Broken Souls
Chapter 29: Cracks

Kay’s POV

I feel warmth still flooding every part of me. It’s like soaking in a hot bath: I can even feel myself float just like in water. I start to wonder if I’m dead when I hear her. I hear Grandma calling my name through the cloud of nothingness I’m in, but I can’t see her. All I can see is just the blank white space of nothing.

“Grandma?” I call out confused.

“Yes Kay, you have to break the connection,” she calls through the void. I’m confused. What does she mean when she says connection? Does she mean the connection to the magic? How do I do that? She seems to sense my confusion.

“Just let go, Kay. Relax and let go of the magic. You have to let it go, or it will take you too far for me to reach you,” she calls sounding further away. “Relax and let go, Kay, Now.”

I take a deep breath and close my eyes and focus on relaxing. I can feel the warmth slipping off me plunging me into icy like jumping into a frozen river. The shock to my body has me gasping for air as my eyes fly open. I’m now staring up into the darkening sky and Oriel’s worried face.

“Oh, thank God,” Oriel nearly yells pulling me up into a hug sitting on the ground. Everything comes rushing back to me, and I’m trying to look over her shoulder for Aaron.

“Did it work? Is Aaron okay?” I ask still trying to look around Oriel.

“Yeah, He’s okay, but he’s still out cold. He is okay though. How did you do that? How did you do any of it?” Oriel says pulling back to look at me. All I can do is shrug. I really don’t have any idea, but I plan on replaceing out as soon as I can. I can see Aaron is still on the ground, and warriors are running through the trees keeping the area secure. Aaron is covered in a blanket now, but I don’t think I was out all that long. I move closer to Aaron, and he begins to move. Then suddenly, he sits up looking around franticly. It only takes half a heartbeat for his eyes to meet mine and even less time for me to hurl myself into him nearly tackling him to the ground again.

When he goes to put his hand on my neck, I feel him hiss and pull his hand back sharply. In my excitement I had all but forgotten about the collar. Aaron looks at the collar around my neck, and I’m sure it isn’t a pretty sight: the thing hasn’t stopped burning, and I’ve seen what it does to the rogues that had been forced to wear them. I hear Aaron growl as he examines my neck, but I’m so happy that he’s alive.

“I’m okay. I promise. You are okay, and that is all that matters to me,” I say kissing him. I feel him relax as he kisses me back. We are both pouring every bit of ourselves in the kiss, but we both know it can’t last. We need to get out of here before Seth or Hadeon regroup enough to come after us.

We reluctantly break the kiss and Oriel clears her throat.

“We need to move.” she says, and Aaron kisses my forehead.

“Aaron, do you think you can shift and carry Kay back to Alpha Ben’s pack house?” Oriel asks.

Aaron nods then adds, “Yeah, and I’m looking forward to knowing how I’m not dead. The last thing I remember was getting stabbed by John.” Oriel shoots a quick glance to me, and Aaron looks at me quickly too.

“Well first, let’s get the hell out of here,” Aaron says standing up. This causes the blanket falling to the ground. He smirks when he catches me staring, but he quickly shifts. Griffin now stands before me looking strong and beautiful. His large head is level with mine, and his golden eyes are staring into mine.

Griffin lies down on the ground, and Oriel is quick to remind me we need to go now. Rogues are starting to gather, and we are going to have to outrun them. I feel clumsy and awkward having to climb on Griffin and be carried out of here. I wish the collar was off. Then I could shift. I miss Diana. I miss how strong she is. As soon as I’m seated firmly on Griffin’s back, he begins to get up. The movement makes me grip him tighter, and I swear I can hear him laugh. I grip him tight with my thighs and have my hands buried in his soft fur. I’m trying to hold on and keep the silver collar on my neck far enough away from him, so that it won’t touch him.

Almost before I’m completely ready, we start to move. As I get use to the movement, Griffin picks up speed. Soon, Oriel’s wolf, Kao, is dashing passed us followed by other wolves. I can see we are surrounded by wolves on all sides. I can’t see behind me, but I know they are there too. The quick speed and the air hitting my face is making my eyes water, and I wish I could hide my face in Griffin’s thick fur, but I can’t risk it. While I can’t see very well, I can still tell we are in danger. I can feel the evil that has seeped into the very ground making everything in the area dark and corrupted by Hadeon. Even the air feels heavy and thick. It’s hard to breathe.

After hours of running hard, the air suddenly feels normal again. We are still moving just as fast, and I’m starting to feel my muscles cramp and begin to spasm from the strain. I really don’t know how much longer I can hold on. I’m still so tired, and I feel like I may collapse at any moment. I know I have to keep holding on. We have to be getting closer.

