Chapter 90: More questions.
ELLA.
I closed my eyes tightly, trying to shut out Lawrence completely, trying to block out his presence, his voice, everything that felt too real in that moment.
But instead of peace, something strange happened.
It felt like I was being pulled away from reality itself, slowly dragged into a deeper place I couldn’t control.
My consciousness slipped.
Or maybe it was what people would call a dream.
I wasn’t sure anymore.
One moment I was aware of where I was...and the next, I was somewhere else entirely.
I was running again.
The same familiar terror gripped my chest as I sprinted through an endless, unclear path, the wind tearing at my skin as though trying to slow me down.
But no matter how fast I ran, it felt like I wasn’t moving forward at all.
And then it happened.
My foot caught against something unseen, and I stumbled violently to the ground.
Pain shot through my body from the impact, but fear was far stronger than the pain.
I tried desperately to push myself back up, my hands trembling as they pressed against the ground, but before I could regain my balance, I felt it.
He had caught up.
The pursuer.
A shadow that never seemed to leave me alone.
Slowly, I lifted my head, dread curling tightly in my chest.
And then I saw it— A wild, cold and unforgiving grin. He flashed me his white teeth as if he was already certain of victory.
"You can’t run anymore, Theresa," he said calmly.
His voice sent a chill through my entire body and strangely, it felt like I was no longer inside my own body.
It was as though I was standing outside of everything, watching it all unfold like a spectator trapped in a nightmare I couldn’t interrupt.
That was when I saw his face clearly and recognition hit me instantly.
Bernard.
My breath caught in my throat.
"No..." I whispered helplessly, struggling against the fear rising inside me. "Let go of me!"
I tried to force myself free from his grip as his hands closed around me, holding me firmly in place.
But before I could escape, another presence entered the scene.
Another man stepped forward out of nowhere, as if he had been waiting in the shadows all along.
"I will take it from here," he said calmly to Bernard.
Bernard only scoffed, clearly unconcerned, before stepping aside without resistance. As if whatever was about to happen had already been arranged.
My heart pounded violently as the new man turned toward me.
I was now on the ground, helpless, unable to move, unable to run, unable to do anything but stare at him.
His face was hidden behind a black, silvery mask, as It reflected nothing and gave nothing away.
And that terrified me more than anything else. Before I could even process what was happening, he bent down toward me.
And then I felt it, a sharp sting, as though something was piercing into my skin.
And indeed, it was.
The masked man held an injection with a substance I couldn’t recognize and now, he was injecting into my body.
Instantly, pain exploded through me, and I screamed out, loudly and desperately but my voice felt distant, like it didn’t belong to me anymore.
My strength drained rapidly, my vision blurring as everything around me began to fade.
Until finally, I stopped fighting and allowed the darkness to swallow me completely.
But even in that fading moment, I was still there, still watching.
Still trapped in that strange perspective of a spectator who could see everything but change nothing.
"No!" I tried to scream again, my voice breaking as I reached out toward nothingness.
And then, everything shattered.
I jolted upright suddenly, my body snapping back into reality as I gasped for air.
My heart pounded violently against my chest, sweat clinging to my skin.
Lawrence immediately grabbed me, holding me firmly before I could fall, his grip steadying me as though he already expected my body to give way.
The sudden contact grounded me for a moment, even though my mind was still far away, still tangled in fragments of what I had just seen.
"Did you have a bad dream again?" he asked, his voice filled with both concern and quiet curiosity as he looked at me closely.
His eyes searched my face carefully, as if trying to read the answer before I even gave it. There was a gentleness in his tone, but also a familiarity—like he had asked me this question more than once before.
I didn’t respond to Lawrence immediately.
My mind was still tangled, still stuck between what I had just seen and what I was now trying to accept as reality.
It felt like my thoughts were refusing to settle properly, each memory crashing into the next without order or clarity. I could feel the weight of it pressing against my chest, making it slightly harder to breathe normally, yet I still couldn’t fully bring myself back to the present moment.
For a few seconds, I simply remained in his hold, unmoving, as though my body had forgotten how to respond. Everything around me felt slightly distant, like I was watching myself from somewhere far away instead of actually being here.
"Theresa!" Lawrence called again, his voice a little firmer this time, breaking through the fog that had wrapped itself around my thoughts.
His grip adjusted slightly, not rough, but enough to anchor me more firmly, as though he was gently insisting that I return to him, to now.
I blinked once...then twice.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, I returned to the present. The edges of my thoughts began to sharpen again, and the blurred feeling in my mind started to fade, even if only slightly. I could feel my breathing steadying, though my chest still felt tight with something I couldn’t quite name.
"I am fine, Lawrence," I said quickly, forcing a calmness into my tone that I didn’t entirely feel. I tried to make my voice sound normal, steady, unbothered, as though nothing had shaken me at all. "It’s not that scary!"
The words came out lighter than my chest felt, almost too light, like they belonged to someone else entirely.
Lawrence studied me for a moment, as if trying to decide whether I was truly okay or just pretending to be.
But eventually, he only nodded.
Without another word, he reached out and patted my back gently, a small reassuring gesture that I barely registered at first.
And just like that, my mind drifted again.
I fell back into silence, and back into thought.
I didn’t need anyone to tell me twice.
What I had just seen...wasn’t random.
It was my memory.
Fragments of something buried deep inside me, trying to resurface in pieces that didn’t yet form a full picture.
Or maybe Nyx was finally managing to reach further into our past. I could feel her presence inside me stir faintly, like a weak pulse awakening after a long sleep. She must have used her powers to help me pick up the faces and the whole situation.
She was convinced and completely certain that the old me had been strong.
Stronger than I currently was, more aware and more powerful.
But the more these memories returned, the more confused I became.
Because instead of answers...they only brought more questions.
First, I still hadn’t fully understood what I had discovered in that first vision I had before this.
It lingered at the edge of my mind, just out of reach, refusing to form clearly.
Secondly...Who exactly was that masked man?
The image of his silver-black mask flashed in my mind again, and I instinctively tightened my grip on my thoughts as though trying to hold onto something slipping away.
And thirdly...Why was Bernard chasing me?
That question sat heaviest of all.
My brows furrowed slightly as another wave of memory pushed forward.
A few scattered scenes of Bernard and me as children flickered through my mind. We were always running around the pack grounds, full of energy, full of mischief.
Sometimes he would push me, and I would hit him back without hesitation.
Sometimes I would trip him first just to get a reaction out of him.
From the outside, it probably looked like fighting but to us...It was different.
We never truly saw it as harm.
We never treated it as pain.
It was messy, chaotic, and loud—but somehow familiar.
Something in me had always thought it was just our way of playing.
I even used to call it ’our play.’
A strange, childish bond that didn’t make sense to anyone else.
I took a deep breath slowly, pulling myself back from the memories before they could overwhelm me again.
Without thinking, my hand drifted down and gently rested over my stomach.
The movement was soft, protective and almost instinctive.
"I hope mummy isn’t about to bring you into a chaotic world," I murmured silently in my mind, my thoughts tightening with quiet determination.
A pause followed.
Then I added more firmly, "But don’t worry...I will protect you."
The words settled inside me like a promise I refused to break.
And slowly, almost without realizing it, a small smile formed on my face.
