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
Scarlett’s POV“I’m sorry,” I said again, starting to back away, “you have the wrong person.” My natural instinct was to raise my hands, to protect myself, but God only knew what would happen if I did that. A shudder wracked through me at the imagined sound of a truck’s brakes screaming and the wet thump of a body hitting – I bit my lip. I couldn’t. I’d get emotional, and the last time I’d got emotional I’d – This was hopeless.“I never have the wrong person,” said the man, and then he extended a long-fingered hand towards me. “Scarlett Woodrush, am I correct? Although you haven’t used that name in some time now, have you, Lilac?” His upper lip twitched again.The blood left my face in a rush. “That’s not–”“Right,” he finished for me. One eyebrow arched; his lip twitched again. “Next you’ll say, ‘I’m sorry, but you’re wrong.’ Well, you would have, if I hadn’t told you.”I started backing away in earnest now. “Watch out.”“Watch out for what?” I snapped – just as I tripped over a t
Enzo’s POVI twisted around on the spot, staring up – and up and up and up – at the buildings stretching into the night sky. It didn’t look real to me, all the office lights still on and the workers scurrying around, still answering emails and phone calls and tap-tap-tapping down the halls in high heels and dress shoes. This was a world I knew of, but didn’t know.And it was where I’d find Scarlett. Apparently. That seemed almost as strange to me as the place I was in.“Can you see her here?” I asked Marla, turning to her with one eyebrow raised. “What would she even be doing? Has this guy, whoever he is, got her held hostage here against her will? Or did she choose to come here?” That thought made my heart pinch, so I tried to shove away imagined images of her making the choice to live here rather than coming home to me.“She’s your mate.” Marla laid a hand on my arm. “No matter what, she would have chosen you if she could. Now, come on. He said this date and this time, right?”“Yeah
Scarlett’s POVMy heart rose to my throat. Tears pricked my eyes.It was him. Alpha Enzo. My Enzo. He was as perfect as I remembered: tall, dark, and handsome; brown eyes so dark they looked black; tanned skin; muscles shaping his clothes, whorls of ink peeking out above the line of his sweater. Dark hair was tangled over his forehead, mussed from where he’d ran his hands through it and through it again. My heart panged at the sight of him. How had I ever thought I could live without him?Then it hit me. Oh, God – how could I look at him now? I was a killer. I’d shoved a man’s heart clean out of his chest, pushed him in front of a truck. I wasn’t the same person Enzo had known. I had blonde hair and a nose ring, for God’s sake! As frivolous as that was, it suddenly seemed like the most serious thing in the world. How could he look at me and see the old Scarlett looking back?“Scarlett,” he breathed, stepping hesitantly into the room. Even the way he moved made my mouth water and my pu
Enzo’s POVI couldn’t believe it. I hesitated in the doorway for a moment, staring at her, connecting the dots between the Scarlett I remembered and the girl stood before me. The room and the man in it were nothing to me, utterly and entirely irrelevant in that moment. In every moment. Because she was there.“Scarlett,” I breathed, taking a tiny, timid step into the room. Where did we stand now? Did she still think of me, like me, want me? It had been so long. Did she think I’d abandoned her? I’d made so many choices in the past few months, and suddenly every single one of them seemed wrong. Damn it all, I should’ve been here – And why was she blonde?Suddenly that mattered more than anything else. Her beautiful, long auburn hair was still beautiful – she could become a frog and I’d still find her more appealing than any other – but it wasn’t the hair I knew her to have. I wanted to get to know this version of her, to unpick everything that had happened between October and now. Then
Scarlett’s POVI held Enzo’s hand so tight it had to be hurting him, but he didn’t complain. I drifted out into the hall in a weird, dream-like state, waves of joy battering me on one side and a swirling whirlpool of guilt trying to drown me on the other. Marla was waiting outside. I stopped dead at the sight of her. Seeing Enzo again was one thing, but my old friend? She didn’t have a mate bond making what I’d done seem less heinous. She would be able to see me clearly, short hair and nose ring and oh, yeah, a little bit of murder and all.But her warm face broke into a broad grin when she saw me. “Scar!” she chirped, and then a second later I was wrapped in her strong arms. Dark curls of hair curtained my vision. “It’s really you. Thank God.”“It’s me,” I muttered, half frozen in shock. She must’ve been with Enzo in that alleyway, right? She had to know. So why was she hugging me?“Marls,” Enzo tutted, “give her some room to breathe.”“Sorry.” She ducked away, twiddling the end of
Enzo’s POV“Scar?” Panic. That was all I felt. It didn’t matter that seconds ago I’d been on the verge of tears, having realised that my Scarlett, my mate, had moved on from me, had made a life for herself here and left me behind. As her eyes rolled back and her whole body sagged, it only mattered that I had to protect her. I had to keep her safe. I couldn’t break my vow so immediately.I caught her, swinging her up into my arms bridal style. “Scar? Can you hear me?”Her head lolled backwards. Carefully, I tucked it up against my shoulder and held her close. My heart thundered in my chest at the feel of her. I closed my eyes against the fresh onslaught of tears. It had been so long.I’d missed her every day. Every damn day. And she’d been here, going to bloody night classes and working a job? I clenched my jaw. Even if she didn’t want me anymore, I couldn’t just leave her here on the street. I’d get her safe, be it just for tonight or until the Ryker threat was neutralised. If there
Scarlett’s POVThey were dead. Suze. Luna. Ollie. And it was all my fault.There was something in me. Something dark and scary. It swelled to a crescendo, beating out a rhythm in time with the thought of each of their names. Suze. Luna. Ollie. It grew and grew, a hurricane swirling around and around and around – Something dragged my arm up. It yanked my bones, forcing my muscles to follow. My fingers splayed of their own accord. Suze. Luna. Ollie. I knew distantly that I was sobbing, but the hot tears spilling down frozen cheeks didn’t feel like they belonged to me. I was a cold and callous being, controlled by the air whooshing through my veins. I was a marionette. My limbs were dragged into place by invisible strings. Air slammed out of my palm and into an unsuspecting lamp. It flew off the bedside table and smashed on the hardwood floor.Still being propelled by the same wind that had broken the lamp, I stood. My knees jerked. “Scar?” Enzo stood too, his hands hovering worriedl