Chapter 133
Scarlett’s POV (One Year Later). Total of three years)
The sun was high over the Nigerian mountains, beating down on the red earth of the combat grounds as I watched a group of teenagers practice their defensive strikes. My skin had darkened slightly from the long hours under the sun, and my muscles were lean and strong from constant training.
I wasn’t the fragile, broken girl who had arrived here in the middle of the night; I was a warrior, a healer, and a woman who had finally learned to stand on her own feet.
“Keep your guards up!” I called out, my voice carrying across the field with a strength that surprised even me. “The moment you drop your hands is the moment you lose your life p>
As they adjusted their stances, the cellphone in my pocket began to vibrate. I didn’t even have to look at the screen to know who it was. Only one person in the world had this number.
“Continue the drill,” I told the pupils, waving them off before walking toward the edge of the clearing to answer. “Hello, Ethan p>
“How are you doing, Scarlett?” Ethan’s voice sounded composed, but there was a tension in it that I hadn’t heard when we spoke earlier this morning.
“I’m doing great, Ethan. I just finished a session with the new recruits,” I replied, wiping sweat from my forehead. “But you didn’t call me back just to check on my training. What happened p>
Ethan sighed, and I could hear him pacing on the other end. “I know we talked this morning, but I just received some information that couldn’t wait. As you know, the triplets’ parents and your own parents have been breathing down my neck for months, asking about you. As always, I’ve told them that you decided to disappear and that I don’t know where you are p>
“I know that,” I said, already sensing something was up. “And we still haven’t found out for sure who sent those masked men to my apartment in France. Until we have a name, nothing changes p>
“That’s the thing,” Ethan said, sighing. “Sir Lennox just mind-linked me with some massive news. Apparently, Aunt Olivia—the triplets’ mother—is planning to reveal that she is actually alive. She’s going to show herself to the triplets and the entire pack next month, on the day of her memorial p>
I froze.
“Sir Lennox told me to inform you,” Ethan continued. “He said that with Olivia coming back, the danger is over. He thinks you can finally come out of hiding now because they are going to tell the triplets that you are alive, too p>
A bitter laugh escaped my throat before I could stop it. The thought of walking back into that packhouse, seeing the triplets with their marked wives, and facing the people who let me be hunted like an animal made my blood run cold.
“No,” I said, my voice as sharp as a blade. “Tell them I don’t want the triplets to know I’m alive. Not yet p>
“Scarlett, are you sure? You can’t keep hiding in Nigeria p>
I swallowed hard. “If they find out I’m alive, they will search for me, Ethan. They will tear the world apart until they find me, and I’m not ready for that,” I said, looking out at the vast African horizon. “If Aunt Olivia wants to come back from the dead, she can have her moment. But I’m staying a ghost. We still don’t know who wanted me dead in Paris, and I won’t risk my life—or the peace I’ve found here—until we do p>
“So you want to keep hiding?” Ethan asked.
“For now, yes,” I replied, my eyes hardening as I watched the teenagers sparring in the distance. “Let them have their reunion. I have my own life to build p>
Ethan sighed over the phone, his voice sounding very worried. “Scarlett, you have to start living your real life. You cannot stay hidden forever p>
“I am living my life, Ethan,” I said, looking at my hands. They were now strong and tough from all my hard work. “I am doing that right here. I am helping people, I am training, and for the first time, I can breathe. I don’t feel like I am stuck under someone else’s rules anymore. I am fine here, trust me p>
“I do trust you,” he replied quietly. “But the world is getting smaller. I will call you back if anything else changes. Stay safe p>
“I will. Goodbye, Ethan p>
I ended the call and put the phone back into my pocket. I took a deep breath of the warm air. I turned back to the field, ready to finish the training, but then the world around me suddenly moved.
Everything turned white for a second. Then, a flash of pictures exploded in my head. It was a vision. It felt so real, more real than the ground under my feet.
I saw one of my students, a young boy named Abel. He was jumping back to avoid a hit. I saw his foot catch on a sharp rock at the edge of the pit. Behind him, a sharp wooden pole was sticking out of the ground. In the vision, he fell backward, and the pole went through his chest. I heard the scream in my head before it even happened.
I blinked hard, and the vision went away. My heart was beating fast. I looked at the pit and saw it happening just like in the vision. Abel was laughing and stepping back. His foot was inches away from that exact sharp rock.
“STOP!” I screamed. My voice was as loud as thunder.
Everyone froze. Abel stopped moving. He was balancing on one foot right over the sharp stone. He looked at me with big eyes, feeling very confused and a little scared.
“Nobody move,” I told them. I rushed over to him, my chest moving up and down as I breathed hard.
I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the edge. I looked down and saw the wooden pole hidden behind a bush. It was exactly where I saw it in my head. If he had fallen, he would have been dead.
The teenagers were silent, staring at me as if I had grown a second head. I realized then that my hands were glowing with a faint, golden light—the same light from a year ago when I healed the Alpha’s son.
“The session is over for today,” I whispered, my heart still racing. “Go back to the packhouse. Now p>
As they hurried away, whispering among themselves, I looked up at the mountains. The old teacher was right. My power was growing, and it wasn’t just healing anymore. I was seeing things before they happened.