F I F T Y - F O U R

NIX

"Your mother made her choice" Tÿr said, his emotionless voice angering me even further "And unfortunately, she didn't love you both enough to choose you."

My sister's muted sob had me seething more than I already was.

"You're a filthy fucking liar" I snarled at him "You killed her because you knew she'd always be the true Fenrir heir and as long as she lived, the Elders would always take her word before your own."

"Her betrayal killed her..."

"YOU KILLED HER!" I roared "THERE'S NO DENYING THE TRUTH! YOU KILLED THE ONE PERSON THAT LOVED YOU MORE THAN ANYTHING..."

"SHE NEVER FUCKING LOVED ME!" He reeled forward and dug his claws into my abdomen, lifting them upwards and twisting them in such a way that I physically felt my liver shredding inside of my body "SHE LOVED THAT LUPINE PRICK MORE THAN SHE EVER LOVED ME!"

A small grunt left my lips at the pain, my sister gasping in horror as she lurched forward to try to remove his claws from me.

He slap her across the face with a second thought, her body hitting the damp ground with a resounding thump that had my heart stopping.

"She loved him from the very beginning, even before she knew what love was" he sneered down at me, fury pulsing through his eyes "I could see it in her eyes, the way she would light up whenever he walked into a room. She never looked at me like that, even after I gave her two pathetic excuses for children."

"It's hard to love an abusive asshole" I sneered right back at him "I bet it was hard to love a narcissist she knew loved her title more than he ever loved his family."

"Your mother was lot of things" He gripped my face, his claws shredding through my skin "But a Martyr was not one of them. Don't memorialize a woman who didn't even want to protect her own flesh and blood."

With those final words, both the creature and Tÿr vanished.

My heart started pounding as a familiar sensation darted through my body.

Fear, a feeling I haven't felt in a long time, course through my heart as I scrambled over to my baby sister.

If he was playing the game I thought he was playing, we would only have a few moments before the ambushes started to come.

And I honestly didn't know how many more of those creatures Tÿr was able to control, let alone what other monsters he had up his sleeve.

"Sphinx," I cooed at my sister, wincing in pain as I saw the red blooming handprint he left behind on her face.

It was going to leave a bruise, a physical reminder of what our father did to her on this day.

"Sphinx..." I gently sat her up as much as I could "Inx, I need you to wake up for me."

Her small whimpered groan equally pained me as it did assured me that she was still alive and breathing.

"Nix," she whispered, her eyes still closed "Please tell me that this was all a nightmare...that I'm still back at school and away from that monster."

"I'm sorry," I gripped her hand tightly in my own "I'm so fucking sorry I let him get to you Sphinx...I'm so fucking sorry I couldn't protect you more baby sister."

Her eyes blinked open as she regained her barrings of our situation.

"Where'd he go?"

"He's still here" I said, backing away slightly as she sat up "It's all part of his sick game."

"What game?"

I inhaled "A game he likes to play to remind me that he'll always find away to get what he wants."

"And what does he want?"

I looked at her then, and knew without a doubt that my next words would not come as a shock to her if the knowing look in her eyes was anything to go by.

"He wants us dead" I said "Now that he has this newfound power, whatever the fuck it is, he doesn't want us to try and take it from him. He doesn't want us to take his title."

"I take it by the way you're acting, you've been in a situation like this before?"

I looked away, my jaw clenching as I nodded.

The hiss of skin on metal pulled my attention back to her, I attempted to shoo her away, not wanting anymore damage to come to her, when she suddenly gripped my hands.

"How long?"

"What?"

"How long has he been doing this to you?" she demanded to know, anger lighting up those blue eyes of hers "How long has this torture been going on?"

"As soon as I get these chains off of me, I'll create a distractions that should draw attention my way" I ignored her questions "Once that happens, I want you to find a way out and run as fast and far away from Crescent Academy as you can. Don't go back to school and certainly don't go to one of our Estates. I've left a envelope for you..."

She was careful to avoid the gashes on my face as she griped it, stopping me mid-rant.

"How long Phoenix..." She demanded, her eyes dark "I want to know how long he's been doing this to you."

"It doesn't matter Sphinx" I said firmly "What's done is done. I'm really just focused on getting you out of here in one peace."

"It matters to me Phoenix" She said, a calculating glint in her eyes "Because when I kill him, I want to know how long I'm going to torture him before ending his pathetic excuse of a life."

I stilled at the absolute venom behind her words...at the cruelness I've never experienced from my sweet and fun loving baby sister.

I often joked that she was made from butterflies and sunshine with the constant exuberance that  exuded from her on a daily basis, the entire reason for my existence being to protect that innocence of her, that good in her that reminded me so much like our mom.

So to hear here say something like that, and to watch as the darkness that is our father slowly start to taint her innocent soul made me feel like a fucking failure.

'Promise me you'll always take care of your sister Phoenix' My mother smiled softly down at me as she ran a hand through my hair, her blue eyes turning back towards my sister as her little chunky toddler legs wobbled around our yard, chasing a butterfly 'Promise me that when I'm gone, you'll always look out for her...That you'll always protect her from the bad things of this world..."

I failed my Mom...

I failed my Sister...

And I fucking failed my Mate too...

