© 2014 SilverStream22. All Rights Reserved.

~KATYA~

The sudden chill hit me before I could react. With a sharp gasp, I pushed myself off the wall as fast as I had touched it. A stomach-churning feeling rose from within me. I wasn't alone.

A strong urge called me to touch the walls of the tunnel. Although I recalled Castor's words to retreat if he was gone for too long, I found myself still present in the same spot, my heart doing advanced aerobics like a grandma on steroids.

Then, as if the Moon Goddess wanted more than just frayed nerves for me, a hand locked around my forearm. My eyes widened and I panicked, twisting the arm over my shoulder as I kicked the legs out of beneath whoever had touch me. The person flew over me as I dragged the body up and across until it landed in front of me.

"Who are you?" I demanded, blinking quickly as if it would help me regain my eyesight.

"Katya, calm down. It's me."

I let out a relieved sigh, "Oh my Goddess. Really, Castor? You couldn't have just said my name instead of scaring me?"

"I'm sorry. I was out of breath. And I have good news: I found the light. We need to go fast, before I forget."

"Wait, Castor, I think there's something wrong." I breathed, searching around for him. Once I found his shirt, I took a deep breath. "I think there's something in the walls. Or maybe it's my lack of oxygen."

"You''re right. There is something in the walls." he noted. "Wraiths. That cold drop in temperature has to be it. Please tell me you didn't touch the wall."

"I did. But it was before the cold arrived. Why?"

"They can make you look the age you really are by taking away your life essence. For someone like Lorena, it can be deadly."

"Where are they?"

"Probably still on the trail with light. When I retraced our steps I noticed that the part we left was the only divergent path. Now do me and favor- I'm going to crouch down. Your hand is on my lower back so just find my shoulders and wrap your arms around my neck."

In doing so, I felt like a pre-schooler. "I haven't gotten a piggy-back ride since I was a child."

He laughed, "You still are a child."

_____________________________________________________________________________

~STARK~

Alric caught Iris before she fell, cradling her to him. "We need to get out of here. Fast."

"Stay close." I repeated. "I'll go first. Follow my steps."

Lorena dropped her backpack and wriggled out of her clothes. Before she dropped to the ground on all fours, she had turned into a fiery red wolf. Alric slipped Lorena's backpack around Iris's arms as he draped her along her mother's back. Loosening the straps enough so that they would then loops around Lorena's two front paws, we tightened the straps once more and secured the buckled in the front.

"Let's go." I nodded at Lorena as I shifted, making sure my vision was on infrared before taking off.

Iris's condition was worsening. I could sense it from the rarity of a strong heartbeat to come from her- for all I knew it could've just been overlapping with Lorena's heartbeat.

My jaw clenched and I let out a piercing howl that Lorena's echoed.

No one wanted to believe Iris was dead. We couldn't afford to have a mindset like that.

A heavy source of light flickered as we took a sharp curve. There. Rushing towards it, I burst through into the sunlight that basked the three of us in a warm fuzzy glow. We had reached the airport.

I grimaced internally when I realized that Castor and Katya weren't waiting for us- though, as soon as the thought left my mind, a blur breezed by, dropping Katya next me. One by one, Castor returned with the rest of us.

Beside me, Katya screamed.

I jerked my head to the side, watching the scene unfold.

Two fingers pressed against Iris' throat, one hand covering her mouth, my mate let out a heart-wrenching sob. She cried as Lorena's wolf howled just when Iris's once faint heartbeat...flat-lined.

Before any of us could register the shock, a familiar face flew by, catching all of us on the back of our necks. With a sudden yank, I felt myself being thrown back through time and space until the darkness of our scene was just a point. As soon as we backed out, we all rushed forward, this time hitting a new location that had my mind reeling.

Lifting my head from the Persian carpet in the small cabin with the surrounding of exotic birds and the smell of honeysuckles, I spotted our savior before I slipped in a limp slumber.

Kendra.

____________________________________________________________________________

~ Greece, 1869 ~

I felt tense as I observed the patients of Mount Sinai hospital, both rushing to and from rooms on gurneys. The sound of children had me stiffen as I thought about my own deceased child. Child? No. The baby in Kathleen's stomach was no child, it was a fetus. One that would've been a child - my own child - if it wasn't for Orion.

Gripping the edge of my seat as Alric laid back against the plastic chairs, we both waited for the news.

The moment I sense the sound of rubber soles squeaking against the cold tile floor and the faint click of the pen, I stood straight, making my way over to the doctor before he could exit the door completely.

"How is she?" Alric demanded. "And the baby?"

The brown eyed doctor smiled, removing his glasses to reveal red-rimmed eyes that clearly displayed tiredness and strain. "The delivery was a success. Would you like to see her?"

My mouth dried at the thought. Would I be able to handle it?

Of course I could. This was the woman who raised me after I had slaughtered all those who betrayed me, the woman who saw past the barbed wired walls I'd put up, past the monster that every werewolf had depicted me as.

"Yes." I answered stiffly.

He extended his arm to the double door, opening it for Alric and I. Slowly I made my way in. Ramon was by her side observing the small bundle of pink that was cradled against the crook of her arm.

Noticing me, Ramon smiled. "I'll give you two a minute."

I nodded as he passed by.

Moving to the edge of the bed, I clutched the railing in a white knuckled grip, sweat forming on my palms. The rustic smell of blood has me shiver as flashes of my baby being torn out of his mother's stomach, the umbilical cord still attached. Bile rose in my throat, but at her smile, I pushed past my painful memories, gliding closer to the pink blanket that secured over what looked to be the most happiest baby I had ever seen. Wait, no...

"Is it laughing or crying?"

Lorena grinned weakly, "Fifteen hours of labor gets me a stiff Lycan and a bipolar baby?"

"I apologize." I muttered. "I've been awake for the past twenty four hours hearing you scream curses about Ramon's genitals. One cannot expect to be not stiff after hearing such words."

I glanced down at the rosy cheek of the child whose hair was a cherry red. "What's her name?"

"That's what I need help with." Lorena grumbled. "I'm thinking Penelope, or Reyna. Oh, maybe Haley!"

Noticing her pink tinted chubby cheeks and her wide sapphire eyes, a name flew through my mind that fit so surely- so perfect.

"Iris." I croaked. "Her name should be Iris."

____________________________________________________________________________

~KATYA~

I woke with a start as my face was pressed against the pillows, clutching my shoulder as pain erupted from my back. As I sat up, a mirror greeted me to a sight of ruffled hair and a black bra. A sticky warmth brushed my fingertips and I pulled back, examining the substance. Blood.

Slowly, I turned around so that my back was facing the mirror. Looking over my shoulder, I saw miniscule incisions randomly on my back. Although the ridges weren't showing, I knew that they were there. And someone was trying to cut them out.

I struggled to remember what Stark had said to make his tattoo's appear. "Wasn't it something like...Ostende abscondita?"

The feeling of a thousand ants crawling beneath my skin had me scream as the ridges rose prominently once more through the cuts and became painfully visible. They resembled thicks scabs as individuals, but put together they looked like...

A family crest?

The door jerked open and a girl walked in with a knife and a bowl of what smelled like rose water in her hand.

"What are you doing up-"

My mind dropped and registered the features into someone who was part of Stark's past.

Kaleesi. My wolf growled and primal instincts kicked in. She was the bitch that cut up my back after giving me the fucking curse in the first place.

Lunging forward out of my bed, I shifted into a bloodthirsty wolf with the Siren being my newfound prey.