Beyond the Pack’s Law: My stepsister or nobody else

Hayley’s POV

Aiden and I had earlier that same day, discovered Rachel’s journal forgeries and was shaken by the gravity of her betrayal. But in all that chaos, I took comfort in having Aiden around.

That morning, when we were getting ready, he took me in his arms and held onto me. Do you really want to do this by yourself? he queried; his voice laced with worry.

I nodded, my resolve firm. I have to go speak with her. This is something I must do. But I want you to be prepared if it does go south.

He kissed and held my forehead, embracing the love of his heart in print. “I’ll be nearby. If anything at any time goes wrong, I will be there in a second.

A smile captured my face, and his words gave me strength. “Thank you, Aiden. I love you.”

“I love you too, Hayley. Forever and ever,” he said, his eyes sparkling with a vortex of resolve to mirror my own.

And then we hugged and walked away forever.

Aiden would rally our allies and be ready for the battle that lay ahead. As for Rachel, she was a problem I would handle by myself. The idea of having to talk with her terrified me, but it was something that had to be done. The truth needed to be revealed.

Rachel was waiting for me in the living room, looking calm and collected.

“Sit,” she said with a calm poise and internal confidence that almost threw me to the point of doubting if we were facing something so serious. Even though I was too broke to waver.

I decided to take a breath and walk towards her.

I opened my mouth, and gratefully, nothing came out other than “Rachel, we need to talk.”

She glanced up, narrowing her eyes a little. “What is it, Hayley? You look serious.”

I sat down in front of her, and my heart was firing like crazy inside. “Your journal, I…” A flicker of emotion crossed her face. “And the documents. I know everything.”

Silence for a moment. The sorrow dissolved somehow, to be replaced by a determined look, and her eyes are now full of something approaching hate instead. “None of your fucking business is going through my shit,” she spat bitterly in an acid-like hiss.

“Fuck off, I was well within my rights,” one snapped back, and then finally came the first knife to emotion-piercing. “You betrayed us, Rachel. You betrayed the pack. How could you do this?”

With a jarring noise that always signals its sudden occurrence, Rachel just sort of stood up. “Hayley, you just don’t get it. You don’t even know what the fuck you are talking about.

“Then explain it to me.” I pushed back, standing up as well. “Tell us why you were performing werewolf experiments… Why were you working with the Order of the Crescent Moon?

She looked at me ominously, and for a brief moment, I contemplated if she would say it. But then something in her snapped. “You want to know the truth? Fine. I -, she spat, her tone quivering with emotion.

Then she rose and began to walk the room, agitated. “Hayley, the order promised me power. They told me we could use the werewolves as ours to imprint power on them. Something

unparalleled. I was fed up with living in the dark. I was fed up with being helpless. They provided me with an opportunity to rectify that.

“But at what cost?” My voice was breaking. I demanded.

“You put lives at risk, Rachel. You put our pack at risk. How could you be so selfish?”

She stopped pacing, her eyes locking onto mine with a cold intensity. “You don’t get it, do you? This was never just about me. This was about survival. About ensuring that we would never be hunted, never be prey again.”

I shook my head, disbelief washing over me. “This isn’t survival, Rachel. This is madness. And it ends now.”

Her expression twisted into a snarl. “You think you can stop me? You think you can just walk in here and undo everything I’ve worked for?”

Before I could react, Rachel lunged at me, her movements swift and brutal. We crashed to the floor, her hands clawing at me as I struggled to defend myself. The room around us became a blur of motion and noise as we fought, our emotions boiling over into violence.

“Rachel, stop!” I cried, trying to push her away. But she was relentless, her strength fueled by desperation and rage.

We tumbled across the floor, knocking over furniture and scattering books and papers. I managed to land a solid blow to her side, and for a moment, she faltered. Seizing the opportunity, I scrambled to my feet, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

But Rachel was far from done. She rose to her feet, her eyes wild with fury. “You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” she snarled, advancing on me once more, barely keeping her balance as I managed to dodge another one of her furious charges.

