The Ripple Effect

"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey."

I pried my eyes open by nothing short of a miracle (curious about the gentle voice humming through the silence) and I immediately became aware of the hand that held mine.

"You'll never know, dear, how much I love you..."

"O—Orion?"

I glanced down at myself, fully aware that the cool air was touching my skin much more than it should have if I had been wearing my jeans. But what was I wearing, some kind of silk night gown? It definitely wasn't mine. I was a tank top and PJ bottoms kind of girl.

"Orion? Don’t be silly. Sweetheart, it's me: Daniel. You always sing to me when I'm feeling ill, so I thought I'd sing for you. It's your favourite song."

I grumbled incoherent nonsense, still trying to make sense of everything, as I rolled my head on the pillow so I could see him.

I tried to sit up, but I just couldn't do it. What...?

"Rein is waiting outside. Just tell me when you're feeling well enough to see him. He really needs you right now; quite the bomb was just dropped on him. But he needed to know."

"Daniel, why can't I move?"

"I do this because I love you, Lillian." What! "I don't want you hurting yourself. Should I tell Rein to come in?"

"Daniel, are you on the phone or something?" I asked, fighting to lift my wrists. My body was a bit numb, so I had to look to see that it was rope that restrained me! "Daniel! What the hell is going on!"

"Lillian, you hate cursing," he chided, reaching forward and brushing his thumb over my lip. It made me squirm uncomfortably as my skin crawled.

"I'm Sophie, Daniel. Lillian isn't—"

"I'll go get Rein," he said quickly, bolting from my side.

My eyes followed him as he hurried to the door and threw it open. Rein eyed him carefully before looking to me. His face lit up.

"Mama, are you better now?" he asked, pushing past Daniel and darting up to me. "Mama, Daniel says that you were feeling sick. But now you're better, right? I love you, Mama."

"I'm better, baby," I promised, but I cursed under my breath over the fact that I could not hold him. "Has Daniel done anything to you? Are you hurt?"

He opened his mouth, but Daniel growled.

"Why the hell would I hurt my son!"

"Your son?" I glowered at him. "Daniel, I'm Sophie; and that is Rein, Luca's son."

"Like hell he's Luca's son! I didn't spend months fawning over you to have that bastard take my own son from me!"

"What are you even talking about?" I hissed. "You had better stop this right now, or I'll tell Orion—"

"Tell your mother what I told you, Rein," Daniel murmured, suddenly gentle again as he gave Rein a gentle push toward me. "Go on."

"He says that..." Rein glanced to him before looking back to me. "He says that Orion's brother isn't my Papa. He says that he's my Papa. But I thought that Orion and Jonathan were my family, Mama. I thought that Orion—"

"That's enough!" Daniel snapped, pushing Rein back. "There will be no talk of other males! You're mine. You—" He pointed at me "—have been mine since I saw you seven years ago. And you—" He threw his finger at Rein "—have been mine since you were born. So there will be no more mention of Luca or Orion, got it? I won't repeat myself."

"What are you even talking about?" I growled, watching him carefully.

"I said I don't repeat myself," he warned, heading back toward the door. But then he glanced back at me, a warm smile on his lips. "Lillian, are you hungry?"

I nodded meekly. Anything to get him to leave!

"I'll fetch you some soup. I know how much you love my soup."

The door clicked behind him, and I looked to Rein.

"Baby, I need you to be strong for me, okay?" He nodded slowly. "Can you untie my wrists?"

"Mama, I'm scared," he whimpered, grabbing the knots in shaking fingers.

"I know. But I need you to be brave, baby. I'll protect you will all that I have. I always will, okay?"

As soon as my hands were freed, I pulled him into my arms and kissed his face feverishly. My body was still numb, but I hobbled over to the window and threw it open. I pushed Rein through first, and I followed him quickly.

Daniel had clearly gone insane! And neither Rein nor I would be here when he had another episode.

I held Rein's hand tightly as we ran through the dark thicket with no direction in mind—as long as it took us far away from the crumbling house behind us. Rein was trembling, but I couldn't really think about comforting him. Surely this was a horrible dream.

A loud roar in the distance made my blood run cold. Daniel...

"Baby, I need you to shift and tell Orion to come find you, okay?" I whispered, pushing him with as much strength as I could muster.

"You shift, too, Mama," he begged, trying to grab my hand again.

"Honey, I can't. Daniel must have done something... I can't hear Regina—" That water! That must have been it... "Just run and get Orion, okay? Tell him to track down Daniel and to come find me. I love you."

He tried to fight me, but thankfully Aster took control. I had to watch my baby disappear into the darkness, with no assurance that he would be okay. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I veered to the right and kept going with the hopes that Daniel would come after me instead of my baby.

"I know you're out here," Daniel cooed, and I only had just enough time to duck behind a tree. "You won't get very far with all those drugs in your system."

I took a step, but a twig snapped beneath my foot. A curse slipped out of my lips, and Daniel's laughter filled my ears. With no better options, I made a break for it.

"I always loved the chase!"

"Leave me alone!" I screamed, stupidly taking the bait.

My breaths were shallow and frantic, and my lungs burned for the oxygen I just couldn't give them. I just kept running, begging for him to just leave me alone. It was so dark that I could hardly see the trees in front of me. Regina's heightened senses had vanished... It was like he had killed my wolf. I was alone, weak and useless like I had been before.

A hand clamped down my shoulder, and I screamed out as loud as I could when I was jerked backward. His other hand covered my mouth. I could feel his lips on my ear.

"Now beg me to leave you alone again," he breathed as his finger trailed along my jaw. "Beg me to leave, and tell me that I can have your money if I just let you go. Tell me so I can remind you again that all I want is you. You're still so perfect... Just as perfect as you were on your eighteenth birthday in that tight little blue dress. The likeness is so uncanny... Like my Lillian in every way."

I shook my head furiously. Daniel? But Daniel was nice, he was sweet. He was...

He whipped me around, and my eyes widened in uncontrollable fear. In this moonlight, his eyes shone with that evil glint and his creepy grin lit up his face. That crooked nose, the soulless, remorseless stare.

It wasn't Luca. Luca was completely innocent.

It was Daniel.

Daniel, the man who was supposed to be Luca's Beta, who was supposed to be Luca's best friend. He was the reason Luca had been chased out of his home, pushed from his title.

He said he thought about being Alpha...

I grabbed his hand and pried it from my mouth.

"This won't make you Alpha," I hissed, shaking my head. "Orion is more of an Alpha than you could ever be."

"I was supposed to be Alpha, not him!" he snarled, slamming me against a tree with way too much force.

I tried to stop it by awkwardly twisting my arms out behind me, but I heard a sickening snap. Blood filled my mouth as I bit down on my tongue to stop the rising scream. Tears filled my eyes.

My arm was beyond broken.

"But that'll all change. I'll get rid of Orion just as easily as I pushed Luca out of the picture. Jonathan... Rein.... And you'll give me my third son. What should we name him?"

"You're stupid if you think I'll just let this happen again!"

The wind was knocked out of me, and I choked, trying to find air, when he rammed his elbow into my stomach. When my knees collapsed, he caught me easily and threw me over his shoulder.

"Sweetheart... This time is going to be special. We're going to be mated, bonded. Forever. We'll be very happy together, a family—like we should have been . And this time, I won't let anything take you from me. Not again."

...So please don't take my sunshine away...