IN FULL COLOUR - Dark Fantasy
Chapter 4

Axel

A feminine squeal, followed by a yelp of surprise woke me quite early the next morning. I was still lying face-down, sprawled out on top of my bed as the sun began gently steaming into the room, caressing the thin fabric of the brown and beige curtains with its soft touch.

For a second, I wasn’t sure if I had imagined the sound or if it had come from the hall, but then I heard a giggle resonating from somewhere behind me. Close. Still foggy with sleep and with a parched, open mouth, I slowly turned my sleepy eyes towards the delightful sound. Instantly, my gaze landed on two, noticeably young female maids standing in the open door, gawking at my very exposed behind.

“Well, good morning, ladies,” I purred with a crooked grin as I peered over my shoulder. The voice that came from my lips sounded groggy and sleepy from the night’s rest.

Both girls blushed violently as they stepped into the room, their faces full of excitement. They eyed me and quickly scanned the inside of the room, which I had left in a complete and utter mess after my little meltdown last night. Luckily, they didn’t comment on the shattered mirror and went to work picking up my crumpled clothes from the floor and placing the packed suitcase back onto the side drawer.

My hair was hanging in untidy strings over my forehead. With a yawn, I propped myself up onto my elbows and rubbed the sleep from my eyes with the back of my hand.

The she-wolves were moving around the room in a synchronized manner, cleaning some of the chaos up while trying their hardest to avoid looking at me. They acted professionally, but I could hear their fastened heart rates and shallow breathing without even having to perk my ears. Not to mention the smell of arousal which wafted around me. It certainly wasn’t my arousal.

I didn’t mind the two innocent girls in the room, in fact, I fairly enjoyed toying with them. Making them blush and hearing them giggle brought a lazy smile to my face, a smile that instantly faded when my twin sister cleared her throat from the doorway.

“What the hell is going on in here?” she demanded in her Alpha-tone.

The two maids visibly flinched and shifted their wide eyes towards me, almost as if to ask what they should be answering.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at their discomfort and slowly turned onto my side, putting an index finger in front of my mouth, indicating that they should remain quiet.

Lily stepped into the room, looking infuriated that no one has bothered to answer her.

“Well?” she demanded again, propping her hands onto her hips.

I shushed the two girls again and said, “just keep very still, maybe she will go away,” a very risky, cruel joke at the expense of my blind sister.

The two maids stared at me in shock, obviously outraged with my remark, but before they could say anything, Lily snapped.

“GET OUT!” She roared angrily and stepped aside for the two very flustered young ladies to scramble out.

Anger rolled off of her in waves. She gradually turned her whole body to face me and slammed the door shut behind her with a loud bang.

Even though she couldn’t see my face or the ruined room around her, I was sure she could sense my emotional instability. I was at breaking point, but one glance at her told me that she shared the same sentiment.

“Spoilsport,” I grumbled as I strategically bundled a pillow over my private bits, not that she would be able to see any of it.

Lily obviously wasn’t in the mood for my jokes. She folded her arms over her heaving chest and stared down at me through her golden-brown, wolf-orbs.

“So, I see you are back to your old self?” She asked with a sneer.

I shrugged, “that’s what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

She didn’t answer.

I wasn’t ready for this conversation yet.

I didn’t want to talk about any of it, so I got up and sauntered lazily towards the bathroom with shards of mirror crunching under my bare feet. For a while, it was the only sound, until I entered the beige tiled room and opened a faucet. Grabbing a towel from the floor, I wrapped it discreetly around my waist.

Lily did not follow me and did not attempt to say anything else. I wasn’t sure whether she was ready for this conversation either.

Cold water splashed the last traces of sleep from my eyes and for a moment I caught my reflection in the too-bright tiny bathroom mirror. If Lily could have looked upon me now, she probably would have clawed her own eyes out. Hell, I didn’t even recognise the person staring back at me anymore. I had become a stranger, a stranger with a huge gaping hole in his heart and a two-edged dagger where his tongue used to be.

As my own hollow eyes reflected in the mirror, I was glad. Glad that my sister was blind and couldn’t see what I have become.

The crunching of glass behind me jerked me back to the present and I splashed some more water onto my face and dragged a wet hand through my unruly hair, sweeping it backwards over my head.

Lily stood in the doorway, looking down at the floor, staring at nothing. Her dull, baby-blue eyes sat helplessly in their sockets. The remaining bits of my broken heart clenched violently at the sight.

I couldn’t do this anymore.

For almost eight months I had stayed here in Shadow Creek. I had stayed to help Lily adjust to her new life after she had lost her eyesight and to help her take on the role as Shadow Creek’s new Luna. Raiden couldn’t step down as Alpha and had to tend to his pack’s needs while his own mate’s needs competed to remain his number one priority.

They were struggling.

Not just the pack, but Ray and Lily’s relationship too. I couldn’t just turn my back and leave, not after the role I had played in her disappearance in the first place.

So, I stepped in.

I helped wherever I could but every passing day I realized more and more what the cost had been.

What she had unwillingly given up all those months ago.

Not only had she lost eight years of her life and her youth, but also her ability to see, to live fully. She had given everything in the blink of an eye. Every ounce of herself in the name of love.

Love.

I hated it.

Everything seemed so different now, and even though she had been the one to lose her eyesight, I felt like my vision had been altered as well.

The way I viewed life, the people around me. It had all changed, and I despised it.