Chapter Forty-three

ZANE

Her hair was blowing in the summer wind. Her eyes shone with happiness as she laughed and carried on with the Falcon brothers. Even Blake was smiling instead of frowning like normal, although I would be too if I could be around her.

“This party sucks.” Ebony threw her red plastic cup into the bonfire. “Who thinks of beach parties anyway? Who wants to party on a beach?”

She was in an unusually bad mood, real bad. So much as look sideways at her, and she was ready to take your head off.

Also noticed the way she kept looking in Allie’s direction. It was like the more fun Allie was having, the more pissed off she was getting.

“Why does it matter? It’s an excuse to get drunk.” Taylor refilled his plastic cup. “And watch half-naked girls dance.”

I would once agree with him, but now things were different. Allie was all I could focus on. Her and her white bikini, her laughter.

Fuck, she was killing me.

“You know what I hate most about the Falcon brothers?” Ebony piped up, out of nowhere. “I hate how they just cut everyone else out. Fuck. All they care about is Princess Allie,” she continued.

“What the fuck is it with you and them?” Taylor gave her a weird look. “Seriously, Ebony, you’ve got an obsession with them.”

“More like with one,” I corrected him, scoring a glare from Ebony.

“What? You can’t pretend like you haven’t been watching Blake’s moves all night.” I raised an eyebrow at her. “Something you’re not telling us, Ebony?”

“Fine,” she huffed, throwing herself down on the sand next to me. “He’s my mate. Happy?”

My eyes widened, but it was Taylor spitting beer everywhere that got the best reaction.

“It’s like fucking hell. How did I end up with that? Not to mention he is just blocking me out like I’m invisible!” she continued to rant.

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. Why she hated Allie so much. Her obsession with what they were doing.

“Fuck,” was all I could say to her, “That’s rough, Ebs.”

She scoffed.

“Rough! That’s just plain fucking hilarious. You get landed with the one dude that couldn’t possibly stand you, plus, he has literally watched you all these years slut around. Classic.” Taylor shook his head amused.

She just flat-out glared at him.

I placed a hand on her knee. “If it makes you feel any better, you’ve got a better chance of landing your mate then I will ever have.”

“Since when did you go soft, Zane.” She shrugged my hand off. “I think I need another drink.” She stood up and walked off in the direction of the ice buckets.

“You know when you really think about it, they are perfect for each other.” Taylor sat in the sand next to me. “I give it another two weeks before she is crawling back to him for a dose of attention.”

 

***

ALLIE

I slapped Blake’s arm.

“It’s not funny! Mom seriously thought I had gone all wild-child on her. All I did was walk out of one class,” I huffed, sipping from the red cup.

“Well, nobody would expect innocent Allie to do something out of character.” Chase laughed. “No wonder your mom nearly had a fit.”

“A fit is an understatement,” I grunted. “Anyway, this is a night for me.” I collected my overthrow from the rock and slipped it on. “Mom said home by eleven, so I better not disobey her. God, she would have a field day with that.”

“I’ll walk you home,” Blake offered.

“Don’t be stupid. It’s like two blocks that way. I’m fine. You guys stay anyway, plus, that brunette has had her eyes on you all night.” I said to Blake, nodding my head her way. “Be careful though, she’s friends with Zane, and he is a real meanie.”

“Meanie,” Chase coughed out in laughter. “Please say that word again.”

I playfully glared at him. “Screw you, Falcon.” I turned my back to them and began to walk off. “Night boys!” I waved over my shoulder and kept walking.

The last thing I wanted was mom ranting at me.

I took the small steps two at a time and then broke out in a quick walk once I hit the pavement.

I was about to cross the road when a van pulled around the corner sharply. Gee, talk about bad driving.

I stepped back on the sidewalk, but it was when the van slowed to a stop that my stomach dropped.

Next thing I knew I was being pulled into the van head first. I tried to scream, but my mouth was smothered. My heart was thumping through my chest. Oh my God. Oh my God.

“Calm down, Allie.” A man whispered in my ear, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The van took off again and all my hope of Blake or someone seeing me faded.

What the hell was I going to do?

I’ve been kidnapped!

Me!

Allie Winters!

I pulled at the hand until it was off my mouth.

“What do you want with me?” I screamed and kicked.

“Calm down, Allie,” he said again, holding me around the waist, keeping me back against his chest.

“How do you know my name?”

“Dad, just keep driving,” the man shouted at the driver. “But we might have to hurry this up as she won’t stop wiggling.”

“Well, hold her the fuck down, Jace!”

“Let go of me!” I yelled.

“Can’t we just inject her now?”

“LET GO OF ME!”

“Fine.” The van came to a jolting halt, and the man from the front climbed into the back.

Oh God. I was going to be raped, and then most likely killed.

“LET ME GO! LET ME GO!” I kicked and screamed and kicked some more.

The man grabbed my arm and straightened it out. “Calm down, Allie, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

How did these two strangers know my name?

Then I saw the long needle.

“Please don’t. Please don’t hurt me,” I cried, watching the man line the needle up with my vein.

“I’m not hurting you, girly. I’m giving something back that was taken from you,” he grunted and then he pushed the needle into my skin. A burning pain followed, and then everything went dark.

 

***

They say the less you know, the less can hurt you, but if you had a choice, to forget every painful memory, would you take it? What if someone else made that decision for you?

They chose to take your memories away?

How would you react?

But then, you wouldn’t know they had done it.

So your reaction would be nothing.

But if you were to be given those memories back, well then, that changes everything?

“Who are you?” I stared at the old man sitting across from me in the van.

I had only been out for a few moments; just long enough for all my memories to come flying back.

And back they were.

“Jace?” I twisted to stare at my brother. “Who is that?”

“I’m your father,” he finally answered me.

“Why did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Give me my memories back? Why?!” If I had a choice, I didn’t want them.

“You’re not part of their pack anymore, Allie. You are a lone wolf, like us. You have a right to know every memory, the painful ones and the good ones. No-one has the right to take my daughter’s wolf from her.”

“My wolf was dying.”

“Because of Zane.” He crossed his arms. “That boy was killing you. Now you have no connection to them. They won’t even be able to sniff you out.”

“So, you can keep the act up if you want, Allie,” Jace added.

“So, they thought they had the right to take my memories, and you two thought you had the right to return them?” I looked between them.

“Wouldn’t you prefer to know who you are, rather than the you they want you to be?” Dad asked me.

“I thought you were dead.” I glared at him. “All this time. You just stood in the shadows.”

“I’ve always been close. You just never knew.”

“Well, it seems everybody thinks it is perfectly fine to lie to me.” I felt raw rage creep into my veins. “What am I to do now?”

“That’s up to you,” Jace spoke softly. “You can keep up the act until you’re ready to face them, or just remain a lone wolf with us.”

“I’m not telling them anything, not until I can change and have control over my wolf.” I made a decision. “How do I face them, without them realizing?”

“Just do what they have been doing to you, lie.” Dad handed me a cold bottle of water. “Now we have to get you home before your mother starts to worry.”

She let them wipe my memories. Wasn’t she meant to protect me?

“I hate her,” I whispered, undoing the bottle cap.

“You will find, girly, that your hate list will grow larger now.” Dad climbed back into the driver’s seat, and I sat next to Jace.

“I hate them all.”

Jace placed a hand on my knee. “If they thought your wolf was dying, they wouldn’t have had another choice.”

“They had the choice of telling me.” I looked him in the eye. “They always had that choice.”