THIRTYTHREE

**THEOS**

Innocent.

The one word that echoed in my mind.
Over and over and over and over.

The record was not just broken, it was shattered. Shards lining the floor, no matter how carefully you tried to step around them blood would always spill.

Always.

Someone had to pay for this. And this time it would be the guilty party.

No more innocent blood would be spilled, including that of my unborn child.

It would be all to easy to rip the life from that lying harlot without hesitating to think of the life that resides inside her.
A life that came from me.

We were equally to blame for the seed that lay inside her.. if only she had gone with the rest of the females in heat, down to the cellars like she was supposed to.

She probably knew her heat was coming, knew I wouldn't be able to control my beast.

It didn't matter either way, her guilt wouldn't stop the beating inside of her.

It made me sick to think..

Mare was innocent.
Flick had lied, about everything.

She had lied and I had believed her.
I believed her over my own mate.

She had me so fucking twisted, like a puppet on a string she had me dancing to whatever rhythm she chose.

This child was just another string, as she feared she was loosing her grip on me when Artemis stumbled out of the woods.

A frightened girl with such distinct white blonde hair and peircings lilac eyes. I remembered the first time I saw her.

I tried to kill her.

I looked down at my flexed fist that had once wrapped around Artemis's neck. I was blinded by my rage, I thought Amelia had been messing with the dark spirits again, bringing Mare back just to torture me with my rampant guilt.

I acted out of impulse, as I always did. And always I ended up destroying something beautiful, like a fire in a field of flowers.

I gazed at the small picture frame on my desk.

A beautiful flower.
Liliana.

The small child's glassy eyes stared back at me, a small smile on her lips.

She was just a child, only seven years of age.
But now she was dead. Buried deep in the earth.
But she wasn't just dead, she was murdered.

Liliana had no part in any of the tension between the female I was supposed to mate, Flick, and my one true mate, Mare.

She was just collateral.

My sister had just been another innocent life caught in the cross fires of Flicks wicked plan.

Sometimes I wondered if she ever even cared for me, or if it was just the idea of the power I possessed that drove her to this madness. Either way it didn't matter anymore, nothing would bring them back.

Maybe I had pushed Artemis over the edge too now, just another life I had lost. I hadn't meant to snap at her but it wasn't safe for her here anymore, not with Flick around. She had murdered one sister that had dared to stand in her way, I didn't hesitate to think that she would murder the second.

I debated sending her away, somewhere safe, Alpha Kadens pack maybe? I doubted that with Artemis out of the picture Flick would continue to be a danger to her. Could I risk it though?

I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to her.

But then even if she were to be safe there, my beast could never bear to part with her, he had not just grown attached but he had bonded her. Everything within him was driving him to finish the mating process. Only one step left. But I wouldn't allow him.

If we consummated the bond then there was no turning back. She could never leave, and I didn't want to tie her down like that.

Though part of me wondered if she would be safest that way. I would kill myself a thousand times over before I let anything happen to her.

Would she want to if she had the choice?

However there was also something else to consider, our mere proximity to one another caused Flick discomfort.

Our skin to skin caused her pain, our kisses agony.

Any more would push her over the edge.

The worst part was that every single time she knew exactly what the pain meant and what caused it.

Though now I didn't care if I hurt her. I wanted to. I wanted to cause her just as must pain as she had caused me.

I wanted to drain every ounce of grief from her wicked body until she was left empty and numb, just as I had been. Just an empty vessel wondering the earth in search of a purpose, of a will. A will to live.

I hoped that unlike me, she would never find it again. I wished her to be alone forever, banished to the far corners of the earth.

Artemis and I would raise my bastard child as our own and I would live the rest of my life trying not to regret the innocent life I had created.