Dart brought Camelia back home to her mother after she collapsed in front of him. Mrs Bishop's joy knew no bounds upon seeing her daughter. She hadn't slept since the previous day after Camelia was taken away. Dart wanted to stay till she woke up, but he had to leave for patrol.
When she finally regained consciousness, it was getting dark outside. Camelia slowly sat up on her bed, her brows squeezing as a headache hit her.
"You're awake," Mrs Bishop said with relief, as she stood up from the chair she was sitting on and walked over to the bed to hold her daughter.
"M–Mom," Camelia said, her voice hoarse.
"I was so worried," she sobbed, hugging Camelia tightly. "Heavens, I thought they had killed you and simply wouldn't tell me."
She kissed Camelia's forehead, before letting her go.
"Dart told me a Vampire took you." She cupped Camelia's cheek, examining her eyes. "I think you've caught a fever."
She stood up and left the room, returning again with a glass of water and a plate of soup. She helped Camelia in holding the glass as she drank the water, sip by sip, before placing the empty glass down by the bedside drawer along with the soup.
"How long have I been out?" Camelia asked her mother, her voice still cracked.
She looked down at her attire. She was now wearing a sweatshirt and a short. Her mother had taken the liberty to change her into fresh clothes while she was out.
"Just a few hours, dear," Mrs Bishop replied, brushing her hair behind her ear.
"Eat dear," she said, standing up. "I'm going out to get you some drugs for your fever."
Camelia looked up at her mother immediately panicking.
"You're leaving."
"I'll be quick, I promise." Mrs Bishop leaned down, planting a kiss on her head before leaving.
After her mother left, Camelia got down from the bed and walked into her bathroom. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, looking back at herself.
Turning on the faucet, she let the water run for a few seconds, before putting her palm under, scooping enough water and splashing it onto her face. She ran her wet fingers through her hair, examining her face. Her eyes felt hot and her skin was also burning.
She massaged her sour neck, flinching slightly as her cold fingers touched her skin. Then if finally hit her. Her back still felt fine.
Clutching the bottom ends of the sweatshirt, she pulled it up, turning around to examine her back through the mirror. And to her shock, there wasn't a single injury.
It was impossible to think that she had healed already. Her wolf was too weak to heal any of her injuries, not even the smaller ones.
She ran her fingers through her back, feeling the old scars, but stopped when her eyes caught something at the center of her back. She blinked a couple of times, thinking her mind was playing tricks on her due to her fever.
But it was there, there was a tattoo etched on her back. Her fingers brushed across the permanent ink that was now a part of her back.
'Did that Vampire do this,' was the first thought that crossed her mind.
Of course it was him. That could only explain her miraculous healing. He had feed her his blood. She dragged her cloth down, suddenly feeling the surge to puke. She dashed towards the sink, hurling her stomach out.
After throwing up for a few minutes, she finally felt a tad bit better. She rinsed out her mouth, before proceeding to strip off her clothes completely, to take a bath. She stared at her back one more time in the mirror, looking at the tattoo.
She suddenly felt like she had seen the design somewhere. It was a circle with three spirals in it. The memory finally hit her. It was the brand the creepy woman gave her in her dream.
A cold air seeped into her skin, causing her to shiver as she rubbed her arms. Were her dreams now affecting her in real life?
No that wasn't it, she tried assuring herself, that the Vampire was behind this. She was going to ask him why he tattooed her back. But how was she going to meet him again?
....
The Alpha's resident was visited by two from the Draven family, prior the summon they had received earlier that evening concerning the recent rogue attack fatality the pack suffered the previous day.
Ian already had a vague idea of what this meeting was about. He knew his family would bear the blunt of the blame for failing to keep their end of the bargain.
"Preposterous! How dare you speak to our Alpha with such disrespect!" Edgar said as he stood up in anger.
Ian remained calm in his seat, unfazed by the man's anger. Instead his eyes fell on the burning incense on the table. There were also quite a few around the house. He didn't understand the purpose for such incense, but the smell did not sit well with him.
"Seat back down councilman edger. My brother did not mean to be disrespectful," Lucas said, trying to calm the man down, or at least it would seem like he was.
The rogues had entered the pack through a secret entrance, Alpha Caden refused to give his family access to. So no he wasn't trying to reason with these fools, but it was his obligation to be diplomatic.
The man still looked enraged as he slowly took back his seat.
"Abominations," he cursed in a low mumble, but of course everyone in the room heard him.
"What my brother meant to say is that, if you had given us full access to monitor all and every entrance into your territory. You wouldn't have four people dead by now, including your healer." Lucas said, trying to make them understand their mistake.
"Now you're going to put the blame on us huh! When your bitch couldn't get her work done," Alpha Caden scoffed.
"Wasn't your wife suppose to be able to sense things like this, so how come we were invaded without her noticing," Alpha Caden continued in anger.
No response came from Lucas again, as his eyes turned dark. He was ready to take any insults thrown at him, but when it came to his wife. He would gladly rip out any fuckers tongue throwing insults at her.
"Speechless now are we?" Edgar said, with such arrogance in his voice.
Ian who was sitting next to his brother, could already sense his anger. His eyes fell on Lucas nail as they slowly elongated under the table. He made no move whatsoever to calm him.
He was already sick of this so called arrangement with these savage creatures and was this close to making a few of them his meal.
As if he hadn't said enough, Edgar continued. "Are you finally ready to accept –"
In one swift moment, all the lights in the house blow up, exploding all at once, leaving the house in almost complete darkness, except for the light near the table where they were conversing.