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
Enzo’s POVI bit down on the end of my pen, nibbling at it as I stared down at the sprawling sentences half-written on the page. Scar, Scarlett, my Scar, darling, my love, beloved – I’d crossed them all out, one after the other. I didn’t deserve to call her any of them, not even her beautiful name. I’d forsaken her. I didn’t mean for this to happen, I wrote, and crossed that out, too. I’m sorry. I scribbled over my apology. It was too weak a sentiment for what I felt, and it didn’t encompass all the ways I ached to make it up to her when I finally returned to her side.We made a discovery, I tried instead. I stared down at the words for a second, the ink drying under the yellow lamplight, and nodded at them. Facts didn’t ask for anything in return. They were just statements of truth. Putting the nib of my pen onto the paper again, I carried on writing.I thought my parents had taken you. Then I thought it was the rogues, the same ones who had taken my parents. But it wasn’t – becaus
Scarlett’s POVDistantly, I knew that my body ached. I was vaguely aware of the fact that I could barely breathe, that my lungs strained to suck in air that my pumping muscles desperately needed. My feet slapped the pavement so hard that the shockwaves thudded up to my knees. But my own body was background noise in the wake of what I’d done.What the fuck had I done? I’d always despised monsters. Alpha Ryker especially. In books, I’d always struggled to sympathise with the villain unless they had a damn good redemption arc. And now I’d become the very thing I hated. Even as I sprinted I kept my hands curled up in my jacket pockets, the denim scrubbing my knuckles raw. The streets of Adelaide rushed past me in a blur. Water rushed under the bridge; I turned sharply and followed it, with no idea where I was running to. I just had to get away from where I’d been. I didn’t even recognise this part of the city.Flashes of memory assaulted me. The crunch of broken bone. The pooling blood.
Enzo’s POVIt was crazy. I knew that, Marla and Davin knew that, even the bloody trees knew that. But I was too damn desperate to care. So I copied down the address, noting with a spike of something that the address was in Adelaide. It was a spike of curiosity, maybe, or perhaps it was the slight rub of annoyance and gratification that it was, of course, an Australian city, the exact place I’d been convinced Scar was for so long.We’d been searching fruitlessly for months. Every lead came back with dead end after dead end. And, because the address ended with the word Australia, I was suddenly sure that the strange man on the other end of the phone did really know where I could find my mate.“Hang on,” said Marla, frowning at me. “Tell me what he said again? Exactly.”“I can’t remember exactly. The whole thing was so weird, Marls.”“Well, get as close as you can.”I sighed and leant back in my office chair. It creaked as my weight shifted, another quiet noise to add to the growing symp
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