"Don't look back, Lily," Brandy urged urgently. She knew they needed to get as far away as possible. Her father would stop at nothing to possess Lily, and she had to find a way to hide her until things calmed down.
The chaos from the packhouse faded into the distance as Lily and Brandy sprinted through the woods. Lily's breath came ragged and panicked, and her once-pristine white gown now fluttered behind her, tattered and dirtied by the forest.
"Let's shift," Lily suggested as she tried to catch her breath. "We can move much faster that way."
"We don't have time. We can't pause. They will catch up to us," Brandy replied. She continued to pull Lily forward. Brandy could hear chuckling in Brandy's mind.
'You idiotic girl. Do you really think you can escape me?' The voice mocked her.
Brandy knew the voice and didn't want to believe that this person was following them. She didn't want to face them if she didn't have to.
The forest seemed to swallow them whole, with towering trees pressing in from all sides. Every fiber of Lily's being screamed for her to turn around and join the fight alongside those who cared about her. But Brandy had an iron grip on her wrist. Lily had no idea who was winning or losing in the battle, and the uncertainty gnawed at her.
'We can reach out to Tiffany. Maybe she can tell us what is going on,' Lily thought.
'Don't be stupid. She is fighting to keep us safe. Contacting her could be the turning point where her throat is torn out. Just keep running,' Dina disagreed.
'What if Brandy is just trying to get us alone to hurt us?' Lily asked.
'Don't let your fear and worry consume you. We beat her before, and we can beat her again,' Dina replied.
Brandy and Lily continued their frantic run, each step carrying them further from the chaos behind. The path through the woods felt eerily familiar, as if Lily had walked these very woods in another lifetime. Lily wrenched her wrist free from Brandy's grasp, her instincts guiding her down a different path.
"What are you doing? You're going away from the road," Brandy asked, running after Lily. No matter how fast she ran, she couldn't catch up to Lily to pull her back to the proper trail.
Minutes stretched into what felt like hours until Lily came to an abrupt halt. Before her stood a gnarled, ancient tree, its twisted branches reaching for the sky. It was a tree she had never seen before, yet it felt achingly familiar. Long-suppressed memories began to resurface.
"What are you doing?" Brandy asked, her voice a mix of confusion and urgency. "Why did you bring us here? We need to leave now."
Lily's breaths came in ragged gasps as realization dawned upon her. This was the place from her recurring dreams-the place where her mother had left her, the place where she had been killed. A shiver coursed through her spine, and she couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sadness wash over her.
"This is where my mother was killed," Lily muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.
"What? Why did you bring us here?" Brandy exclaimed. "Let's go. We need to go now!"
As Lily stood there, grappling with the haunting memories of her past, and before Brandy could pull her away, a soft and sinister voice sliced through the silence from behind. "How cute that you've come to the very same place where she did."
Lily's heart leaped into her chest, her body tensing with fear. She turned slowly to face the voice, her eyes widening in disbelief. There, before them, stood Mandy, her expression twisted into a chilling smile.
Lily's voice trembled as she uttered the words she had long suspected but never dared to speak aloud. "It was you, wasn't it? You were the one who killed my mother."
Mandy's smile widened, a vicious glint in her eyes. "Why ask such a stupid question? Of course I did."
"You said you never knew her mother!" Brandy exclaimed.
"Quiet. This does not concern you. I will deal with you later," Mandy snapped at Brandy before focusing her attention back on Lily. She took glee in watching Lily have a breakdown right in front of her.
Lily's legs felt weak, and her mind was struggling to process the truth she had uncovered. She felt no love from Mandy, but she never expected her to do something so horrible to her. If it wasn't for her, she would have had a loving parent and known her grandmother instead of growing up ignored and neglected. Lily sank to her knees, tears streaming down her face.
"You're more pathetic than your mother; at least she didn't cower in fear before her death. You shouldn't be so upset with me. Kenneth was on board with this," Mandy continued with a cruel laugh.
"Why did you do this? She was your friend!" Lily exclaimed.
Mandy circled them like a predator, her voice dripping with malice. "I had to eliminate the competition, and I took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself. She didn't deserve to be Luna. She wanted to run away, but I knew Kenneth would never let her go until I got rid of her. Abigail made it so easy by hiding her identity. Kenneth could have cared less. I thought that it would have been easy to get rid of her, but she put up a fight. If I had known you were just a bastard child, I would've killed you too. I plan to rectify that tonight."
Lily's grief turned to rage. "You are the pathetic one. You were never Kenneth's first choice. Just like killing my mother didn't make you a priority, killing me won't make him want you anymore."
Mandy's confident expression faltered for just a second before she said, "Maybe so, but if he won't have me, then no one will."
"You're not going to get away with this. My mother was isolated. I'm not, and you're going to pay for what you've done," Lily growled.
Mandy chuckled darkly, her voice dripping with arrogance. "You're in no position to make threats. You're alone in the woods, far from help, and the pack is in chaos. Who do you think will come to your rescue?"
"I'm here," Brandy said, standing protectively in front of Lily. "I won't let you harm her."
Mandy cackled before rolling her eyes at Brandy. "Are you serious? Do you really think that Lily will protect you? You'll betray your flesh and blood for this mongrel. All she will do once her life is secured is throw you into a dungeon to have your head chopped off later."
"No, I would never..."
"She would never do that," Brandy interrupted Lily. "You are projecting. That's what you would do. I will take whatever punishment I deserve, but I won't allow you to harm her anymore. I won't let you use me to harm her."
A flicker of hurt crossed over Mandy's face at the thought of her own daughter turning her back on her. But she quickly regained her composure, her eyes narrowing with menace. "So be it. If you're against me, you'll die right along with her. I'm young. I can have another daughter!"
Mandy lunged forward, shifting in mid-air, and Brandy rushed to meet her, their fangs clashing as they tore at each other. The intensity of their battle shocked Lily. She couldn't believe her eyes as Brandy fought to protect her.
'We need to help her,' Dina thought, and Lily allowed her to take control. The shift was slow due to not being aided by the moon, but Dina tried to force the shift as quickly as possible.
Mandy caught Brandy by the throat, shaking her violently and trying to rip her throat out. Dina ran forward, clamping her jaws over the bridge of Mandy's snout, causing her to yelp and release Brandy.
"Your fight is with me," Dina growled as she lowered her head.
"Come on, little girl. Show me what you can do," Mandy taunted, her eyes glinting with sadistic pleasure.