Unknown POV

A year of watching from the shadows.

I watched them from afar, biding my time and picking the perfect opportunity. My wife is dead because of these monsters. To beat a monster, you have to become one yourself. They thought they could kill me off, that I would roll over and die. Ha! Joke's on them.

Thaddeus, the Dark King, whom everyone fears, will now fear me. They may think they are safe, that Thaddeus is a renewed man. But I know he is truly nothing but a monster, and soon, the entire world will learn I am far greater than he, for I am now the perfect predator and I will soon have control of the world.

I will have the control he had for so long, reigning nothing but terror. Oh, how I have longed for this moment, dreamed about it for so long, and now, everything has been set in motion. I am finally here, organized and ready to destroy the man who destroyed me.

Sitting on the mountain, I watch his entire family gather for a birthday party, happily enjoying each other's company as they all laugh and celebrate. My plan is going perfectly as I watch from my position. I can’t wait to see the anguish on his face when I take the most important things from him like he did to me, to watch him squirm in his grief.

“Everything is set, my love,” my new wife says as she sits down next to me on the mountain top.

I watch her flick her dirty blonde hair over her shoulder as she grabs the binoculars. I’m not stupid; I know she only wants me for what I can give

her. She is using me for her chance at immortality. Little does she know, she is merely a pawn.

I have never loved this woman, no one could ever replace my Giselle, but I can avenge her, can hurt Thaddeus like he hurt me, take his whore from him, and everything else.

“What now?” Laura asks, making me look at her.

She is gorgeous for a blonde; I don’t like blondes, prefer brunettes, but she keeps my balls empty and keeps me company. She is loyal, even though I know she truly doesn’t want me, nor did I want her, a perfect arrangement. Once I get bored of her, she will become dinner.

“Now we watch the fireworks,” I tell her as I pull the device from my pocket. I stare at the control in my hand. The little red light blinks quickly, urging me to press the button that will destroy their lives.

Looking at the house, I watch the women go inside, his heavily pregnant mate waddling into the house after a blonde-haired woman.

I smile, my opportunity has arrived, and I am in the perfect position to witness it all, a front-row seat to their pain. This will always be my most cherished memory of watching the destruction I am about to inflict. Watching as I destroy the men, who destroyed me. Life for a life. Looking down at the device in my hand, I flick the switch and press the grey button.

“Let the fireworks begin,” I tell Laura, with a smile on my lips as my thumb releases the button.

Evelyn POV

On our daughter's first birthday. This is the one day we have managed to get everyone, except Bianca and Lana - she has had trouble adjusting to being a vampire. I have struggled, especially while being pregnant. My appetite is extreme, and I sometimes fear it; though Thaddeus and Ryland are always quick to jump in when I struggle. The worst part is having a child who is a tribrid - her blood calls to me strongest because I can smell how pure it is.

I would never feed off her, but the urge to do it sometimes scares me. I can smell her magic, almost taste its purity. They always keep close, though, someone is always home with me to help, and when I am at work, I have Imogen to stop me from feeding on our customers.

The back freezer is always stocked with blood bags, and I have only slipped a few times, but never actually hurt anyone, though the urge to has been strong at times.

Being pregnant with our second child is harder, though, his magic bleeds into me the further along I get.

Caroline, Imogen, Amara, and I have just walked inside, getting ready to bring out the food and set the table. I can see Ryland and Orion busily cooking at the barbecue. My daughter plays with Josiah as she shows him her robotic dog Amara got her.

Moving around the kitchen, I grab the salad I made earlier from the fridge and place it on the counter while Caroline retrieves a few other bowls of prepared food to take to the table. Amara happily talks away to her mother while they grab plates and cutlery. Imogen walks outside, placing the plates on the table. I laugh as I watch her smack her daughter up the back of the head and know Amara said something to annoy her mother.

