Lorenzo

"Lorenzo." Katelyn called out my name, her hand extended and she grabbed mine. "Please, don't leave me alone. You know how I get when I'm away with you." She pleaded through her eyes and tried her best to stop me.

"I've to go. I've things to take care off. I'm not going to stick around and you anyway have Harris. I'm sure he can come in tonight and stay with you while I'm gone." I stated, gently pushing her aside from me. If it weren't for the child in her womb, Katelyn would've been long dead with the wrongs she had done.

"Please. He won't come tonight. Can you stay?" she begged.

Anger rushed into my veins and I grabbed her shoulders, yanking her up close. "I've made this very clear, you have no right to tell me what to do and I'm not going to be your puppet. You choose Harris so shed yours tears to him. The only reason you're here is because that child in you, is mine, that is all."

Katelyn cried a little more, shedding as many tears as she could. She whimpered and sobbed as I walked out of the house. It was June 3rd, 1995 and it was the last time I ever saw her and my unborn child. On my way out, just before I shifted to bring down the left rogues, I heard a scream, raking through the whole town and it belonged to Katelyn.

She called out my name, even when she was murdered brutally.

My eyes snapped open and I looked at the bare ceiling, the sunlight blinded me and I threw aside the covers before sitting up straight on the bed. It hadn't been a single day without seeing the same nightmare over and over again.

Even fifteen years later, all I heard was Katelyn's last scream and cry for help while I walked out. The house was supposed to be secured. The only two females in there were Layla and Katelyn, everyone else was relocated to other houses and some were given the freedom to leave the pack and find refuge in Far Waters.

Katelyn didn't make an ounce of difference but her death did, especially when she was seven months pregnant and was about to give birth. If I had stopped and waited for the night to pass by, my child would've been alive today.

"Same dream?" Layla asked as she walked in with the house's maid. She directed her to place the tray over my bed but I stopped her.

"I'm not hungry."

"Come on, Enzo, don't make me do this. You can't keep feeding your beast all the time. You need to have human food." My sister argued with me.

"I need to have a human—not human food." I gave her a devilish grin before throwing on a shirt. My chest continued to scorch with the heat of the nightmare, the feeling usually didn't go away until a few hours.

"Sometimes you disgust me, Brother." She shook her curls.

"Come on, Layla, don't get jealous just because you weren't gifted. Immortality isn't really that fun." I tried to provoke a reaction out of her. It was a fun, seeing her age quicker than me, have health problems, injure quickly, heal slowly.

"At least I don't feed on people." She shrugged and rolled her eyes, thinking it was easy to let it go. We grew up together and while I was gifted, she wasn't and I still remembered the times she'd cry because she didn't have her own beast.

After Layla left, I did as well. Without going anywhere else, I went straight downstairs and out of the Palace my Father had built for our family. In the past fifteen years, I avoided stepping out of the cabin in the woods, I never visited the town or the Palace. No one knew anything except for Layla, I believed she was the only family I had left.

After all, the rogues took everything from me.

I stopped in front of the three graves buried outside the Palace and closed my eyes and took in a painful breath before getting down on one knee.

Stephano Boyd.

Charles Boyd.

Katelyn Saver.

The rogues took all of them down, on the same night, almost the same hour, leaving me with nothing. I lost my Father, the Mother of my child and my child himself. It was a boy and Katelyn was willing to give him to me and leave me alone after the birth but the day never came.

My shoulders tightened and I squeezed the dirt out of pure rage. The fire ran through me, settling at the pit of my heart, where it ought to hurt the most. Even after so long, I was battling with myself, blaming myself for the death of my loved ones.

I knew the odds were against me but yet I tried to play out with the rogues and at the end, I lost. They wanted to kill me but instead, they killed everyone else dear to me.

I placed the flowers over their graves and sat there for another moment. A hand came down my shoulder and I closed my eyes.

"You've a second chance to happiness, Enzo." Layla said, sitting down on the ground beside me. "I never thought you'd come out of the shadows but you did, even if it was after fifteen years, you still did. Don't ruin your only chance to have a life again." She kept her hopes high for my happiness. Her hair danced around with the breeze as she looked down upon me.

Layla was my younger sister, yet she was more mature than I could've ever been. She ruled the Scarlet Pride for almost two decades and never caused any trouble.

"I know." I sighed. "I'm not going to ruin it." Every inch of my body felt it. I finally found a reason for returning to the normal.

I had marked over a thousand females, killing them all out of anguish of not having a mate, up until Lilliana came to me. It was the next morning I found out that she wasn't dead and was my mate. Since then, I had found hope.

I stood up with Layla and we took a stroll back to the Palace while discussing important matters.

"Richard called me." She said in the silence.

I froze. "And?"

"It's not about your mate. He wanted to meet you, for coming to an agreement about the treaty that was made during the battle. I rather have him speak to me than you, therefore, I'll be going to Far Waters." Layla explained carefully.

A sigh of relief left my lips. My only concern there were my people and my mate. "Good."

"Maybe I'll meet your mate and drag her with me." She joked, wanting the same as I did.

"Don't. I don't want to force it on her. I told her the wrongs of staying away from me, it's her choice if she wants to come or not." I clarified.

"Well, well, look who has grown up!" Layla nudged her elbow at me and gave me a small push that barely affected me. "Big Brother."