The Blood Moon Twins
Chapter 51

REMY

"Of course I have magic. What are you talking about?" My core was still glowing, lighting up the space directly around me, but I still couldn't see signs of anyone or anything else.

"That flicker of magic you can use is nothing. You're destined for great things, Remoria. For great magic. You just have to break it free." The voice swirled around me, making it seem like the creature was constantly moving, but I still couldn't see any signs of it. It was like it was invisible.

"My name's not Remoria. It's Remy." I hated my full name. It was long and felt too proper. It was a pretty name, but it didn't feel like my name. No one ever called me that, anyway.

"Embrace who you are, Remoria, and together we will do great things." I could feel the voice pulling at me, just like before, but this time it wasn't as strong. It was trying to hypnotize me again, but it didn't have its full power here. I was the one in control. "I'm not going to do anything with you," I snapped. "You have tried to kill the people around me-people I care about-and I still don't understand why. I can hardly use magic. I'm not meant to lead the wolf pack. I'm not special."

If this creature wanted magic, it should have gone after Caulder. He was the prodigy after all. Everyone knew he was destined for great magic and a great future. But I would never say that out loud. I didn't want to accidentally redirect the creature to my brother. "You are the chosen one. No one else. Not even that brother of yours."

My body tensed, and the light inside of me dimmed. "How did you know what I was thinking?"

"This is your head. Your thoughts aren't safe here. I know you don't think you're special, but you are the one meant to break me free. You have a magic more powerful than your brother, than your mother, than that old witch that lives in your house. You are stronger and better than all of them. All they do is lie to you, keep secrets from you. They don't care about you. They don't see your true potential. But I do. I would cherish you. I would show you that you are special, and together we would rule the world."

The more the creature spoke, the more my head hurt. The painful truth in the words felt like a physical attack on my body. I covered my ears and crumpled to the floor. "Stop it!" I screamed, but the words still came through as clear as day, despite me plugging my

ears.

"You would be better off without any of your family. If they were all dead, you would see the truth. Join me, Remoria. You'll be free with me."

My arms shook, and my muscles were tight. I could hardly breathe, and I felt like I couldn't move. These words hurt more than any injury I had ever received. They weren't true. None of it could be true.

But maybe some of it was. Secrets were being kept from me. Maybe this creature was making a good point.

No. It was just the creature trying to get into my head.

The light inside of me burned brighter the more stressed I felt. There was a growing buzzing in my core, and it felt like something was trying to burst free. The more light my body produced, the more of the room I could see, and the darkness was slowly being pushed away from me. I felt like I was about to explode in a fit of fear and rage, and I couldn't stop it.

"I need you to wake up, okay?" It was Blade's voice calling out to me. It was soothing, but there was an undertone of worry laced into it.

I looked up and searched for his face. The creature was still speaking, but it was suddenly in the background as Blade's voice took over. "Blade?" If I could just see him or hold him, I felt like I could pull myself together.

"I haven't known you for long, but I'm not ready to lose you yet. There is still too much I don't know about you, and I want to know everything. I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know you better, so wake up soon."

I wanted to wake up, just like Blade was asking. I wanted to know more about him and spend my life with him. I wanted to run to him, but he wasn't here.

"Don't listen to him," the voice growled. It was no longer calm. It was losing its patience.

I stood up and ignored the creature. "Blade, where are you?"

My head still ached, but I forced my feet to move forward. I didn't know the way out, but I was ready to replace it.

Blade's voice filled the area again, and it made me feel lighter again. "I'm falling for you, so come back to me, okay?"

"I'm coming," I whispered as I started to run.

"Not if I can help it!" the creature screeched after me.

-

CAULDER

I bent forward and braced myself on my knees to catch my breath. We had been training with Blade every night for several nights in a row. On top of that, I had additional pack training and magic training compared to my normal routine. School was still canceled, and my father decided it was a good time to have the kids and teens who were old enough to participate in extra training. It was part of his initiative to increase pack safety. We had lived in a time of peace for too long, and we weren't as prepared for these attacks as we should have been.

I was in charge of running some of the training sessions, which was part of my future alpha training. I was overbooked, and I hadn't been getting enough sleep, so after almost a week of that, my body was exhausted and worn out. I wasn't sure how much longer I would be able to keep this intensity up. My muscles were screaming, since they didn't recover as fast as a regular werewolf.

On top of all of that, Remy still hadn't woken up. She showed extra brain activity, according to Doctor Zayla. It was a good sign, but everyone grew more anxious each day that Remy hadn't woken up. It made it difficult to replace a good time to talk to my parents about Blade. Part of that was fear on my end, though. I wanted to wait for Remy to wake up, so she could help me vouch for him, but I was running out of time. I didn't know how much longer I could keep Blade distracted from his suicide mission. "Come on Caulder!" Harper said, bouncing towards me. "Giving up already? We just began."

I glared at her, still supporting myself on my knees. "You have a big advantage against me."

Harper rolled her eyes. "You're just making excuses. Come on, alpha boy. Show me what you got."

"She's right," Blade said, observing from the side. "It doesn't matter how exhausted you are in a fight. You have to dig deep to replace what is inside of you. You always have more to give if you have the determination to push past the hard part."

He was having Harper and I practice some of the fighting techniques against each other. It was useful, especially because I was able to pass on some of the training to my classmates secretly. But all I wanted to do was lie on the ground and take a long nap. "Can I have five minutes?" I asked. I felt pathetic. I rarely needed breaks, but the training was kicking my a*s. "Go," Blade announced.

Harper swung her foot in the air, aiming for my face. My reflexes kicked in and blocked the attack, but while her foot was in the air, Harper twisted her body and grabbed my ankle. She pulled on it, making me lose my balance. Before I hit the ground, I shifted, so I was standing upright. I quickly grabbed her hand and caught her before she hit the ground. Harper scowled at me when I set her upright. "No fair! You cheated."

"In a real fight, there is no fairness. You have to use your strengths, even if it might seem cheap to the enemy. In a real fight, it could mean life or death," Blade said. Harper glowered at me, and I winked at her in return. She quickly stuck her tongue out at me, making me chuckle.

"All right. Enough of that, you two." Blade moved forward, distracting us from each other. He rarely joked around during our sessions, and it made me wonder if he had a funny bone in his body, or if he was always this serious. I couldn't imagine Remy with someone this serious, but maybe he was different with her. "I want you to attack me in your wolf forms. I want you to pin me down as a team. If you can catch a vampire, then you should be able to defeat the vampire. If you can't catch one, then you'll be out of luck."