Chapter 148 Vivienne returns 1

Chapter 148: Chapter 148 Vivienne returns 1

Talia’s POV

The middle of the night was dark and quiet.

I was asleep in Kaelen’s arms, warm and safe.

The darkness did not come with nightmares, and his arms were strong around my waist. For a few hours, I had forgotten about the world, about the trials I had passed, about Serena, and about everything.

I just had a dreamless, peaceful, and safe sleep.

But peace never lasted. It never had in Cresswood, and it did not last here either. So I should have known, and I should have been ready.

But I was not.

The fire had burned low, and the room was cold, but his body was warm against my back, and his breathing was slow and even.

Then suddenly, he moved.

First, his body went stiff beside me, then he sat up fast, and the sudden movement shook the bed. I woke up with a gasp, and sat up immediately after him, with my heart pounding.

"Kaelen?" I whispered. "What is wrong?"

He did not respond, so I moved to face him properly, and saw that his eyes had lost focus in the dim light of the room. He was mind-linking someone.

I watched his face change, the way his jaw tightened, the way his breathing slowed, and the way his hands clenched into fists.

Whatever he was hearing, it was not good. I could feel it in my chest, and in my bones that something bad was coming. Something we had not prepared for. I held my breath and waited.

When his eyes cleared, he turned to look at me, and his gray eyes were hard.

"Cain just mind-linked me," he said. "Our scouts have returned."

My heart pounded. "What did they find?"

He was quiet for a moment. Then he said, "Vivienne is back."

My blood ran cold immediately.

Vivienne? The name echoed in my head like a curse. I had hoped she was gone, banished, broken, or dead, even. I had hoped I would never see her face again, never hear her voice, and never feel her cold eyes on my skin.

But she was back.

"She has been hiding with rogue wolves," Kaelen continued. "She also has a new ally now, who is a rogue Alpha named Viktor. Cain said that they might be planning to attack Blackmoor Valley."

I sat up. My hands were shaking, but my voice was steady. "When?"

"I do not know yet." He climbed out of bed and reached for his shirt. "But the pack might need to prepare for battle."

I watched him dress, and his movements were quick and efficient. He pulled his shirt over his head and wore his pants, then he held his pants together with a belt, and he strapped a knife to his belt.

Before he left, he turned to look at me.

"Stay here," he said. "I need to meet with Cain and the others."

I nodded, and I did not argue.

He walked to the bed and kissed my forehead. His lips were warm against my skin.

"I will be back," he said, then he was gone.

The door closed behind him, and I was alone. I sat in the dim light of the room for a long time, before I stood up, and walked to the fireplace.

The fire had burned low to embers, and the room was cold. The shadows danced on the walls as I walked, and I could hear the wind outside the window, blowing soft and distant.

I added some logs to the fireplace, and soon the fire crackled, and the room slowly became warm again.

The flames licked at the wood, hungry, and eager. I watched them grow, and watched the shadows dance. Fire had taken my mother, and it had destroyed my childhood. But fire could also protect, and it could burn away enemies.

I would not let it take anything else from me. Not Kaelen, not my pack, and not my home.

I stood there for a moment, watching the flames grow. The warmth spread across my skin, but it did not reach the cold in my chest. My mind kept going back to Vivienne, to her smile, to her sharp eyes, and to the way she looked at me, like I was something she wanted to destroy.

I thought about the night at Mooncrest Hall celebration. I thought about the way she had confessed to everything, and the way she had been dragged out screaming. I really got comfortable, thinking that she was gone forever, but she was not. She had been out there, waiting for her moment to strike.

I walked back to the bed, and sat down with a heavy heart, as I thought about Kaelen’s words. "Vivienne is back."

I had thought it was over at Mooncrest Hall. I thought she was gone, banished, broken, and I thought I would never have to see her face ever again.

But I was wrong.

All along, she had been hiding, waiting, and planning. And now she was coming for me.

I pressed my hands flat against the mattress to stop them from shaking.

I thought about everything I had survived: the storage room, the hunger, the cold, the slaps, the insults, and the fifteen years I spent hiding behind a glamour charm, pretending to be someone I was not.

I had survived all of it, and I knew that I would survive this too.

But truthfully, surviving was not enough anymore.