Neah”Breathe.” Raven mutters”I’m not dead am I” I snap “So I’m obviously breathing!” I stop in my tracks, realising how much of an ass I sounded.Looking over my shoulder, I see the hurt in her eyes. She was just trying to help.The darkness had a grip so tight on my heart that it was making it hard to think about those around me, unless it was my sons.”I’m sorry.” I mutter. Hoping she knew that I did truly mean my apology”It’s happening isn’t it? You are slipping.””I… I’m trying not to.”My eyes drift down to my fingers as I carefully feel over the tips. The growing claws had felt so bad and so good at the same time. Like a release of built up pressure. Is that how Salem felt?”You need to talk about it. Remember what Mallory said, you need to look at the bigger picture to see that there is more than what is happening in the moment. To make it all make sense.”I roll my eyes. Mallory and her theories. Though I have to admit, they were helping a little, even if I still didn’t trust her.”So tell me again what miss lookalike said.””Raven….”She cocks a brow and folds her arms. “She told me we share the same father.” I repeat again.”But you don’t believe that?””I believed Devon more than her. And look how that ended.””Bigger picture.” She mutters”No, I don’t believe it. I couldn’t feel her, I couldn’t sense her other than knowing what she is. It’s hard to explain.” sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Findηovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.”Try.” She smiles at me”With Jess, I could feel her presence. The same with Damien and…. Mallory. With the other bitten ones. I could feel their fear when they realised they couldn’t fight me and my orders. There was even a tiny bit of recognition from Salem, but her, there is nothing. She looked at me with those big brown puppy eyes but do you know what she reminded me of?”Raven shakes her head. “The way Trey used to look at me. It wasn’t even hate, it was more than that. It was like I was something he stood in and scraped off on the grass. And that’s exactly what I felt when she looked at me.” “What about your parents, what did she say?””She said something about our father choosing my mother over hers when he discovered he was mated. But it makes no sense as the one thing I do remember from my early years is that they loved each other so much.” “Like how Dane loves you?””More.” I mutter. I couldn’t describe it. I just remember the feeling. Or maybe it was because I was a kid and I was seeing what I wanted to see”So she’s older than you, but you are the Alpha?”I nod, “I don’t think she is much older. Dane thinks the Alpha blood comes through on my mothers side. But they didn’t care enough to tell me that before they died. Before I was set up.” I hear the spite in my words and close my eyes, taking in a deep breath. ‘We were set up.’ Nyx adds quietly. She still wasn’t sure what to think of this Blair woman either and I was glad she was keeping her thoughts to herself.”Why did you start shifting?” Raven presses as she pulls her hair up into a bun. She was trying to make the conversation as casual as if we were talking about movies. But I was starting to see that she was testing me. Trying to find a trigger point. “I didn’t know, not straight away. Dane was aware of it before I was.”The claws had retracted the moment she walked away. Dane had made Klaus follow her. And then informed everyone that if I turn up at the gates or anywhere along the boundary line, to check the eyes. If they were anything other than blue, they had to call him in. “Raven, what if I’m supposed to let this darkness take over me?”Her dark eyes are wide as she thinks of an answer, but all she could come up with is ‘I don’t believe that.'”Damien came back from that place.” She adds with a small smile. I knew she secretly worried about him slipping back, every single day. Even when she didn’t talk about it, I knew because Damien would appear a few minutes later. Enveloping her in his arms without saying a single word.”But the others didn’t.” I wasn’t trying to find a reason to turn, but to understand that it could be my future. I would rather be prepared.She puffs out her cheeks, she doesn’t have an answer and I turn the conversation back to what happened with Blair.”I think it’s because she mentioned the twins. I think that’s what prompted the shifting.””Nyx?”‘Not me.’ Nyx murmurs. ‘It was all you.’I shake my head and slump into the large armchair.”Ah, so you went mama Lycan on her.”That is a horrible term. “I probably would have killed her if Dane hadn’t stopped me.”