselves the difference between black and white. ”, he said before clenching Lucas’s shoulder in a heavy grip. “Be wise and reflect on the decisions that you are making now Young one believe me the world is not made up of straight black and whites.



With that rather ominous instruction, Mr. Lukas was back to being merely one solitary man tortured by his thoughts.


Finally, with the break of dawn, Lucas headed back indoors and his head was full of so many emotions and deciding whose side to take. He had found Amelia and had done his job. But now, watching the start of the steaming metal structure rise towards him knowing what was to come, he felt that this was just the warm-up act; the violence was yet to come.


And somewhere in Seattle, little did Amelia know that there was a storm brewing, she welcomes the day with open doors to another day in the life she has created on Bookmark Haven. A life that was, in fact, on the verge of being broken into fragments as she’ll soon find out.