Finding Forgiveness

“And he’s close,” he said with a grim, toothy grin.

“And Alpha Loren?” I asked, “Where is he?”

“Papa,” Lili whispered.

I put my hand on her shoulder and held her close.

“Far from here,” he replied.

Whilst I was relieved to hear he was still alive, it would be great if he could just appear and rescue us right now.

“Papa is safe, Lili,” I whispered, “And he’s going to save us.”

The man laughed, “Don’t lie to your children.”

Just then, the man walking behind Milly prodded her in the back with his gun, this time so hard she stumbled forward having to clutch Zach tight in her arms.

“Keep walking, bitch,” he said, “I’ll be right here… the view is so good…” he added looking down at her butt.

“She’s a child,” I hissed.

“She’s woman enough for me,” he replied, reaching for her ass.

With that, Milly spun around and shot him a glare.

I instantly noticed the wind pick up around us, making the trees groan and creek.

The man took no heed and stepped towards her again, jeering and laughing.

The gust only grew until it was a gale, whipping Milly’s hair as she just fixated her stare on him. His face began to drop its sneer as he glanced around at the swaying trees and the clouds blowing over the moon, casting utter darkness on the forest.

“What the fuck?” the one behind me said, just before the ground began to tremble.

“It’s her,” the one next to me hissed pointing at Milly, “She’s doing it.”

The man closest to Milly had wide eyes and was completely frozen to the spot as Milly stood, her eyes closed shut, focusing and concentrating hard.

But it only took the other to hiss some Spanish at him before he pulled out his gun, aiming it at Milly’s head.

“Milly!” I screamed.

She snapped her eyes open and immediately spotted the gun, not even a second later, a towering wall of flames, stripped through the forest, scorching the leaves and debris in it’s path as it stretched on and on.

We were now all illuminated in a yellow glow and through the flickers of fire I could see the scared faces of my children who hid behind Milly – well seven of them at least.

The eighth was still in my arms.

On the other side of the wall.

The same side as the three armed soldiers.

I lurched forward but the fire had grown five feet tall. Milly’s mouth was gaped open, her chest rising and falling in panic as she ran forward to stand opposite me.

“Ella,” she cried, “No! I can’t do anything. I don’t have the control!”

There was no chance of jumping it without burning. It burnt to fierce and high. But with the men quickly pushing the shock from the minds and processing what they had witnessed, there was only one thing I could do.

“Give Zach to Cato,” I ordered.

She didn’t question and passed the toddler down to his eldest brother.

I couldn’t cross to the other side but Stefano could. He weighed no more than 25 pounds.

I wrapped his blanket tight around him and glanced behind me to the men who were now marching forward towards us.

“Catch him,” I said as I kissed him quickly on the forehead before I took a step back and launched him into the air.

I didn’t have time to dwell on the idea, nor could I afford to hesitate and overthink. Somehow I managed to just push all doubts away and switch off my panic to think rationally and know that this was his best chance. So I let go of my baby son, sending him flying over roaring fire into the arms of Milly.

She caught him unscathed and I let out a choked sigh of relief.

“Go,” I shouted across the crackling and spitting of sparks and burning, “Get the kids somewhere safe!”

She was still reluctant, her dark eyes reflecting the orange and yellow glow in front of her.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“Milly, go,” I commanded and she eventually nodded, taking a lasting, sorrowful look at me before lifting Zach higher onto her hip, clutching Stefano in her other arm and ushering the rest with kind, reassuring words as they all glanced over to me, on other side of the firey barrier with worried little faces.

“I love you,” I said just as I felt a callous pair of hands seize me, “I love you all!”

I was dragged away from the flames by two of the men, they squeezed me tight and held my wrists and ankles but there were no stakes anymore. My children were safe and I was unphased by their guns and threats.

They weren’t going to kill me.

But Andrea would.

So I had to put my all into escaping them before they could bring me to him. I fought with all my might against the three grown men but I had no success in stopping them from dragging me and I only felt my feet on the ground again when they stopped half an hour later.

My hair was dishevelled across my face, I breathed heavily and my eyes still stung with the dust from the explosion but a few metres away I could still see a figure in front of us.

He wore a pristine black suit and his dark black hair was gelled neatly as an assertive smile sat on his lips.

“Bring her to me,” he said, his accent as slurred and thick as ever.

The two men holding both my arms walked me forward and I couldn’t even try to resist them, too frozen with fear.

I was now only half a metre from him and after he’d taken a slow step forward, only inches. As he used the tip of his finger to move the hair out of my face, I cast my eyes down to his polished black shoes, somehow still clean despite the earth and leaves of the forest.

I took a deep, shaky breath when I felt his touch run down my cheek to my chin where he clasped my face and forced my eyes up to look at his.

“Hola, Blanca,” he said, “My beautiful wife… how wonderful it is every time our paths cross…”

His eyes were full of scorn as he glared mercilessly at me. My mouth was dry and my hands shook with the intense fear building inside of me.

At long last, he spared me from the darkness of his eyes as he went to examine my body, his fingers following his gaze as it travelled across my chest.

“Whilst I was looking forward to some time alone, I was also rather hoping your children would be with you,” he said as he looked up to the men.

“Donde estan ellos?” he asked, raising a full black eyebrow.