“Not a serious bone in that girl's body,” Caroline comments behind me, also looking out the kitchen window. I chuckle, turning to grab the salad bowl I have placed down along with a tray of deviled eggs. Then, I walk through the kitchen, following Caroline towards the back door and try to maneuver my stomach around the table, and not drop what is in my hands.

Ryland walks in, grabs the tray from my hands, and pecks me on the lips. “Tea towels?” Ryland asks.

“I will grab them,” I tell him, and he turns back around, walking out the door with the tray.

I make my way back into the kitchen and grab a tea towel from the drawer. Turning around, I feel this wave of heat and a force knock me backward into the sink; something hits me hard. The loud noise of an explosion makes my ears ring before all I see is darkness. I hear everyone's frantic screaming from outside, which pulls me out of the daze I am in. Pain radiates throughout my body, yet I can’t see a thing through the smoke and can’t move as I am pinned. I cough on the smoke and dust as I try to figure out what just happened, trying to see through the dark cloud of smoke that surrounds me.

My skin is burning so hot it is blistering, and I can see the flicker of flames coming from the living room. Something has exploded, light filters in, and I notice the roof has been torn off, the wall across from me is gone. I cough again and feel something warm and wet dribble down my chin.

“Help!” I try to say, but the sound that leaves my lips is gurgled as I choke on my blood. My ears ring loudly, and the dust burns my eyes as it begins to settle. I try to move, and I can hear everyone trying to get to me. The roof collapsed where the door leading outside is.

My eyes flutter as I fight the urge to pass out. Why can’t I move? I feel my legs wobble underneath me.

“Evie?” I hear Thaddeus and Ryland scream, their voices reach my ears, and I feel my bump, checking if my son is okay. When I press my hands to my stomach, it doesn’t feel right; my hands are drenched in my blood. Then, I feel something hard and wooden embedded in my stomach.

Forcing myself to look down, I find the wooden table leg has blown apart, the wooden leg has gone straight through the center of my stomach where my son is and into the kitchen bench, pinning me in place.

I hear a crash, the roof caves in completely as Thaddeus barges through the outside wall towards me. “Evelyn?” I heard him call out, but all I can do is look at the wood embedded where my growing bump was, where my son was.

As soon as I felt the wood, I knew it was my baby, my son. I know my son is dead. I can feel my tears roll down my cheeks and onto my chest as I clutch the wooden table leg in my hands. My feet and pants become saturated with my blood and then, I hear a gasp. I look up in shock to see Ryland and Thaddeus' horrified expressions as they push through the rubble toward me.

“I don’t understand.” I try to figure out what has gone wrong; everything was fine only a few moments ago. I feel my grip on the wood slip, my legs go out from underneath me as I slip on my blood and darkness consumes me. The last thing I remember is hearing someone scream, the sound so guttural and heart-wrenching, filled with sorrow. Then, I only see darkness and nothingness as I am thrown into oblivion.

Ryland POV

One minute everything is fine, and everyone is having a good time, flipping the steaks on the barbecue; I wait for Evelyn to bring

out the tea towel I requested. I am about to walk back into the house to check on her when a shockwave blasts everyone away from the house.

None of us saw it coming; none of us expected this to happen. The windows of the house explode, sending shards of glass everywhere.

I can hear everyone screaming, smoke and flames everywhere. Sitting up from where I land next to the shed, I see smoke billowing out of the house. I hear my daughter scream her lungs out, and I look to Orion, who had her last time I checked.

I spot them near the car. Orion tries to calm her, but they seem okay and intact. Everyone picks themselves up off the ground when I feel Evelyn’s pain smash into me. Orion screams when I jump to my feet, remembering she is still in the house. Thaddeus screams her name as everyone runs toward the house. Thaddeus and I try to get in through the back door. The roof crushes inwards as we try to push our way in. Her pain gets stronger until she goes numb, and I feel shock wash over her.

Thaddeus walks back a few steps, and I manage to jump out of the way just as he uses his body to crash straight through the side of the house. Smoke and dust billows out of the hole he has just made. We both force our way through the rubble, trying to make our way through to what is left of the kitchen. The fridge blocks the doorway to the laundry, and Thaddeus kicks it with so much force the roof caves in on top of us and hits the laundry wall.

