Enzo’s POVScarlett was asleep by the time we reached the medical centre. I laid her down gently on the crisp white bed and started carding my fingers through her hair, plucking out dry leaves and snapped twigs. Even in sleep she didn’t look peaceful, her full mouth twisted with pain and shadows hollowing out her closed eyes.“So, this is your mate?”I looked up, my fingertips stilling on her scalp. Medic Emila was a harried-looking woman in her late twenties, though the first streaks of grey in her brown hair and the permanent frown line between her eyebrows lent her years she was yet to live. “Yes.” I worked my jaw, but before I could fill the silence Emila set to inspecting Scarlett’s head.“I feel quite fortunate to be the first to meet her. Well – not quite the first.” She paled, her gaze flicking up to meet mine. “No.” Why had this incident rendered me an idiot? “And,” I added, “these are not the circumstances I wished for anyone to meet her under.”“Of course not, Alpha.”Sil
Scarlett’s POVEnzo kissed me. I was hyper-aware of every minute detail of it, from the heat of the hand in my hair to the hard press of his mouth to mine. It tasted of sweetness and raw desire; there was nothing chaste or soft about it, though there was an underlying gentleness that was always present in him when he looked at me.And, damn it all, I froze. Like an idiot my muscles locked; my lips parted and pursed against his but remained utterly unmoving. My heart beat fast and my lungs struggled to get enough air.He pulled back slightly, his eyebrows pulling together. His dark eyes glittered with guilt and, beneath it, hurt. I ached for him, and for what we could’ve been if only I hadn’t been– No. I wouldn’t let my past ruin this for me, too.I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back down to me. His lips were cool, but they warmed quickly; he groaned into my mouth, his tongue sliding against mine, his fingers tightening in my hair, on my waist. I pried myself away, pressing li
Enzo’s POVScarlett trembled in my arms, staring fixedly at my chest. A single finger reached for the whorl of ink that crested my collarbone, and she traced it, her touch feather-light, as she began to speak.“I realised I couldn’t shift into my wolf form when I was fifteen.” She inhaled shakily, even though this was a part of her story I’d already heard. Dread knotted in my belly. “My parents told me to hide it for as long as I could, but Alpha Ryker has us join training the day after our fifteenth birthdays. So he knew, as did everyone else, as soon as I was forced out onto the training field and just stood there.” Her breathing hitched, and she paused, her fingertip stilling at the hollow of my throat. It felt an oddly intimate, and memories of her – perked breasts, heavy breathing, flushed lips – shot straight down my core. I ran a hand down her side, settling it in the curve of her waist. “He gave me a week,” she continued, her tone going flat. “A week to shift, and prove that
Scarlett’s POVI jerked awake as the door slammed open. My head throbbed and my mouth tasted like cotton wool. I ran my tongue over the backs of my teeth and the seam of my lips, blinking dazedly as my eyes focused on the intruder.It took me a moment to feel scared, so sluggish was my weary brain. But the woman leaning against the doorframe didn’t look scary – her brown skin was creased around her eyes and mouth, though she didn’t look much older than me. It was a face well used to smiling, then, I thought, and the prick of fear in my chest eased.“Marla,” Enzo groaned, burying his head in the pillow. Any residual worries I’d had dissipated. He knew her and, by the looks of things, trusted her. Not another Warrior Wolf come to kill me, then. “Go away.”She scoffed, flicking her dark ponytail over her shoulder. “I’m doing you a favour. Half of the pack is downstairs. You wouldn’t want to be late to the Mates’ Luncheon, now, would you?”Then her gaze drifted to me. I wet my lips, sudde
Enzo’s POV I was barely aware of what I was doing as I stood up, so abruptly that my chair was knocked backwards – with such force that it smashed on the floor. My fingers trembled as I reached for Scarlett’s hand, but my glare was firm as I looked out upon the jeering bunch of idiots that my pack had suddenly become. “Don’t run,” I murmured to her, squeezing her hand. “If you run, they win.” She nodded mutely, shaking so much, with such wide eyes, that she looked more like a rabbit caught in the headlights of a truck than a werewolf. A single tear tracked down her cheek, coming to rest just above her lip. I leant over and wiped it away. And then I rounded on my wolves. “Scarlett is my mate,” I said, my voice clipped. “And I am your Alpha. My judgement is not to be questioned on this. I cannot believe the way you have all behaved today. I am disappointed in every one of you for treating a new member of our pack with such a lack of respect.” Silence swelled. Good. “Since you are
Scarlett’s POVMy laughter died slowly, the echoes of it holding my jaw in a grin as my gaze softened. It roved over Enzo’s face, tracing his night-dark eyes and the silver sheen to his tanned skin. I could smell brine and salt on the air, the breeze stirring about our heads and lifting strands of my hair to play across my cheeks. Below, mighty waves crashed into crumbling white stone, sending splinters of it tumbling into the sea.Everything felt important to me in that moment. There was no detail too insignificant, and no part of the picture was inconsequential. Each breath I took held weight. Time seemed to slow around us, the moon halting in the sky.“Oh,” whispered Enzo, the smile sliding from his face. The expression that rose next was not unkind, or unhappy in any way; it was awed, a deer locked in a hunter’s gaze. And I… I had been the one to make him look that way. My core tightened and a shiver wracked through me, raising goosebumps on my arms.“Oh, indeed,” I murmured, sli