Rachel scowled at me, her fists clenched so tightly that her knuckles turned white. “Why are you doing this? Why can’t you just accept what I’m trying to do? Don’t you see? We would’ve been hunted otherwise.”

I sputtered in disbelief. “How could we possibly survive by being so blind? Survivalism is only about violence-bullying people until they stop existing or defending ourselves until they get tired. You don’t understand anything!”

Suddenly, Rachel’s face twisted in rage. “And you think you’ll be able to stop me? As if you just walked into my world and decided to take away everything I’ve worked for!”

Before I realized it was happening, Rachel was already on me, moving at breakneck speed and hitting me with everything she had. We landed on the ground while still trying our best to maintain distance from each other, but now there are no such rules anymore. The air filled with fast-moving shadow figures struggling inside flying chairs rumbled beneath our feet; my beating heart echoed in my ears as if I were standing directly next to the drums used by musicians back home.

“Rachel please!” I shouted, but all my words fell on deaf ears-she wouldn’t listen even if Heaven opened up before us all right now!

She was strong, riding through despair and anger on top of being very powerful. She was so powerful, in fact, that her strength seemed to have exploded out of their cages due to being released by rage. There was no stopping her from stripping both flesh off fierce opponents’ pretty faces as well as sharp teeth out of terrified kill-joys mouths.

That was the only opening I would get. And I did, in the last bit of courage left within me to go up and tackle her with all force, bringing her then down to the ground. I blinked, and Aiden was there beside me, helping to hold her back.

‘Rachel, it’s the end,’ he said through his teeth, leaving no room for debate. “You need to stop this.”

There was a moment where she almost did. And then she rose with a snarl, breaking free from us by that pure monstrous push. The thrill lurched me back, my heart pounding in my chest.

“Stay back!” Rachel shrieked, and her eyes flashed with a wicked gleam. “None of you understand! We must stand up together-this is bigger than all of us!

“Please, Rachel,” I appealed and trembled. “We can help you. You don’t have to do this.”

But she wasn’t listening. Her eyes flitted around the room, obviously thinking furiously. You won’t ruin this, she muttered under her breath-not to us. You are not stealing this from me.

Before either of us could respond, Rachel took off for the front door. Aiden and I shared a look, our silent agreement spoken between us. We couldn’t let her escape.

We chased her through the house and beyond into the woods, leaves obscuring our vision as we tore down their branches. The effort made my lungs burn, but I didn’t care; all I wanted was to end her.

“Rachel, stop!” I called, my voice desperate. “You don’t have to do this!”

But she didn’t slow down. If such a thing were possible, she seemed to run even faster, urgency spurring speed. Aiden hovered behind me; his body felt like ballast amidst the roaring chaos.

With her careful pacing, we finally caught up to her at the edge of a cliff with no place left to run, and behind that was nothing but empty space below, as though it were an exact metaphor for perfect symbolism about how perilous danger all while surrounded by.

Suddenly, she twisted around towards us with a mad, wild expression in her eyes.

“Stay back!” ‘NO!” she screamed, backing away towards the edge. I will jump if you come any closer!

“Rachel, no,” I pleaded as my heart shattered in a thousand directions. “This isn’t the way. We can find another solution. We can help you.”

She glanced up to meet my eyes, and briefly I saw the vestiges of the sister she had once been. Then her face went hard, and she shook it off.

No,” she said, her voice quivering. “It’s too late for that.”

As if on cue, as she tried to step backward again, her boot slipped in the gravel, and off balance, she momentarily stood teetering. My natural reaction was to lunge at her and grab her.

“Rachel!” Her finger slipped from mine, and she vomited into the tank, plummeting downward as I yelled.

She was falling to the earth, and everything felt like it happened in slow motion from that moment on. I was aghast, and my heart twisted in horror as she vanished behind the entrance. I heard her hit, the sound splitting through us in an audible splash of flesh about as loud and almost as visceral to me.