“Evelyn?” I call out into the smoke-filled room, barely able to see through the wreckage of our home. I hear her make a strangled noise, like she is choking, when I see her leaning against the counter.

Relief hits me until she stares back and coughs, blood spews from her mouth and runs down her chin. Only then do I notice what is clutched in her hands. At first, I don’t understand until she screams. The sound is so horridly agonized that my stomach drops, and Thaddeus growls, ripping through the debris, trying to get to her as she suddenly slumps forward, her body goes limp around the splintered wood that is pierced through her.

Thaddeus' hands frantically try to do something to help, but I can feel even he is unsure of what to do, the splintered wood goes straight through her pelvis. I grab her shoulders, hold her upright, and realize we have no choice but to pull the wooden table leg from her to release her from where she is pinned.

Thaddeus wraps his hands around the wood and rips the splintered wood from her before grabbing her limp body. She slumps forward over his shoulder, blood trails down his body as I try to clear a big enough path for him to squeeze through. I hold up a part of the roof for him to squeeze through to the laundry and out the hole in the wall he created.

Thaddeus places her on the ground, both of us completely covered in dust and smoke. My heart skips a beat as I see Orion pass our daughter off to Imogen, who is watching, horrified, as we try to save our mate and son.

Orion moves quickly as he plunges his hand into her stomach. I can hear her skin tear, blood gushes out of her, turning the ground red and staining the earth. Thaddeus is pacing, clutching his hair while I stand shocked, watching on helplessly. Her skin turns paler as the seconds tick when Orion suddenly pulls the umbilical cord out, the placenta comes out after. The wood has gone straight through the placenta. I watch his hand move in her stomach and he pulls our son out; his tiny body clutched in his hands.

That memory forever burned into my soul. He is perfectly, unharmed by looking at him, but the silence that follows is deafening. We wait to hear the cry, the cry of life. Everyone holds their breath as Orion tries and fails to make him breathe. He is gone, everything we have worked hard for, for the past year turns to dust before our eyes. Building a future that is now shattered to oblivion.

Orion looks up, his face haunted as he shakes his head. My legs buckle under me, and I hit the ground hard. Orion is the only one able to keep his composure along with Theo, but I can feel Orion's devastation hit me, hit Thaddeus, breaking all of us. Theo grabs our son, shielding him away from our daughter’s eyes. Evelyn is splayed out on the ground, unmoving. Orion stands up and rips me toward her. I stare at her body, look at the destruction it caused her.

Orion bites into my wrist, holds it over her mouth, and we all wait. She isn’t dead, her injuries are bad, but not enough to kill. However, her waking with the realization of what we all just lost, what she has lost, may be enough to make her wish for death. I stare in shock, then look up at everyone watching Orion working on our mate.

Amara is muttering and banging on her head with her fists as she paces and Tobias tries to calm her. Nothing feels real. I look around at everyone's grief-stricken faces, yet I feel dead inside, like it is some nightmare I am trapped in. Nothing makes sense, and I keep finding my eyes go back to our son in Theo’s arms, waiting expectantly for the sound of his cries, praying for some miracle to happen, when suddenly, Thaddeus screams. Anger smashes into me like never before, and I hear Imogen shriek as the necklace containing Thaddeus' magic suddenly ruptures, and she rips it from her neck, tossing it on the ground. The darkness creeps out and escapes its restraints, looking for its owner, and that owner is Thaddeus.

“Thaddeus, no!” Amara screams.

Everything happens in the blink of an eye as I watch, horrified, as the dark mist of his magic rushes toward him so quickly that no one has time to react. I watch as it hits him in the dead center of the chest. I feel it through the bond, rushing through him, cold and sickly sweet, sadistic, as it consumes him. Black tendrils creep under his skin, and I see him take a deep breath; his eyes turn obsidian as he looks at his hands. Black veins spread over his body and his face, consuming him as his magic bleeds into his soul, tainting it with its madness. Amara only just manages to put up a shield in time, blocking his magic as it bursts from him, along with his sorrow.