Enzo’s POVI couldn’t decide what looked better: Scarlett, with her hair loose down her back with five strands braided intricately around her head, interwoven with clovers and lavender and daisies, her cheeks flushed with excitement and her eyes wide with wonderment, or my pack grounds, every inch of them glittering with lamplight and flickering candles.Well. Obviously it was Scarlett, I thought, a smile pushing at my cheeks. She smoothed her hands over the deep green velvet bodice of her dress – the least practical thing I’d ever seen her wear – and blushed as she looked up, catching my gaze.“You look beautiful.” I swallowed hard before correcting myself, an almost painful yearning gnawing at my chest. “You are beautiful.”“You’re just realising this now?” she teased, spinning in a loose circle, letting the skirt of the dress fan out around her. Fallen leaves crunched beneath her boots.“I knew it from the moment I saw you.” I pulled her close, my hands snagging her waist. “And I l
Scarlett’s POVI flung my head back and laughed loudly, revelling in the feel of a hundred feet all pounding the floor, making the music physical as it reverberated up through my bones. Enzo’s hands were warm in mine, and his cheeks were just as flushed as mine surely were.His masquerade mask was the spring to my autumn: dried wildflowers wound around his eyes and over the bridge of his nose, stopping short of his devious smirk. A beat later he was spinning me again, my skirts flying, my heart lifting so high in the moment that I thought it might never come down.“I didn’t know it could feel like this!” I laughed, letting my grip on my champagne glass go limp. I pressed closer to Enzo, his body heat radiating out through his black velvet suit, the heather in his lapel askew. It tickled my chin.“What, dancing?” He beamed down at me, his face alight with the same joy that burned in me. “Living!”Someone tugged my champagne flute free; another hand pressed a full glass into my grip, w
Bennett’s POVThings had taken a while to fall back into place after the battle. With the pack house left in ruins, Scarlett and Enzo had worked with his parents to rehome everyone that lived inside it while it was rebuilt. His mother and father had stayed close, lending their expertise as they got to grips with navigating life post-Ryker.They hadn’t been the only ones to stay, though. I’d asked to remain in Moose Creek. Enzo had accepted my cagey reasoning with narrowed eyes, but he would’ve said yes to just about anything with his mate’s hand on his arm. In truth, I didn’t know where else to go now. Everything in my life had been building up to this. Crafting prophecies for people to find, leaving breadcrumb trails, making messages, telling everyone just the right thing at exactly the right time – I’d never known a moment to myself. Now that was all I had. And I couldn’t See my way forward. Not anymore. I’d told nobody that Scarlett hadn’t been the only one to lose her powers t
Scarlett’s POVI opened my eyes.Sunlight blinded me. No – not sunlight. My own light, golden and magical, surrounded me. Held limp in its grip, it lifted me into the air.But I – I’d been dead. Hadn’t I?I remembered the feel of my life leaving me. I remembered losing my energy, my strength, feeling my body wilt beneath the weight of the magic tearing through my veins and rushing out through my palms. But now the wind was here, holding me, healing me, and I felt it dance across my skin, through my hair, as it pulled my arms out and pointed my legs down towards the ground. I remembered dying.But that wasn’t all I remembered. Vague, fuzzy shapes filtered into my mind, taking form as the light raised me higher and higher. I saw humans, knew their names, saw Adelaide, saw a city and a death and a chase, saw Bennett and a library and Enzo – My beautiful Enzo. How could I ever have forgotten all that we had shared?The memories poured in as my brain healed, the light coming from within
Bennett’s POVI was dying. Such a fact was two things: simple and irrefutable. To fight it was futile; to ignore it was idiocy. But I had done as I had been bid by the visions that had plagued me since birth. I had fought the prophecy and, I hoped, saved the world from the tyranny breeding at its wolven heart.It was hard, seeing the world in pathways and possibilities. Even now, as I lay upon the gleaming white floor of Moose Creek’s medical centre, sedative spilling through my veins and blood streaming from my chest, photos of the futures forking from this moment blinded me. I saw Scarlett stood amidst the dead, the only survivor in a war she’d never asked for. I saw her bent over her mate’s body, sobs wracking through her. Then I saw her fumble for the outstretched claws of a fallen werewolf and use them to slit her own throat.I squeezed my eyes shut at that one. It did nothing to halt the visions, of course, but it always made me feel as if I had some semblance of control over