All the women in my life have suffered because of my failure.

I was snapped out of my inner toil when the building started shaking...no it was rumbling and groaning.

This was...new.

Which had me thinking that whatever was coming our way was really bad.

"Break my right hand" I told my sister suddenly which had her snapping her attention to me.

"What?"

"Break my right hand" I repeated "It's my non-dominant hand and I think there's enough room for me to squeeze it through the chains."

"Are you out of your mind?" she squawked at me "Those wounds of yours are barely healing as it is and if I break your hand, you'll only have one left. How is that going to help us get out of here?"

"It'll give us a chance Inx" I said, yanking on my chains "I didn't want it to come down to this option but it's the only one we got left. Like you said, my wounds are barely healing and I'm bleeding out. It's better to try and escape than just wait here like sitting ducks and let those fucking things kill us."

"But..."

There was no more time for hesitation.

"BREAK MY FUCKING HAND SPHINX BASTET!" I ordered "BREAK IT RIGHT FUCKING NOW!"

Her eyes glowed as her wolf struggled with an Alpha Heirs demands.

While she was an Heir in her own right, my sister's wolf was nowhere as powerful as mine, being as my wolf is older and more dominant than hers.

"I hate you brother" My sister growled out, her wolf following through with them command even though the human part of her didn't want to "I'll never forgive you Phoenix!"

I muffled my howl of pain as all twenty-seven bones in my hand crunched under her fingers.

Before I could think, she yanked on the chain and my broken hand immediately spilled through the opening.

"Thank worked" She snarked at me "But how are we going to get all the other chains off you?"

"We're not."

"What?" Her head reared back "What do you mean?"

"It took me a second to recognize this place" I said "Either because he's blocking my senses somehow or because I've never been in this area before but when the earth shook, I smelt a familiar smell that could only be associated with one place."

"Where?"

"The Coliseum" I said, using my free arm, momentum, and a little physics to move in a way that had the chains snapping from their hooks around my ankles. I pulled a little more and the chain around my left hand snapped as well "He's brought me back to where it all started."

"Here?" Her eyes brightened when I was finally free of my restraints "Why here?"

I ushered her down the hall, cursing when I realized I walked us into a dead end.

"My first kill was here" I told her, winching when she inhaled a sharp breath "The sick fuck is giving me his version of a poetic justice."

"How old were you?"

I kept silent.

"Nix please" She gripped my arm "I need to know."

"Why?" I shot back, gripping her wrist and pulling her down the hall faster "Like I said before, it doesn't matter when it started. All that matters is that you were safe from him after mom died."

Her face paling made me realize my mistake too late.

"Twenty years?" she whispered, her eyes darting back and forth as she did the mental math "You must have been what? Six? Seven?"

Horror lined her tone which had me coming to a stop, even though that was the last thing I wanted to do when I knew we were being hunted.

"Okay yes" I gripped her shoulders "He started when I was six and a half and hasn't let up a day since then. It got better when I came here though, he couldn't summon me as much nor could he explain to the others why his Heir was coming up with unexplained cuts and bruises. I did what needed to be done in order to protect you. You heard him, he really only ever needed one of us and I wasn't even going to let you experience what I did."

"Why didn't he just kill me then?" she whispered "It seems like it would have turned out better for you if I wasn't in the picture."

"No," I barked at her as my anger flared and I gently shook her "You do not get to say that. You do not get to fall into that pit right now. Not now and not ever. I have never regret that choice. I will never regret that choice."

"What stopped him from killing me?" she looked at me, her jaw clenched "Why didn't he?"

"Because I threatened that if he so much as laid a single finger on your head, he'd lose both his heirs" I said simply "When he decided to test that theory and found out I wasn't bluffing, he backed off."

The earth roared again as foot steps sounded behind us.

I felt my sistered stiffen as I urged her to run.

She halted me once more, her eyes wide.

"Wait" she grabbed my wrist "I have to tell you something."

"Now?" I barked as the footsteps got closer "It can't wait?"

"No," she shook her head "Because if that is who I think it is behind me, they won't hesitate to attack first and ask questions later. They don't know I have a brother."

I reared my head back "Do they not know who you are?"

She bit her lip and shook her head "They aren't from our community."

I narrowed my eyes "What aren't you telling me?"

My sister opened her mouth to say something but instead let out a squeak as arms enveloped her waist from the darkness.

I went to lurch forward and grab her when a cold blade was pressed against my neck, nicking my  jaw.

"How dare you come into my home and steal our Mate" the Dark voice hissed in my ear "That is considered a crime in my homeland, punishable by death."

The blade pressed harder against my neck and I had no doubt that the stranger behind me was seconds away from slitting my throat open.

"MIHAI!" My sister screamed "HE'S MY BROTHER!"

~~~~~~~~

WOLFIES...

TWO MORE CHAPTERS LEFT BEFORE OUR STORY ENDS!!!

WILL WE SEE NOVA AGAIN?

WHAT ABOUT KASSIAN AND PHOENIX?

AND WHERE THE HECK IS ATLAS?

CAN YOU GUESS WHAT'LL HAPPEN NEXT?

EEP! I'M SO EXCITED FOR YOU TO READ WHAT HAPPENS NEXT AND I PROMISE YOU, YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!