Amara’s hands go forward as she blocks his magic as it rushes toward us, her heels dig into the ground while it pushes her back as she tries to hold it back from us. He flattens everything around us and collapses onto the

ground. Amara drops her magic to brace her hands on her knees, sweat coats her skin and drips onto the ground from her chin.

I look around and find we are surrounded by a huge crater bored into the earth. Orion is frantically trying to awaken Evelyn, who is still unconscious. I feel Orion’s teeth bite into my wrist again as he tries to get her to heal, and I still feel nothing, completely numb.

Evelyn POV

I wake to hands, brushing my hair out of my face and Thaddeus leaning over me. I stare back, wondering what he is doing, trying to remember when I went to sleep. The last thing I remember is walking inside with Imogen, getting stuff ready for the party. Thaddeus looks at me sadly,

and I can tell he has been crying, his eyes are puffy and bloodshot.

I sit up, alarmed, wondering what has happened to upset him. He leans back, and I see Ryland and Orion staring at me, the same look on their faces, which confuses me until I recognize the room I am in. Tie-dyed curtains on the windows and a colorful duvet I know aren't mine or my style. Amara’s scent hits me strongly, and I realize the room I am in is hers. I try to think of the last thing I can remember. I come up blank, all I remember is walking into the house and going to the fridge.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, and I realize how dry my throat is, the burning ache of my hunger comes to the forefront of my mind as I touch my throat. They all look at each, and I get up off the bed. I am rolling onto my side to climb off when I realize the movement is easier than it should have been.

As I stand up my eyes dart downwards to see my huge bump is gone, there’s nothing but a flat stomach. My hands touch my abdomen to find nothing. I look up, confused. “I had the baby?” I ask, confused.

Why can’t I remember anything? I look at Thaddeus, but he has his head in his hands. Ryland steps forward, and I know something terrible has happened by the look on his face. The way he puts his hands out looks like he is trying to subdue a caged animal.

“Where is our son?” I ask, my voice trembling, and I step back in panic.

Why can’t I feel him? I could feel our daughter, Amara, like a tether, feel that she is sleeping somewhere, but nevertheless, asleep blissfully. Yet, I can't feel the familiar bond I have with her with my son.

“Evelyn,” Orion whispers and looks away.

I watch his bottom lip quiver, then I look between them, and Thaddeus' head snaps up as he looks at me, reaching toward me. “Where is my son?” I ask again, not liking the silence I am getting from them, not liking the devastatingly cold feeling seeping into me from them.

“Evelyn, there was an accident,” Ryland says, making me look at him.

An accident? I have no memory of there being an accident. I only remember us, celebrating our daughter's first birthday. How happy we all felt. But why are they so sad?

“Okay, but where is our son? Where is Mara?” I ask.

“Mara is with mom and Amara inside,” Orion says, making me look at him.

“I don’t understand?” I tell him, and Ryland reaches for my hand, but I pull it back. I don’t like the way he is looking at me, the way they are all looking at me.

“He is gone, Evie,” Orion says, and my stomach drops.

“Who, who's gone?” I ask, my voice shaking, my entire body trembling with fear.

“Our son,” Thaddeus whispers so low that I would have missed it if I were human.

“What? That makes no sense, Thaddeus. Where is he?” I yell, growing frustrated; they need to spit out what they are trying to tell me.

“Evie, he is gone. He died in the explosion,” Ryland says, stepping forward and reaching for me, but I step back.

“What explosion? If this is a joke, you are sick, sick in the fucking head! Now, give him to me; this isn’t funny,” I tell them, my breathing becoming quicker as I try to breathe through my panic.

“There was an accident, Evelyn; we think the gas line in the house exploded, you were injured, and our son didn’t make it.”

