"I hate you," Eleanor yelled at the startled hybrid who kept staring down at her like he had never seen her before. No one had ever uttered such mean words to her before. It had struck deeper than any knife could and it hurt so much, she couldn't bear it. Perhaps, it hurt so much because it was the truth. Was that why no one loved her or cared for her like they did Cassy? Because she was nice and oddly gullible? Eleanor always believed that your best qualities are those things that make you stand out from the rest. She didn't want to be like Cassy. She wasn't made to be kind or subservient. She was smart, and a woman who would always go after what she wanted. She was not weak. She was strong. She didn't need to be loved by everyone. She only ever wanted to be loved by that one person. And he was Lino. No one else mattered to her as much as he did. The opinion of other people didn't matter to her as well. But why then, did it hurt so much? She couldn't stop
Cassy took a step back from the box, unsure of how long her feet would keep her standing. "They say the humans do these. They call it proposals," he said and she could tell he was way out of his comfortable zone by the blush that reddened his sturdy cheeks. "I am not a romantic man, and words are not my strong point. But... I want to do this the proper way," he said, plucking the ring from its holder with trembling fingers. Cassy's eyes stung with joyful tears, and she might have told him he was doing perfectly fine if she wasn't overwhelmed by too many emotions at once. He dropped the box, and took a step toward her, eyes brimming with intensity and...a single tear slid down Cassy's cheek when she realized what the other emotion in his eyes was. Love. She began sobbing in earnest. Lino loved her. He took her hand, smiling softly, but he frowned when he peered down at her smooth fingers. Cassy laughed amidst tears when she realized why. He didn't kn
"Do you have any idea why they are killing them?" Eleanor asked, wrapped in numerous sheets, lying on the ground. Yes. He had made sure to take the bed and leave her to lie on the ground where he felt she deserved to be. She had whined for the better half of the night, complaining about how the ground was hard and cold, and he had blissfully ignored her until she got tired and stayed put. She was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep. So she had taken to asking him questions, and funnily enough, he had been responsive. It would seem she wasn't alone in being unable to sleep. "No," he said after a moment's hesitation, and Eleanor blinked back at the darkness as she said, "You're lying." "And if I am? There is little you can do about it. Not that you even care for the state of the people in these lands," his voice returned to her in the dark and Eleanor flipped on her belly to look in the direction of the bed. "Why does it constantly feel like you are judging me?"
Lino's lips trailed the arch of Cassy's neck and she found that she was already writhing, ready for him. The ceremony had been beautiful, and never in her life had she felt something so deep, so meaningful. The celebration after had been a joyful affair, but Cassy and Lino had been unable to her hands and eyes off Lino. It had been mutual. They had excused themselves from the gathering with the excise of having some work to do, but she suspected everyone in the gathering had been able to smell what the real reason was. Her fingers slid into his hair and just when he began shrugging off her dress, someone knocked on their door. Lino snarled against her skin and the vibration caused her toes to curl. "Go away, Kayden." But the Beta didn't. He knocked again and his voice flowed into Lino's chambers. "This is urgent, Alpha. You have...visitors." "They can wait," Lino said, hands tightening about Cassy's hips. "Every damned visitor can wait. Not now, Kayden."
Eleanor had known something was wrong the moment she had awoken. Why? He had shoved her onto her feet before she even had the chance to get up from the bed herself. He hadn’t spoken a single word to her as she shoved her outside the inn in the early hours of the morning. Not that they had established any sort of relationship since they had begun the journey to her doom together, but he had never been so cold. So wound up tight. So closed off. They had fallen into a insult-growling routine, and she had grown comfortable with hating him and yelling at him every day. It made easy for venting. This was strange. New. Odd. And it disturbed her deeply. “What is wrong with you?” Eleanor asked as he raised her roughly and dumped her atop the horse. He said nothing, go around to climb atop his horse. “What? You’re mad at me again? Is this about last night? I didn’t do anything wrong. You kissed me. I should be mad. Why exactly are you being so cruel right now?” He s
Lino took a few steps towards Eleanor's cell and he crouched down to really take a look at the woman he had nearly spent his life with. The woman he had spent everyday defending and caring for. The woman he had let pacify him on his tough days. The woman in whose arms he had cried when he had lost Cassy. The woman he had once mated with and marked as his Luna. The woman who killed Cassy and their child. "Eleanor," he said, voice thick and heavy with emotions. Rage, disgust, hatred, pity. She dashed forward, reaching through the bars of the gate to cup his cheeks, honey brown eyes wide with despair and desperation. "Lino. My love. I need you to understand that I would never do anything to harm you. I love you. What I did, I did for us. That woman is using you, and manipulating you." Lino's hands lifted and his fingers curled around hers. She smiled softly as he held her fingers, but she soon screamed when he squeezed it hard enough to break every delicat
Cassy shot up from her seat. “What do you mean key? Raising me from the dead doesn’t mean I have the Goddess’s blood in me.” The hybrid’s face remained tight with impatience, and rather than hold her gaze, his gaze shifted to Lino. “One does not shift from being an Omega to an Alpha overnight. If not anyone else, you must have noticed that she did not return the same way she left. For life to be reformed, something must be given.” Cassy wasn’t sure she was breathing anymore. The Goddess had given her that much to survive and avenge her child’s death? That didn’t make sense. She suddenly recalled Sasha’s words from that day at the cave. Was there really some other reason why the Goddess had chosen her? Saved her? Selene had said as much, but she hadn’t understood it. She didn’t understand any of the things being said to her. Lino’s fingers wrapped around her upper arm in a bid to soothe her, but Cassy could hardly calm down. She was already agitated by the hybrid’s words
Eleanor looked up from her cell at the sound of heavy boots hitting the ground. Her heart jumped at the hope of it being Lino but she scowled when she saw who it was. "Surprised to see you're still alive. What must you have told him that didn't make him kill you on sight?" Eleanor asked Julian. He shrugged and settled into a crouch beside her cage. She eyed him warily, wondering why he was seated by her cell. "The truth," he said simply, leaning back against the barred wall. Eleanor's glance shifted from the hybrid to the men guarding the dungeons. "I am not supposed to have visitors. They let you in here to come see me? Why?" His eyelids drooped. "I can go wherever I wish, thief. I cannot be bound by your kind. If I wish to be somewhere, I will get there." Eleanor's eye brow quirked up. "You wish to be here right now?" The hybrid's eyes snapped open and he casted her a sidelong glance. "You do have a way with words. I do not wish to be here. I cam