“You and your sister were playing outside one day when I heard you screaming. Immediately, Brice and I ran outside to find a Dark Mage standing over you two casting a spell. She tried to flee when she saw us coming, but I killed her. Brynlee, your sister, seemed okay. Bellamy, on the other hand, was passed out, and there was a cloud of darkness over her. For days, I prayed to Fate to wake my pup up. Ferrin was there with me too. She came and prayed every day with me.
“About a week later, Teeny came back. She told us the Dark Mage had created a darkness inside of both of you to corrupt your souls. I was heartbroken because I blamed myself.I should have listened when I had the chance. Knowing both my daughters would eventually turn to the dark side, I pleaded with Fate to forgive me for my pride, and Fate did. Teeny came back, and she told me when Bellamy turned sixteen, she’d cast the spell of the Phoenix that would pull the darkness from Brynlee and Bellamy.”
“How did we get separated?” Bellamy asked while stepping forward toward Roselee with concern etched across her face.
“Ferrin. Slowly, the same darkness that was inside of you and your sister, I started to see it in her. My best friend changed. She wasn’t the carefree, happy Mage she used to be. I tried to talk to her, but she closed herself off to me. When Ferrin killed Byron, it seemed our world slipped into chaos. I always knew the Phoenix spell was a direct spell from Fate, and it scared me because everyone knew death came to those who tried to use Fate’s magic. However, I learned my lesson from doubting Fate, so I pushed through my fear.”
“Doesn’t that spell split the shifter in two parts? Isn’t it to separate the animal from the human?” Halo answered.
“Close. I see you’ve been working on your spells.” Minnie smiled at Halo. “This version of the Phoenix spell uses the flames of a phoenix to cleanse the body of all the negative or bad things in said shifter. Once the darkness is cast from the shifter, you're supposed to kill the dark forms. This spell is very dangerous because the flames from a phoenix burn hotter than anything on this planet, and their flames can easily grow out of control if things aren’t properly controlled. By Fate’s blessing, everything worked out. The darkness in Bellamy and Brynlee was able to be separated from them. However, we decided to use their dark forms as a distraction because we knew evil was still coming after Bellamy.”
“Bellum and Blossom were the darkness in Bellamy and Brynlee?” Yves looked intrigued.
“Correct,” Tiny answered him. “We placed Bellamy in hiding with Venus, Brynlee with Rozan, both Grandeur Mages Roselee and Ferrin grew up with.”
“Is that why my bear didn’t care for Bellum? Like, we knew she was our fated mate, but he didn’t want to claim her.”
“Yes. While Bellum was a part of Bellamy, she wasn’t truly her. Bellum was the darkness they tried to place inside of Bellamy,” Minnie responded to me.
Oddly, we felt relief hearing that Bellum wasn’t our true mate. A lot of things made more sense to us now. Guilt always consumed us because we didn’t mourn Bellum the way we felt we were supposed to. Our attraction to Bellum was there in the sense we knew she was our fated mate, but it wasn’t all-consuming like I always thought having a fated mate was supposed to be. It wasn’t until we laid eyes on Bellamy that we understood the true connections of a fated mate. Our every breath became filled with thoughts of how to become one with Bellamy. She was our everything, and there was nothing that was going to take her from us.
“So, basically, she still fucked my mate?” Zamiyah asked in a nasty tone while rolling her eyes at Bellamy.
“Chill yo ass out, Zamiyah. I don’t know what you got going on, but chill out, bruh,” Yves snapped while looking at Zamiyah menacingly, his eyes glowing white.
“Fuck you, Yves! You're just standing up for your whore!” Zamiyah screamed before standing up and storming out of the living room, bumping Bellamy on her way out. We had to quickly grab Bellamy before she could snatch Zamiyah by her hair.
“What the hell is wrong with her?” Bellamy asked while glaring at Yves.
“I don’t know. Let me go find out,” Yves grumbled before standing to his feet and following the path Zamiyah used to storm off.
“I swear she isn’t always like that,” Halo said while staring in the direction Yves and Zamiyah had gone.
“Her darkness is growing.” Tiny looked at Minnie as she spoke.
“What does that mean?” Halo asked.
“Time is of the essence,” Tiny stated. Then she and Minnie disappeared as fast as they appeared.
“I need a moment,” Bellamy quickly said, then left just as fast.
I turned to follow Bellamy. Our mate was hurting. We could hear it in her voice and feel it in our heart.
“Let me. I’ve missed my pup so much. I just want a moment with her,” Roselee said with her hand on my arm. Nodding my head, I stepped back, signaling for her to go. “Thank you,” she said with a soft smile.
Chapter Fourteen
BELLAMY ROSE
My life was turninginto a fucking Sci-fi novel, and I hated it. I didn’t want to be a shifter. I damn sure didn’t want to be mated to a stubborn-ass bear shifter who I couldn’t decide if I wanted to choke or hunch. Or be a part of some crazy-ass prophecy that had all these crazy fucking shifters trying to kill me. Everyone around me thought I was this Bellum girl, and Zamiyah had one more damn time to come at me crazy before I slapped her evil ass. I had nothing to do with whatever happened between Yves and Bellum. She needed to be mad at them, not me.
Then, to top it off, I found out I was an actual shifter. I had a damn wolf inside of me, and I could shift into a wolf if I wanted to. To make it worse, my wolf was always adding her two funky cents in like I asked her for them. I wanted my old life back before I lost who I thought was my mom in a fire. The time when I didn’t have a care in the world aside from getting my fiancé to fuck me. When Alonzo was my biggest obstacle. I mean, who cared if we never kissed, had sex, and he didn’t set my soul on fire the way Kenzo did whenever he looked me in the eyes?
Alonzo couldn’t make my pussy come to life how Kenzo could either. I didn’t desire Alonzo with the same intensity that I desired Kenzo. I was at war with myself whenever I was aroundKenzo. I had to stop myself from climbing all over him. I barely knew Kenzo, but the way he made me—us—feel was that of two lovers who’d been in love their entire lives. That didn’t negate the fact that I did love Alonzo in a way. He’d died saving me, and my heart wouldn’t allow me to forget the sacrifice Alonzo made for me. So, no, he didn’t affect me the same way Kenzo did, but Alonzo deserved my loyalty. He was my safe space where I had nothing to worry about, and I wanted to go back there.
At the same time, I was kind of happy to know my mom and dad were still alive. I had a sister, and Halo was my best friend when we were younger. I had a family, something I’d always wanted since my mom passed in the fire. I was excited that I wasn’t alone. I just wished it didn’t come with all this extra stuff. A nice normal boring life would’ve been fine with me.
We are far from boring.