Just as I’m about to lose the last of my resolve, we start slowing down. As the trees clear, more wolves rush forward, and I feel panic for a split second ’til I realize they are running passed us and into the trees. We are soon running across well-kept grass and a large pack house looms in the distance getting closer and closer as Griffin keeps running. I’m still fighting to hang on, but I just can’t seem too anymore. My hands and legs are weak from the strain of everything I have been though. I begin to loosen, and I feel Griffin come to a stop as I begin to slip. The edges of my vision darken until everything goes completely black. I think I hear Aaron call my name.

Seth POV

What the hell was that? What did she do? How did she do it? I shift and run from the clearing. I can feel Cain’s fear; he’s never afraid. I can’t seem to figure out what Kay did to us. Hadeon is not in my head at the moment. Actually, I can’t feel him at all, but I can feel fear and a few other emotions I haven’t felt in so long I almost don’t recognize what they are. By the time I pull myself together and get back to the clearing with more rogues, Kay is gone, and I feel…. Sad. What the fuck did she do to me?

I can hear the advancing wolves howling through the trees. I have no interest in dying today, so I flee running passed John’s dead body. I feel it again: I feel sad for the useless wolf. What the hell? I hate this, and I don’t understand what she did. The only thing I do enjoy is the fact that my mind is again just my mind. I can only feel my thoughts and Cain’s.

I make it back to my pack house. It’s more of a ghost house than anything with all the cracks and peeling paint. It was once beautiful, and so was she: Aura. I haven’t even thought of her in so long. She was soft and sweet. She was everything I never was. This was her pack house, and when she found me lost in darkness, she tried to save me. I only betrayed her because Hadeon had found me long before she had. I was the son of an Alpha. I was expected to be strong and powerful, but I was never strong enough for my father. He beat my mother to death when I was only three, and he spent every day trying to make me stronger.

Nothing I did was ever enough for him. I was never smart enough or fast enough, and I was definitely not strong enough. I showed him. The day I killed him was the day I got my wolf, Cain. My eighteenth birthday marked the end of thirteen years of pain that I would never feel again. Hadeon found me that night. After I killed my father, I claimed the right of Alpha. Hadeon found me and promised me everything. He promised me that I would never be week again, and he could give me strength that no one could match. I didn’t take long for me to be willing give myself over to him. He was offering me everything I was lacking, and I never wanted be weak again.

Then I met her. I met Aura. She was so perfect. I came to her pack, and we instantly felt the mate bound. She was nothing but warmth with her warm caramel skin, dark eyes, and hair. She loved me. She saw only me not the broken man in pain. She saw me. I thought I could be happy with her, but Hadeon quickly reminded me that I was his, and that I had made a deal with him.

Aura and I had been mated for a year. We were so happy. We joined packs, and we’re thriving. I tried to fight Hadeon. I tried to get out of the deal, but the harder I fought him, the worse it got. Like cracks in concrete, his darkness consumed me. He flooded my dreams with nightmares, and I started living the nightmares during the day. Soon, I could hardly tell what was real and what was the nightmare. His constant hissing was in my mind. He wanted me to give him what was his. I begged him to just take me and let Aura live. She had become pregnant, but Hadeon didn’t care: he just kept ripping my mind apart. The day I finally broke, I barely remember what happened. I had been trapped in a waking nightmare trying to fight my father off me, but when I came to, I had blood all over me. When I looked next to me, Aura was lifeless. I had ripped her heart from her chest, and it lay on the floor.

I broke that day. I had killed her and our child. True to Hadeon’s word, he took my soul and my pain. He took every part of me and Cain. With Hadeon’s help, I made it look like Aura was attacked and killed by any enemy pack. We attacked and destroyed that pack and my reign of terror started. I couldn’t feel anything, and I only had Hadeon pushing me to destroy and gain more power. After all, that is what I had wanted.

I haven’t thought of or felt any of these thing since that day. Why do I feel them now? What did Kay do to me? What have I done to her? She is my child. What have I been to her?

“Stop your questions. You should know better than to question me, Seth.” Hadeon sounds weak in the back of my mind, and I’m almost relived he’s back. I know he’ll take this pain in my heart leaving me cold as before. Is that really what I want?

“Of course, you want me to take your pain,” Hadeon hisses slowly and the pain in me fades to the cold nothing I’m so use to.

“I need you to get that girl. I need her Seth. Get Kay back, so I can give you what you desire my friend.” Hadeon slithers through my mind. Yes, what I deserve. I should get what I deserve.