Page 36 of Framed and Forgotten
I had been ignoring her, but at last, I’d had enough.“Are you content lying around all day, whining for our mate while he enjoys playing family with his ex-wife?”I snarled, catching her attention.“He abandoned us, Kea. Again.”I faced the truth.
“He hasn’t!”she argued.“Mate didn’t cheat. He didn’t try to break our bond. He will come back.”Despite her confidence, she still whimpered.
I hated seeing her like that.
“Goddess, Kea, listen to yourself! I barely recognize you anymore,”I accused, more saddened than angry.
My wolf used to be the epitome of strength. Back when we returned to Whispering Hills, she was the one who had urged me not to return to Koen. She fought the bond, defending our own empowerment. She hated the idea of succumbing to her feelings. I never expected her to become so frail and shattered.
“I don’t wanna lose mate again.”She sniffed.
Her words reached my heart, making it skip a beat. Was I ready to lose Koen? Something screamed at me not to give up on him so easily. Not without getting the story straight first. Not until he looked me in the eye and told me it was over.
But the fear of waiting around and finding out scared me more. If our love were to end, I had to make sure I wouldn’t be left destroyed a second time.
“We won’t lose him,”I countered, though it seemed more aimed at convincing myself than her.“I just want him out of my mind until we can figure everything out.”
It appeared I was succeeding in getting my point across to her, because she stayed silent, listening. I made up my mind.“Right now, we need to remember what our priorityis: protecting our pack. We can’t do that if we’re not thinking clearly.”
Once I had calmed my wolf, I sat cross-legged in the center of the circle on my bedroom floor, grimoire open on my lap. I skimmed the pages intently, though hurriedly. It was only a matter of time before Theo and Elijah told Rhea about my plans. They might not be able to stop me because of the alpha command, but she definitely could.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long before a title caught my eye -Emotion Manipulation.Although it was typically used to force someone into falling in love, it worked by altering the affected person’s memory of the caster. If I focused on locking away my most recent interactions with Koen, blocking out all of our arguments, perhaps the pain of his absence wouldn’t consume me entirely.
“Okay,” I breathed out to prepare myself, trying to push away my nervousness.
After reading the spell a dozen times, I managed to memorize it. I closed my eyes, focusing on my inner magic. Even with my eyelids shut, I could feel the shadows in my room growing and surrounding as I began chanting the words, evidence that it was working. My voice became louder and louder as I felt energy surging through me.
Then, an excruciating headache hit me.
The sound of my own screams shook the walls, ricocheting in my ears. Fuck, was it supposed to hurt this bad? Memories flashed before my eyes, Koen flooding my thoughts as tears streamed down my face - I couldn’t tell if it was from the agony of his neglect or the spell hammering my mind.
I had been caught in the riptide of my memories blurring along with my thoughts. I lost track of time. As if my brain were being fried, I briefly forgot where I was. Who I was. What I was doing. Everything swirled, leaving me dizzy..
The moment my eyes shot open, my heart lurched. For a disorienting moment, nothing made sense. As my vision started coming back into focus, I looked around to find candles burning around a circle of ash. What was all of this for? I touched my forehead, grunting. Why was I so slow? It felt like I had fallen asleep while doing…something. What was it?
And why was there a grimoire on my lap?
I had no time to come back to my senses before my door was blasted down with a loud bang. Rhea flew in, Theo and Elijah standing carefully behind her. They all looked worried.
“There must be a problem,”Kea assumed, her ears perking up in alertness as she urged me,“Don’t just sit there! Our team needs us!”But I was still too confused to listen to her.
“Alpha, stop!” my delta shouted.
I arched an eyebrow at her. “Stop what?” Then, my gaze shifted to my friends. “What’s gotten into you? Why are you in such a hurry? And what was that for?” I pointed at my fallen door. The more I tried to think, the harder my head throbbed. “Shit, why do I feel like I’m forgetting something I really should remember?”
As if my words had triggered something, all three of them widened their eyes. Damn it, what was up with them? Annoyed, I finally decided to do as my wolf said, putting the book aside and dusting off my lap before rising to my feet.
“Have y’all seen a ghost?” I scoffed, awaiting answers regarding their strange behavior.
As if providing confirmation for my question, Elijah’s eyes widened with horror. “Avril, your…your mark,” he said, his voice barely audible.
“My mark?” I repeated, scrunching my brows. Stretching out my arm, I took a look at the tattoo-like mark etched into my skin. It looked exactly the same as it always had. Glancing back at my gamma, I asked, “What about it?”
He shook his head. “No, your…” His words trailed off as soon as he touched the base of his neck.
Fuck, why were they acting so weird out of the blue? What did I miss?
When my beta stepped closer carefully, I truly hoped he would offer some sort of clarification. Instead, all he did was shoot another question at me. “Avril, you really can’t remember?”
