Gray Valley

f i f t y - e i g h t

"TRYING TO SAVE THE BROWN WOLF MUTT?" Mary let out a cold laugh. "Unfortunately for you, Blayze Walker, he's beyond saving."

"What d-do you mean?"

"By the time you attempt to save him, he would have began to lose his memories." Blayze watched in horror as her hand morphed into a claw. "He will be driven insane while turning back to a human..."

"Don't..."

Her silver eyes fixated on me.

"Wes."

I felt my mark burn at the sound of the name she had given me; the name that I would loathe forever.

"Don't you dare touch him," I growled.

"Who do you mean by him?" Mary slammed her foot into Bryan's body."You're mutt friend... Or your Soulmate?"

"You know."

"You lost most of your memories and knew next to nothing about our world... It should've been impossible, yet you knew all about the Soulmate Curse..." Her voice trailed off. "But then, I found out that you had met Blayze the day before. And I realised that the only way she could have known, was if she had asked Luna about it."

"I-"

"After all... You have a mind link with her, don't you?"

"She doesn't." Liam's voice was filled with venom. "If she did, she would have told me about-"

"And you're sure?"

Even though I wasn't trying to hide anything from Liam, I hadn't told him about my bond with Luna.

And there was nothing I regrretted more.

"Lyn wouldn't hide anything from me."

"Is that so?" Her eyes glinted with amusement. "I thought you told him."

Liam glanced at me. "What is she talking about?"

My silence was enough of an answer.

"Lyn..."

I didn't need to see his face to know how he felt. His voice was enough for me realise that he wasn't angry with me...

He was broken.

"Liam..."

And I didn't know how to mend him.

"He doesn't want to hear what you have to say, Wes." Mary paused. "And you understand, don't you? You understand how your mistake is hurting him... You should've told him when you found out."

"How did you find out?" My voice was so quiet; she wouldn't have heard me if she weren't a Gray Wolf.

"Have you heard of et promssione tua?"

"They're the words that appeared when West summoned Luna," I murmured. "Make thy promise."

"The Angel will only accept a promise that is worthy," she told me. "And any promise that causes death is unworthy... Except for self-sacrifice." Mary glanced at me. "When a Gray Wolf gives up their life, Luna protects their loved one from death."

I took a sharp intake of breath. She knew...

"This forms a bond of protection," she went on. "A bond that resembles the Soulmate Bond in many ways... Including the mind link."

She knew that I couldn't be killed. She knew that Angel Luna protected me... And that could only mean one thing.

8 years ago, on the night my father died...

"You tried to kill me."

When Mary attacked me, after returning to Gray Valley, her venom had barely any effect on me... But it wasn't because the venom in my bloodstream was insufficient.

Her venom was a part of my blood. And, because of that, my body had already built resistance to it.

"It took you long enough, Wes."

I didn't know how to respond.

"And maybe now..." Her voice trailed off. "You'll understand why I hate you so much."

Why... Why did Mary despise me so much?

"What did I ever do to you?"

"I had to leave Gray Valley... I had to leave West because of you." She was standing dangerously close to me. "Because you survived that attack."

Within an instant, I felt her hand tighten around my neck like a vice claw.

No...

"That's enough, Mary."