I gasped, my legs buckling beneath me. Aiden dropped to the bed in an instant, collapsing around me, and I cried. And I rasped out. “She is gone now, with no help from me. She’s really gone.”

He was holding on to me like he never wanted to let go, his convulsions shaking his body as though some part of him had not come back from that dream. Hayley, I am so sorry,” he muttered in a heavy voice.

We were together a long time, the back of purgatory heavy on our backs. The sun slipped below the horizon, and shadows lengthened on the ground where Rachel had died. I absolutely could not stop staring at this spot, my mind playing the event over and over again.

Aiden helped me hobble up to my feet a short while later. We have turned around,” he said softly. We still have so much work to do.

My head bobbed, and my heart was ridden with grief. There was still danger ahead, but I knew there would be more, and we could not go back. We know Rachel and her death had to matter. We had to see this through.

Aiden helped me to the pack house, where I clung onto him, soaking in his strength. In all that darkness of ours, I knew what we’re going to be capable of as long as we were together.

I lay, wrapped in his embrace, that night, and while it would quickly be drowned out by the sorrow I carried on every other day, there was a spark of something lighter. The future was unknown, and the road would be hard ahead. I knew we could make it through whatever storm was coming our way with Aiden by my side, supporting and loving us.

“I love you, Aiden.” I choked out my voice on the brink of tears.

” I love you too,” he said against my lips. “Forever and always.”

We fell asleep to the sound of her voice, and all I could do was hold onto that promise-we would face it together. There was much more to the adventure ahead, but as long as Aiden kept me company, I knew that I could face whatever came next.

Aiden and I walked back to the pack house with heaviness in our hearts this afternoon. The turmoil and grief were immediate, yet so too was a sense of solidarity that I daresay grew while we queued up to mourn. If anything, we needed each other more than ever now.

As evening arrived, we took comfort in the solitude of our barrack. It was as if the walls were doing us a favor by pressing in to offer some respite and safety from everything out there. Aiden wrapped his arm around me and held me close, so gentle it almost hurt yet warm as if promising to protect and keep away any harm.

“Hi, Hayley,” he said, his voice quiet but certain. “We can get through this together.”

I gazed into his eyes, seeing the deepness of his heart and devotion. “I know, Aiden. I just… I never thought it would end up like this.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

He took my face in his hands, wiping the tears that had started to stream down with his thumbs. “We will do her memory right by stopping the order. And we will all be there, holding hands.”

His voice had an intensity to it that put me at ease. I was basking in his touch, loving him more than everything else around me. “I love you, Aiden. More than anything.”

I love you back, he said, his voice gravelly with emotion. “Forever and always.”

We kissed, which was a balm to our broken hearts. It was a gentle start, a light touch that breathed comfort and solace. Then, deepening into kisses and a passionate search for solace.

Aiden’s hands slid down my body to my waist, where he clutched me tightly and pressed our bodies together as close as they could get. It tingled where he touched, feeling as though lighting was tearing down my back. I clicked his neck up, wrapping my arms around it, and was greeted with a big hug from him.

‘Hayley… I need you,’ he breathed against my lips, his voice hot and desperate. “I need to feel you. If only to know that we are still here and still fighting.

I simply nodded; nothing I could think of saying even came close to the feelings inside. I said nothing else but pulled him closer with my actions, tugging at his hair. We undulated together, our bodies dancing a dance of want and lust, each graze and every taste an affirmation that we lived and breathed with one another. At the time, there was nothing else. The outside world, with all its dangers and insecurities, disappeared, leaving only the two of us.

When we held each other, curled around stylized shapes of skin on hips and breasts, and had our breath in unison with each other’s scented whispers, it was tranquil. The future was a surprise to me, but this moment and this bond were real.

Aiden stroked lazy patterns between my shoulder blades, his touch a balm and I never wanted to let go.