It’s Funny How Love Starts (IFHLS Book 1)

Zane’s POV

“Ugh, what happened?” I asked, groaning from the unimaginable pain and the soreness that spread throughout my entire body. To sum it up, I basically felt like shit.

Alexia and Uncle Amos looked at me as if they had seen a ghost. “What’s going on?” I asked suspiciously. The last thing I remembered was talking to Phoebe for any new information about the fire accident. What did she say? I didn’t remember and the harder I tried, the worse my headache became.

“Zane?” Alexia said confused but in a split second, she came running to hug me, knocking me down which made my headache go from ‘feels like shit’ to ‘in hell,’ but it was worth it to have Alexia hug the living daylights out of me. I was shocked when I felt warm tears spill from her pretty face. Why was she crying? It wasn’t like I was dead or something.

“What’s this all about?” I asked confused. Why were we even outside anyways? Infinite questions roamed through my head.

“You died,” Alexia said rather bluntly, still not letting me go. Oh. Not really the answer I hoped to hear.

“Then shouldn’t I be in hell?” I joked, still not getting it. Come on, I was alive, not dead.

“This isn’t the time to joke,” Amos said, looking both troubled and hopeful. “Alexia has a special ability. Something I haven’t seen in age.”

“Special ability?” Alexia asked, confused. I reflected her confusion but now wasn’t the time to ask questions. Amos stood still, his face told him he was somewhere else.

“Grayson is calling me for backup. I need to get back in,” Amos said after staying still for a minute. Elder Grayson must’ve been talking to the Elders in their mind connection. Amos looked at the two of us as if he had something more to say.

“What happened?” I asked. It seemed like I had passed out longer than I had thought.

“You were shot by werewolf hunters, you died, we escaped with your dead body, Alexia brought you back to life, and now there’s a huge battle inside, very much similar to the one that happened exactly three years ago. People and their timing, sheesh,” Amos said, annoyed. “I’ll be right back. You guys go on ahead and hide where it’s safe.”

Well, the way he told me that I had basically died and came back to life out of the blue was very blunt and simple.

“No, I’m coming with you,” I said, standing up. My head swooned but I did my best to show him that I was capable of fighting.

“What about your sister? Are you just going to leave her to fend for herself?” Amos growled. “You need get out of here with her.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m not here. I’m helping to,” Alexia butted in.

“NO,” Amos and I shouted at the same time. At least we had one common view.

“Well, watch me,” she said stubbornly and ran back towards the house. Sometimes her stubbornness got her into too much trouble.

I need all the backup we have. The humans brought their whole fucking army. It was Lucas’ voice that rang in my head. Well it was amplified even louder because of that stupid headache.

“Lucas is asking for backup so I’m up,” I said, running inside. I caught up with Alexia and stopped her before she could venture any further.

“Stop being a psychotic idiot and get out of here,” I said, slamming her into the wall. I felt bad for being so forceful but she had to know that she could die in there and I was too selfish to let that happen.

“I can heal, Zane. Didn’t you hear Amos?” Alexia said, annoyed. Her eyes kept eyeing the door into the ballroom. I slammed my arm and hit the wall, concealing the ballroom. That got her attention. “I can probably save a whole lot of people in there and then we’ll have a better chance!” Alexia reasoned in a calmer voice.

“Don’t you see? You’re one of a kind. You die then we’re all screwed,” I said irritated.

“Well if you don’t have me out there you’re already screwed,” she spat back. Well we weren’t totally screwed but I guess we would have a way better chance with her. I was pretty sure Lucas, the Elders, and I could hold up the hunters before the do any serious damage. Then Alexia would be safe but if she joined, she’ll just be a distraction to Lucas and me since we would constantly have to watch her.

“I can’t let you get hurt. I’ll be too distracted on protecting you,” I said, frustrated. Why can’t she understand how valuable she is?

In the corner of my peripheral vision, I saw one of the werewolf hunters. I quickly ran over to him and strangled him by the neck, ready to break his spinal cord which would end his life when I noticed who it was.

Travis.

That’s when it all hit me.

How on earth would the hunters know that there would be a big party with Lucas Slade and the Elders and at the same time able to contact the hunters?

Travis.

That bastard.

“Let go of me,” he said in a choked, forceful voice.

“You bastard. You told them!” I yelled. I know I should’ve taken it a notch down but my werewolf instincts kept telling me to kill him. He was lucky to still be alive.

“I don’t know…how they……found…out…Blood promise,” he said, his voice choked by my strong hold.

“Zane, let him go,” Alexia yelled, shoving me aside, making me lose my hold.

Travis backed up against the wall, trying to be far away from me as possible. “I took that blood promise. I wouldn’t have been able to tell them,” Travis hissed, rubbing his neck.

“All you promised was to help us with the murder case and accept your failed mission. You gave away our location,” I snarled. Lucas should’ve made the promise clearer or else none of this would have happened in the first place. Jace’s idea of killing Travis when we had a chance now seemed like a good idea.

“But I didn’t. I’m done dealing with them. I was too busy in the hunter’s library researching and I found some interesting things you probably want to see” Alexia and I glanced at each other. He had both caught our attention.

“What do you know?” Alexia asked, closing in on him. I did the same, feeling like an investigator.

Travis’ eyes widened with alarm. “Watch out!” he said, pulling out his gun and shot a hunter who was just about to shoot us.

“You killed your own men,” I said, unable to mask my shock. That had got to be the most disgraceful thing anyone could do.

“And I told you, I’m done dealing with them. I found some stuff about myself to like how your father killed my father but oh wait, you already knew that,” Travis spat bitterly.

Shit. I know dad did wrong but Travis’ harsh accusation was annoying the crap out of me. I was about to remark something rude when Alexia held my arm and talked instead.

“I’m sorry Travis we didn’t know until recently to and for that, we’re in your debt but we’re really on a tight schedule so I think we should kill our common enemies and then claw each other’s eyes,” Alexia interrupted. It was a good thing she spoke because what I had in mind would probably start a huge fight.

“Fair enough,” Travis grumbled, pushing us through. He looked back, seeing how we weren’t following him. “What are you waiting for? Let’s kick ass.”