Leilani.
I had told Darius off.
Yeah, and I had made sure I did it so straight forwardly that he would never be confused by my words or actions.
So imagine the shock I got when I arrived at my house later that evening only to find an extremely large bouquet of roses by my porch. With it was a note in the usual style that screamed ’Darius!’
—And heavens, as soon as my eyes landed on the unwanted objects, my anger flared.
I picked it up unceremoniously and didn’t even bother to check what was in the note this time around as I stomped over to the trash cans. I was panting like I had just run a marathon, fuming like I’d been told that my car had been smeared with poop. With a thump, the bouquet landed into the thrash can and I sighed, turning away from it, only to halt in my tracks when I noticed an old neighbor watching me intently.
She cocked her head to the side, her washed-blue eyes staring dreamily at the roses as she drawled; "That youngling has been consistent for a while now."
I frowned.
It took me a moment to understand what she was talking about and when I realized that she thought these roses were coming from a suitor that I wanted, my cheeks burned.
"No... no madam Cordelia!"
"You seem to not want him... why not tell him exactly that?"
Exactly!
I had told him exactly that but he doesn’t seem to care. However, when I briefly explained this to her, her eyes turned glossy. She sighed; "He, just like every other person, has seen how much of a special gem you are."
A special gem?
A special gem? Me?
I wanted to ask her what she meant by this when suddenly she turned around and went into her house, her walking stick hitting the floor with a click-clack sound with each step that she took.
I stood there for a while watching her leave and it wasn’t until she was gone that I finally let out the air I’d been holding.
She had called me special... but it wasn’t the words that stuck out to me. It was the look in her eyes. It was the way it seemed as though she could see into my very soul.
But... but... isn’t she supposed to be a human?
Isn’t she supposed to be the eccentric old woman that everyone avoids and just waves past?
Discarding these thoughts, I turned away and went into my own house, blissfully forgetting all about Darius and his annoying flowers.
But as soon as I stepped into my house, my body jerked in a way that I found weird. Sweat poured out of my glands, soaking through my shirt. But do you know what was worse? The wracking headache that tore through my skull. The pain that was lancing through my spine as if threatening to break me into two.
A stifled cry left my lips as I crashed to the floor, and as tears streamed down my face, I realized then and there that it was my wolf. The stupid wench that doesn’t inform me before she shows up!
But for some reason today, the pain was too much.
It was burning right through me.
My body shook so much, I could barely hold myself together and as the seconds passed, my cries soon turned to screams... screams of agony.
But nothing was happening.
I wasn’t shifting. I couldn’t shift. My vision was getting blurry and the strange strength coursing through my veins was too much, I feared it would burst right through my skin.
In a moment of desperation, I immediately shut my door and sent a quick text to Maya, but that was the last thing I could remember doing before the world closed off on me. Before I was thrown into a very dark abyss and my heartbeat came to a stuttering stop.
I struggled to stay awake... I struggled not to sink into this bliss this silence promised but as my eyes fluttered shut and my body jerked wildly, I knew then and there that I couldn’t fight it.
I wasn’t strong enough...
And then, the world went dark.
When I woke up later, I was surprised to find myself laying down on my couch. My hair was a mess, my clothes were ripped in places that would make one think I had been attacked by rogues.
My throat felt patched and my skin was bruised in places I knew I had scratched too hard.
Tears fell freely from my eyes as I struggled to sit up and due to the agonizing pain tearing through my body, that seemed as possible as spreading my wings and flying.

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