My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach at his words. My entire body is cold, so cold I can feel it seeping into my bones as the cold consumes me. “No! No, No,” I tell them, shaking my head, my hands go to my non- existent belly, like he never existed, just gone; he is right there, safely tucked inside my womb, kicking and moving around; he can’t be gone. I

just felt him at the party. “You’re wrong; he is fine. I could feel him,” I tell them.

Ryland shakes his head. “You could feel his love; you need to try to understand what we are telling you,” Ryland says.

“But it doesn’t make sense; what you’re saying doesn’t make sense,” I scream, becoming angry, “You did something; you fucking did something, didn’t you?” I yell, turning to Thaddeus. His eyes flicker, something I haven't seen in a year, and I step back.

“He is dead, Evelyn; I didn’t do anything; there was a fucking explosion. Don’t try and put this on me,” he says, jumping to his feet. The lights flicker from my accusation as he becomes angered.

“Where is my fucking son, Thaddeus?” I scream at him.

He grips my face, his hands tremble with anger that mirrors mine. “He is fucking dead, gone,” he screams in my face, his hands shaking as he grips me tighter. I watch his fangs protrude, and he growls before looking away.

He lets go, turning his back on me when it hits me - he has his magic back. The lights surge to the beat of his emotions, running rampant in him.

I can’t remember a thing, yet they expect me to believe my son is gone. “I don’t”- I shake my head, trying to process what they are saying, what has happened, but I feel nothing but anger, and I’m not sure if it is mine or Thaddeus'. I can feel my mates, yet I can’t identify anything through the bond of my own. Wouldn’t I feel it if he is dead? Instinctively know it? So why do I feel nothing?

“You’re in shock, Evelyn,” Thaddeus says, answering my thoughts, making me look at him as he turns around to face me.

“No, you're wrong. I would have felt it, should have felt it,” I tell them, and I feel something wet touch my face. I wipe my face only to realize they are tears, my tears. “He is not dead; how could you say that?” I ask, horrified.

Thaddeus growls, and I feel rage bubble up within me. Thaddeus' hands grip my face, his teeth gritted, and I hear Orion yell at him. “Thaddeus, what are you doing?” He snaps.

“This is the third time she has woken this way; I am giving it back. She will just have to deal with it,” he says.

The third time? As I try to figure out what he is talking about, images start flooding my mind; I watch the party begin as we greet everyone and all of my day's memories flit through my head. I walk inside; I see Ryland

come and ask for a tea towel, and then, I watch nothing but devastation. I watch it like I am watching my life fall apart through someone else's eyes, like a movie playing on a screen, something that feels distant yet, I know by the fact those are my memories, that everything I am watching is very very real.

I look down at my hands, clutching the splintered wood that pierces through me and feel the pain radiate throughout every inch of my stomach. The image goes black; then I wake up afterward, hysterically screaming, then again and again. Thaddeus continuously removes my memories and I pass out each time. Only to relive this moment over and over again as they try to explain to me that my son is dead. Each time I have the same reaction

- I lose it and Thaddeus takes it, every memory leads up to him, grabbing my face and my eyes slowly regain focus on my surroundings, to the black abyss of Thaddeus’ eyes mirroring the horror on my face, at the realization he is gone.

I lost our son; our son is dead.

Thaddeus lets go of my face, and I stumble back, clutching onto the nightstand. My entire world crashes down around me so fast, I feel the room spin violently, and I sit on the bed, empty and completely void of emotion. My heart is crushed. I failed him; I failed us all. My son is dead, and I am now dead inside.

“Evelyn?” Ryland says, rushing over to me. His face looks up at me as he kneels on the floor in front of me. He wraps his arms around my waist, his head pressing to where our baby used to be. I brush his hair with my fingers, wanting to feel something, anything but this hollow feeling inside me.

Amara walks into the room; I look up when her scent hits my nose. I can smell the saltiness of her tears as they stream down her face. “Sorry, mom sent me down; she wants to know if you want anything?”

“Leave us,” Thaddeus says to her, she just nods and walks back out.