Enzo’s POV I blinked into a sudden burst of gossamer sunlight. “Scarlett,” I rasped, choking up blood. All of me hurt, save for my heart. That was lighter than it had ever been. She was okay. She was a vision in the dying light, her auburn hair with its blonde ends glimmering softly, like the shimmering surface of a ruffled lake; her beautiful blue-green eyes wide, shining with unshed tears; her stance strong and proud and powerful, even as she fell apart at the sorry sight of me. “Fuck,” she whispered, her eyes filling. “Enzo. Oh, God…” “I’m okay,” I grunted. It was a lie. A dying man’s lie to make the love of his life feel better. Blood streamed from my neck; my body felt numb from my face down. The pain was gone, but my feeling was gone with it too. I was outside now, and I’d definitely been inside the last time I’d been conscious. Had my body been trampled beneath the paws of hundreds of Ryker’s wolves? In the heat of battle, it was just as likely that my own pack had buried m
Scarlett’s POVI stared numbly at the doorway. Emila stood at its centre, hands on hips, her expression all furrowed brows and wide eyes. “Scarlett!” she gasped. “What are you doing?”I met her gaze unflinchingly. “He doesn’t need to be in an induced coma,” I said boldly. I’d never felt so damned bold in all my life. “Does he, Medic?” I spat.She held her hands up and walked towards me slowly. “I’m not sure what’s got into you, or why you’re doing this, but please, Scarlett, step away from my patient. He needs to rest to heal.”Doubt started to creep in. I clutched the sedation tube, letting it dangle from my fingers. I’d been so sure…What if I was wrong? Had I just signed Bennett’s death certificate?Gritting my teeth, I held still. He’d woken up before when I’d used my magic to keep the sedation at bay. And he’d told me to stop her – had he meant Emila all along? He had to know what she planned to do to him. My resolve firm once more, I looked back up at her.She smiled weakly, app
Enzo’s POVWe were pushed back further and further. I was the last one standing in the doorway, using my huge wolven body to block out the attacking army. Though we were fighting a losing battle, I was proud of my wolves. We’d kept Ryker’s pets at bay far longer than I’d thought we’d ever had any hope of doing. The sun was dipping lower in the sky, brushing the tips of the massacred pine trees, burnishing their bottle-green needles a deep, glittering gold.It also shone on the pools of blood. The ground was soaked in it, rivulets running down the slight hillock upon which the pack house stood. Bodies of wolves broke its streams; my wolves, Ryker’s wolves. They were clawed and bitten, missing limbs, missing chunks of fur and flesh. Such violence would stain the land here forever.But worse still than the gore and the sightless eyes of my fallen warriors was the gnawing worry about my mate. I hadn’t seen Scar since she’d run into the crowd. Unable to mindlink her, I was left drowning in
Scarlett’s POVI ducked through the wolves, narrowly avoiding the swiping, slashing claws. Nobody seemed to notice me as I ran – they were focused on the other wolves with teeth bared and blood soaked into their muzzles. I brushed under the bellies of those in Enzo’s pack, using them to protect me from the enemy wolves.Then I was pushed forward by a surge of movement from behind. Arms wheeling, I stumbled through the front line of our warriors and fell, head first, into the tangle of Ryker’s wolves.“Fuck,” I gasped, smacking into warm, bloodied fur. I bounced off its firm, muscled body, and rolled until I hit paws. Then I scrambled to my feet – Only to be clawed down my face. I bit back a scream, pressing my palms to the wound. Blood streamed between my fingers, pouring over my eye. I squeezed it shut. My head throbbed; each pulse shook me, the cut burning and stinging. Barely able to see, I ran, my back bowed, zig-zagging through the writhing mass of wolven bodies.Running through
Enzo’s POVI shoved down my terror as the wolves swelled around us, a writhing, unforgiving tide. Like a stone upon the shore I stood firm, knowing I must withstand its force. My terror was not for me, and neither was my determination. It was for her – my mate, the beautiful woman sat upon my wolven back – and for my pack members. They had not chosen this fate, no more than Scar or I had. This was our only chance to make it right.Scarlett knotted her fingers in my fur. She leant forward and whispered, “I’ve got you.”Then the enemy was upon us.I surged forward, meeting them rather than allowing them to breach our front line. My Beta and Gamma lunged with me, our movements so well practised we barely had to think of them. I had to adjust my balance more with Scar on my back, but it was instinct, raw and as natural as breathing, to keep her secure atop me.My jaw locked around a grey wolf’s neck. I clamped down, pulled back, tore flesh from bone. The wolf fell to the ground, dead. Blo
Scarlett’s POV“Pretty much,” said Isaak, his gaze downcast. He shuffled his weight from foot to foot. “I’m sorry.”“Why did they target your sister?” I asked, leaning closer to the cell bars. He shrugged. “She’s the only family I have left. They knew I’d do anything for her, I guess. Even…”I nodded. “Even this.” But then my eyes narrowed. “How did they know you well enough to target her?”Isaak’s cheeks flushed. He started picking at his cuticles and refused to meet my eyes. “They have scouts too,” he said. I felt convinced it was a lie. Before I could push the matter, though, Enzo grabbed my arm.“Hey,” I said, trying to pry his fingers off. They were white knuckled. My belly hollowed out. “What is it?”“Marla just mindlinked me,” he whispered, glancing furtively at Isaak. Understanding immediately, I towed him out of the cells and up into a nook at the top of the stairs. My back was pressed flat against the wall; Enzo huddled close, biting his lip as he looked around anxiously.O