Armand
"I have to tell her. I have to, I just have to... I have to. I, I, I can't just sit back and do nothing, Jen. I have to talk to Abbie and tell her the truth. I have to talk to her," I repeated again and again, trying to convince myself that telling Abbie the truth about her real mom was the right thing.
"Matisa and Santiago will surely kill you if you tell Abbie the truth, Armand, and you know that."
" I can't keep being a coward. I have to stop hiding from them."
"I won't lose you again, Armand. I won't. I need you... Chloe needs you. What about us? If Santiago finds out, he will tell Matisa, and she will come for you. Please think about this."
"I've thought about this every day of my life. Ever since that little girl came to us, I have been thinking about her and who she belongs to. I betrayed my queen. I betrayed my alpha and her mate the minute I decided to help Matisa. The minute I agreed to take that little girl and torture her is the day I died." I said, nodding through tears.
"Please... just think about this some more. I won't be able to live without you." Jen says, lowering her head as she embraces me. I could feel her tears stain my shirt, and her body trembled from her sobs.
My heart was breaking so bad. A few years ago, when I thought it safe to send Abbie to go back to her mother, Matisa found out. She was not happy at all. She sent Santiago, her right hand after me. They made it seem like a rogue attack to cover their trails.
But let's be honest, Matisa doesn't only hate Elena for taking the crown; she has spent the last three hundred or so years trying to overthrow Elena, attacking her, using witches and rogues to cover her tracks.
If only Elena knew that her dear cousin was not such an innocent girl as she thought. She hates Elena and Elora because they are both gifted with wolves and the power of their witch bloodline. Matisa hates wolves with passion.
She didn't only make me betray my queen by hiding her niece, but she dared to betray me by sleeping with Santiago after I had done everything for her. She left me, rejecting our bond and leaving me with our daughter, who she believes is an abomination for being born with a wolf as well.
If she only knew how much Tara and her are so alike. They look so much alike, and sadly, Tara had the same wicked mind as her mother. I guess it's my fault, too. I should have never allowed Tara to become as hateful and sadistic as her mother. I regret ever letting her turn the way she did. Even then, the things Tara does are nowhere near as wicked as Matisa's doings.
Matisa has used her magic powers to harm people out of simple pleasures, and I fear that if she finds out I gave my dear sister the amulet years ago, she will be so mad. Santiago had no clue that the amulet they had long been looking for had been around Abbie's neck the whole time. When he brought her to me, I couldn't believe my eyes.
The amulet that could ultimately help Matisa overthrow Elena had been with Abbie throughout her childhood. It wasn't until Abbie disappeared that I thought I needed to get rid of the amulet in case Matisa came looking for me. And I wasn't wrong. It wasn't even a week after Abbie was gone when I received a visit from Santiago and his henchmen. They left me to die after brutally attacking me.
If it wasn't for my wolf, who sacrificed himself to save me, I would not be able to do what was right and tell Abbie that she is, in fact, Elora's daughter. I have to tell her, even if it means me dying in the end.
I sigh, hugging Jen tightly in my arms and placing a kiss on the top of her head. "I'm scared, Armand. Matisa will not have mercy on us when she finds out what you did. And she will not be happy to learn that Abbie is still alive." Jen says, hugging me tighter, burying her head in my chest.
"I know, baby. I know. But it's the right thing to do. Abbie found her amulet. I don't know how. I.. I have to talk to my sister; what if she found Abbie and gave it to her? That could be the reason why, right?"
"Wrong, dear father," Tara says as she barges into my home.
"What do you mean?"
"My dear mommy, Matisa found out about what you tried to do. She knows everything. And since you couldn't do things right, she contacted Taylor to help her. Apparently, she wants nothing to do with her bastard daughter because I have a wolf. And being that Taylor is too far gone into his drug habits, he can't shift for the life of him. Which makes him easily manipulated." Tara says, making my eyes widen in shock.
