Enzo’s POVThe rope burned. I struggled against it, surprised by its strength. I was an Alpha wolf, the toughest in all of the four Wolven Realms – and yet a short length of rope was apparently going to be my undoing. Yeah, no.But the more I fought it the more it hurt. My skin seared, hissing where the rope touched it. Yowling and writhing, I fought to untangle myself from the loop I was caught in. Two wolves stepped out of the shadowed trees, their mouths stretched in what were undeniably vicious, canine grins.‘Dad?’ I mindlinked to him, worry gnawing at me. Ex-Alpha or not, he was still my sweet, silly dad. ‘Are you okay?’‘They’ve got me trapped, son,’ came his strained reply. ‘But I’m quite all right. They aren’t doing anything to me; they’re just watching.’And waiting, I thought ominously. Rather than share that dark thought, I searched for Mum’s mental imprint and mindlinked her, working to keep the pain out of my internal voice. ‘Please tell me you’re still okay?’‘I’m fine,
Scarlett’s POVThe monolith rose into the star-speckled sky. Even at dusk it gleamed red, sunlight playing across its steep planes and painting it in blurred hues of gold and pink and navy. I sagged at the sight of it, my back sore, my feet aching, my heart hollow. My cast was wearing through on the bottom, as was my now-bowed crutch. I didn’t know how long I’d been walking for, but it didn’t matter. Not now. I’d made it.I fell to my knees, burying my fingers in the red sand. Scraggy, dry grass scratched my palms. Bolts of agony shot up my leg. I took the good with the bad; it was all beautiful to me, because it was all my choice. My lips were chapped and my throat was so dry I doubted I’d be able to talk if I tried, and yet knowing that I’d done something on my own – knowing that I’d saved myself – made my splintered lips break into a ragged grin. Strands of wavy auburn hair tumbled into the sand. I stared at it, barely able to recognise it as my own. The scars on my hands did not
Enzo’s POV“What have you done to my father?” I growled, my hackles rising and my teeth threatening to lengthen into canines. “Uh, what?” Samael glanced back to his wolfish brethren, a frown pulling at his brow. “Your father is here?”“Don’t play the fool.” My growl became a snarl; I stepped closer to him, angling my body upwards and glaring down at him. I felt the raw rub of fabric over the burns from my wolfsbane trap, felt the humiliation of being overcome by a God damned rogue, and I grabbed him by the neck. “Tell me where he is and what you have done.”“Nothing! Nothing, I swear.” His black eyes went round as saucers, but I took no pity on him. He’d taken pleasure in taunting me, teasing me, and I would take pleasure in ending him.“He said he’d been found by rogues, just as you captured me in your flimsy trap. Every lie you tell only accumulates more punishment, Sammy,” I whispered in his ear, my lips pulling back from my teeth, “and you carry a heavy load of it already.”“How
Scarlett’s POVI hummed under my breath as I walked back to the apartment, skipping every few steps with excitement at the thought of sliding into a warm bed and snuggling up with a steaming cup of tea. Tea hadn’t been a big part of my life before I’d met Suze and Luna, who insisted daily that it was the remedy to cure all ills, but I couldn’t get enough of it now. I was halfway through a book – a book! I had the time and space and energy to read a book again, how cool was that? – and I walked a little faster at the thought of Rhysand and Feyre going to visit the Weaver.“Hey! New girl!”I turned around, a smile tugging at my mouth at the sound of Oliver’s voice. He was mostly a chef, but also and a waiter and a barman and a receptionist, chipping in to help out around the resort whenever and wherever he could, just like I did.“Hey, Ollie.”His brown eyes crinkled as he smiled warmly at me. “You headed home for the night?”I nodded. “Yep. I’ve got a hot date with a book and a cuppa.”
Enzo’s POVDad wove in and out of consciousness over the next few days, waking only to vomit, to allow Medic Emila to tip small sips of water into his gummy mouth, and to stare blearily, unseeingly, at Mum and I. I hated every second I spent with him, because the man in the starchy white sheets wasn’t my father. Not really. My dad was always moving, always rolling his eyes or grinning, and this person was so very still. Looking into eyes I knew and getting no recognition back carved out a special hole in my heart, and it seeped blood long after he’d gone back to sleep.And yet I couldn’t bear to leave him either. As painful as being around the stranger with my dad’s uncanny valley features was, it hurt a Hell of a lot more to turn my back on him. So I sat with Mum day and night, taking turns to eat and shower when the need to do so became too great to go on ignoring, and just… being there. We didn’t talk much, though she asked question after question about Scarlett, which I was only t
Scarlett’s POVIt had all seemed so simple to begin with. I guessed that things were, when I didn’t know if I’d manage to escape. There was no room for self-doubt when every day was an act of rebellion and survival. Now that I had broken free, my emotions – emotions I’d crushed down and tried to ignore before – were getting in the way.Maybe the problem was that I’d made the plan too simple. There had been, at most, two words per point: run away, find job, get apartment. Beyond that, I’d known that I wanted to fly to Canada as soon as I could afford it to be with Alpha Enzo. But that was all. There had been no headings, no sub-headings, no bullet points to expand upon the details. Since leaving Ayers Rock, I’d not seen any sign of Ryker or his cronies following me. Adelaide was a big city, and I not only had a new name now but also new hair. I’d chopped it down to shoulder length, crying all the while, and then bleached it and box dyed it to a warm shade of honey. It wasn’t me; I did
Enzo’s POVMy shoes squeaked against the linoleum floor as I paced. Squeak, squeak, squeak. It was doing my head in.“She’ll be back soon, sweeatheart,” Mum cooed from Dad’s bedside, her hands twined with his. Her voice was infused with only a little of its usual honey.“I know.” I dragged my hands through my hair. I turned around. Squeak, squeak, squeak. “But I also know that she won’t have anything new to tell us. It’s been the same every day.”Mum sighed. “You’re probably right. That doesn’t mean we should give up hope, though–”“Hope?” I scoffed. “Hope’s all that’s been holding me together for weeks. I can’t keep the fire burning on my own for much longer. I need something good to happen. Just one damned thing. Is that too much to ask?”Another sigh. “This is about Scarlett, isn’t it?” At my nod, her mouth twisted. “I know it’s hard.”I wanted to argue with her, to scream until I was blue in the face that of course she didn’t, but how could I when her mate was still and pale in th
Scarlett’s POVI was human. In every way that counted, I was beautifully, intricately human – as unique as everyone I met and yet, deep down, exactly the same. I didn’t stand out here. I was just another one of them.And it was incredible.I grinned to myself as I left my night class, music pounding in my earbuds and making me strut in time with the beat. I was taking three classes, now – art history, literature, and watercolour painting, just for fun. There were more I wanted to take, so many things I wanted to learn, and even with that yearning for knowledge opening up an endless chasm inside of me, I felt more fulfilled than I ever had before.I’d never wanted to be a Warrior Wolf. I’d always been clumsy with my hands and too academic to pledge myself to Alpha Ryker’s cause without questioning it. Then the dazzling ideal of it had faded pretty damn quick after my pack – my so-called family – had turned on me. That had always been the one part of it that seemed nice, idyllic even: t