Chapter 288

Why wasn’t I dying yet?

Selena had died at the Luna’s hands. The prophecy foretold that one twin must not live without the

other… But I felt fine. Selena was dead, and I was still standing. I looked up at Enzo, who looked back

down at me with an equal amount of surprise, confusion, and joy.

Suddenly, I heard a booming voice thundering across the battlefield.

“Where is my daughter?!” a loud, male voice called. I whipped around to see none other than the Alpha

King staggering through the doorway of the mansion. He leaned his hand against the doorframe, and

as his eyes scanned the scene before him, his face became wrought with worry. His eyes then flickered

down to see his dead daughter, Selena, laying on the steps with a gaping hole in her chest.

The Alpha King let out a wild yell and rushed down the steps, falling to his knees beside his daughter.

He didn’t even care to look in the Luna’s direction; he knew what she had done. Now that he had been

freed from her spell, there was no doubt that he remembered everything. All of her manipulation, her

evil deeds, her murders.

Slowly, the Alpha King then looked up at me and Enzo. His eyes flickered with recognition and he

stood, walking over to me. As he did, I felt my heart catch in my throat. Would he blame me for this?

Did he even remember me from the last time that I saw him, or did the Luna’s spell wipe it out of his

memory?

For a long time, we just stared at each other. The air fell silent. Everything else fell away, leaving

nothing but the two of us staring into each other’s eyes.

“Nina,” he whispered. “Is that you? You’re alive?”

I slowly nodded my head. All at once, the Alpha King threw his arms around me and pulled me in

tightly. “All these years,” he said, “I thought that the Crescents had killed you… But you were alive. Yes,

I remember now… I remember you coming into my throne room, not long ago…”

“The Luna had you under a spell,” I said through my tears. “You didn’t recognize me. You didn’t

recognize anyone.”

The Alpha King froze, then slowly looked down at his dead wife. He didn’t seem sad in the slightest. In

fact, he just seemed free. “Ah, yes,” he said, taking a step back. “She did have me under a spell. She

had all of us under a spell. And Selena…” He looked over at Selena’s body. Luke had begun covering it

with his jacket, but looked up when he noticed the Alpha King staring at him, and froze. “My wife did

this, didn’t she?”

I nodded. No more words would come out, but the Alpha King — my father — knew what I was going to

ask.

“You won’t die,” he said, his voice low and even-toned.

My eyes widened. “But the prophecy…”

“The prophecy is poppycock,” he said. “Just before you were taken, your mother put a protection charm

on both of you. She knew that the Crescents were going to come; she had seen it in her visions. The

prophecy was fabricated to keep you safe.”

Suddenly, I felt a massive weight lift off of my chest. And then… Everything began to go dark. My

knees buckled beneath me, and the last thing I felt was the feeling of Enzo’s arms catching me.

…

I woke up at some point later in a soft bed. The room was dimly lit with a fire crackling in a nearby

fireplace. I tried to sit up, but felt a hand on my shoulder pushing me back down.

“It’s alright,” Enzo said gently. “Just rest.”

“What happened?” I croaked through my dry, cracked throat. “Last I remember…”

“You passed out.” Enzo reached over to the side table and picked up a glass of water. He held it to my

lips and I drank, relishing in the feeling of the cold liquid moistening my sore throat. “The battle took a

lot out of you. It’s okay, though.”

“Where is everyone?” I asked. “Lori, Jessica, Luke, Matt…”

“They went home yesterday,” Enzo replied. “To Mountainview, with the recruits and some of your dad’s

men. The Crescents tried to attack the town, but failed once the Luna’s rogues suddenly dropped dead.

They retreated.”

I sat up suddenly, ignoring Enzo’s hand this time. “Y-Yesterday?” I asked. “How long have I been

asleep?”

Enzo looked at his watch. “Two days.” My eyes widened, but he just chuckled. “It’s fine. Your wolf must

have put you into a bit of a coma. Everything that happened was just too much for your brain and your

body to handle, so your wolf did what was best. You didn’t miss much; I promise.”

I sat there for a few moments in a state of shock. In the darkness, I saw Enzo stand up from the chair

he was sitting in next to the bed and come around to the other side. He climbed onto the bed with me

and pulled me close, pressing his lips gently against mine before leaning my head into his chest.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t trust your intuition about Selena,” he whispered. “She did right by us in the end.

You were right when you said that she had changed.”

My mind was still foggy, but I remembered holding Selena’s dead body. The Luna had bored a hole in

her chest just after Selena stabbed her in the back. She died for us, for the whole of humanity. I could

never repay her for it. As I thought about her, I felt tears begin to stream down my cheeks. Enzo,

seeing this, kissed them away gently and smiled at me.

“Everything is okay now,” he said quietly. “You’re safe. Everyone is safe.”

Enzo’s words made me smile a bit, but I knew that they weren’t entirely true. The Crescents were still

out there. Lewis still hadn’t been taken care of yet. Even people who I hadn’t thought about for some

time, like James, were still out there somewhere with a lust for my blood. But Enzo was right, to a

certain degree; the main threat was gone now, and my father had been released from his decade-long

spell. With his help, we could take care of the Crescents and restore peace.

A few minutes later, I heard a soft knock on the door. The door cracked open, and I saw my father’s

head poke in.

“Nina?” he said quietly, smiling when he saw that I was sitting up. I waved him in, and he walked into

the room. Now that he wasn’t under the Luna’s spell, I could see that he was large and muscular, and

looked strong and healthy. He no longer looked sick and frail.

“Hi… dad,” I whispered. It felt strange to call him dad, but it also felt right. All my life, I had been without

him. And now we were reunited, albeit under sad circumstances.

My father smiled and walked over to me. Enzo, who was still sitting on the bed beside me, instinctively

tightened his grip on my hand for a moment; I knew that he wasn’t actually threatened by my father, but

after everything that had happened, he was no doubt wary of everyone. My father, seeing this, took a

step back to give us some space.

“When you’re feeling well enough, I’d like for us to talk,” my father said. “We have a lot to catch up on.