"What do you mean she knows everything?" I asked, feeling my heart leave my chest as I looked at her in shock.
"What I mean is that she sent witches disguised as rogues to kill your sister and steal the amulet. She knows everything. She found out where Aunt Fey lived and attacked the entire pack, Dad. They're gone... They're all gone. And so is the amulet." Tara says, making my eyes widen as I feel tears fill me.
"What?... no... Fey!" I whispered as my heart shattered into a million pieces.
Tara might be cruel at times and cold-hearted, but she's nothing but a stupid spoiled brat. She has fallen into Taylor's trap and I know she has made horrible decisions, but I know she still wants to do right. I know it... because she is not like her mother.
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Elora
"Did you feel that? Cali, tell me you felt that too?" I asked my wolf, allowing my tears to fall freely as I felt a great power surge. My heart raced at a million per second, making me feel uneasy.
"I did. I felt it," she answered with a whimper.
"I felt it, too. And so did Xiomara." my sister, Elena, said as she barged into my office, flinging the doors open.
"Was it her? It has to be my daughter. She found the amulet. Didn't she?" I asked with hopeful eyes. The anticipation ate at my soul.
"I... I don't know. But, it has to be," she said as she went to my bookcase, pulling back the book that opened my hidden safe room and began scavenging through my archives. She took an old scroll and unrolled it, tossing everything off my desk to make room for it as she extended it in front of me.
"Give me the black stardust. Quickly," she says, extending her arm. I quickly went next to my cupboard inside the room, rummaging through old bottles with ingredients and taking out a small dark purple vase, along with other items we would need.
I set them down by the old map, and she began taking the ingredients in her hand. We lit the candles and sprinkled ingredients on them.
She looks at me, and I look at her. We both take a breath. My hands are shaking, and I can't help but shed my tears.
"Ready?" She asks, looking at me with tearful eyes.
"Ready," I say as I let go of my breath shaking.
We begin to chant in a whisper tone in our ancestors' language and light the rest of the candles.
She grabs the stardust, and I take a lock of my baby's hair that I've held onto all these years, along with the tiny fragment of the amulet that was gifted to her by Elena.
I close my eyes as I set them down, and Elena begins to sprinkle the back dust on top of them.
"Please... find her. Find my baby. Find my daughter." I plead through my chanting. I can feel the magic, the wind swirls around us, making my hair and clothes flutter as my body fills with eagerness.
Elena gasps, squeezing my hands and making my eyes open.
"There. She's right there... we found her, Elora. We found our princess." She says as the stardust begins, creating a star around a certain point on our map.
My eyes widen in shock as I stare in awe at the map.
"Elena... this is King Arturo's kingdom. She's in Arturo's territory." I say, looking at her in shock, mimicking her shocked expression.
"Then I guess there's no other option, sister... we leave for Arturo's kingdom tonight. He has some answering to do."
"What if he's not aware of her existence there?" I asked, feeling my heart beating nervously.
"Then I guess he will have no choice but to help us find her. Don't touch the map. I must enchant it so we don't lose the coordinates." She says as she returns to my safe room, takes extra ingredients out, and does the necessary enchantment to keep the map from changing or damaging the coordinates of my daughter's whereabouts.
"What if she doesn't like me, Cali? What if... what if she doesn't believe me? What if she thinks I abandoned her?" I asked my wolf, making her whimper.
The closer it came to our departure, the more eager I became. I was so nervous that I didn't know what to pack. I had forgotten how to act for a second.
There's so much to do. I must ensure I look my best when I finally meet her. Will she like me? Will she look like me? Like her dad? My sister? Who will she look like the most?
Will she be a kind and generous girl like my sister? Will I find she is a humble girl? Did she have a good upbringing? How well did she get treated? So many questions are going through my head.
"Relax, Elora. She will love you. You're an outstanding leader; I'm sure she is, too. Or... she can learn to be.