Scarlett’s POV“Beetle. Coffin. Bird. Fly.”I cleared my throat and repeated, “Beetle, coffin, bird, fly.”The Medic nodded. “Very good, Scarlett. Now: land, doctor, earth, blood.”A tiny furrow appeared between my eyebrows. “Land, doctor, earth, blood.”“Very well done. Here.” She passed me a sheet of paper, upon which was a list of hastily written, but neat, words. “I’ll time you. You have thirty seconds to memorise the words, and then I want you to turn the paper over and write down as many of them as you can remember. Got it?”“Yeah.” My heartbeat picked up. I’d always enjoyed exams before, had enjoyed pushing myself to do as well as I could, but this had real life consequences beyond my grades. I needed to do well. I needed my memory to be intact. I needed this affliction to be short-term.“Okay. Your time starts now.”I grabbed the paper and stared at it so intensely that my eyes started to burn. Biting my lip, I recited the list of words over and over.“Time’s up, Scarlett. Fli
Enzo’s POVI stayed out all night with Marla and Davin, caught between human and wolf forms, drinking until the world started to spin inside my head. Emila kept calling for me, begging through a mindlink for me to come and talk to her, to come and be with Scarlett and answer the questions she couldn’t – didn’t want to, more like, I thought. When she came out to find me, though, as we were heading back to the pack house, I lost my temper. I felt like I was dangling from a cliff’s edge by a thin thread, and knowing she’d left Scarlett alone, to fend for herself, snapped the thread in two. It was guilt, more than anything else, but I needed an outlet, and Emila had just provided the perfect one.“You left her!” I roared, curling my hand into a fist. “Why have you come to find me when you should be caring for her?”“I am a medical professional, Alpha; you are her mate. I have done my due diligence. Isaak is with her, sending me constant updates. Perhaps I did leave a little quickly – lik
Scarlett’s POV“They’re lying to you,” said Ryker. “Listen – don’t talk. Anyone could overhear. They’re all in on it, Scarlett.”A jolt shot through me. Last I remembered, Ryker was about to be made the Alpha of our pack. But if my hazy memories ended roughly four years ago, then he’d been the Alpha for a while. I swallowed hard. Why was he calling? Was he trying to save me?I glanced at the Omega. He had his eyes squeezed shut and his fingers in his ears. His lips trembled – no, he was talking to himself, muttering la, la, la, over and over to himself to block out the sound of my call. That didn’t seem like the behaviour of a villain. Did it?“You only know what they’ve told you. But Scarlett, you are being held by Alpha Enzo of the Moose Creek pack. You know his reputation. You’ve heard the rumours. I am your Alpha, and you are a member of my pack. The Desert Oak pack.” He cleared his throat. “He’s taken your memories. He did this to you. But don’t worry. I am coming to rescue you.
Enzo’s POVI lay awake in the darkness, my head pounding, my heart throbbing. Memories of our time together flashed spitefully through my mind’s eye: seeing her for the first time at the Mating Ball, making love to her on the cliff’s edge, tracing her scars with my fingers and learning each broken, perfect piece of her. Seeing her again in the library after months apart. Yelling at her; being yelled at by her. It was messy and imperfect, but that made it all the more so.I loved her painfully. I hated that I’d let my temper get the better of me. Marla and Emila were both right – I was being selfish. That thought did the rounds every few minutes. Groaning, I rolled out of bed, chugged a stale glass of water that had been on the nightstand for at least a week, and then slowly moved over to the window. I pressed my clammy forehead to the cool glass, the condensation blurring with my sweat.“Fuck,” I muttered, banging my head gently against the pane. That brought back images of shattered
Scarlett’s POVTalking to Alpha Enzo – just Enzo, I corrected myself – had only served to make me more confused. He’d looked so sincere, so sad, when he’d told me it was his birthday. I couldn’t imagine loving someone, only to be forgotten.But, try as I might, I couldn’t remember him. And yet I could remember Ryker. Who was telling the truth? I had to believe it was Ryker, for he had no reason to lie. He’d always walked around like there was a pillow stuffed into the chest area of his shirt, but he was harmless. He was my Alpha. He had to be looking out for me.Something told me that wasn’t the case, though. I thought it had to be the mate bond, tugging me in Enzo’s direction more and more. That was why I found myself sneaking out on the evening of his birthday, after he thought I’d dozed off, to bake him a cake and pick him a bouquet of wildflowers.I’d crept back up to his floor in the pack house, wanting to use the smaller kitchen he had up there. I didn’t fancy answering the ceas
Enzo’s POVMedic Emila’s mental voice was flustered as it slid into my head via a mindlink. ‘Alpha Enzo! Alpha Enzo!’I groaned, rubbing a hand over my drawn face, and sat up. I’d stumbled upstairs to my cold, empty bed, noted that someone had been in here but not cared enough to investigate, and dropped face-first onto the covers. My bed smelled of Scarlett, like pine and wild berries, and I’d inhaled deeply. Twenty-three. It was the oldest I’d ever been, with the most cause to celebrate ever – my first birthday with my mate by my side – and yet it had been, by far, the worst.I sucked in another long, slow breath now. Her scent was still here, but fainter now, blurred with my own. My heart panged.‘Yes, Emila?’‘Scarlett isn’t in the medical centre. Please tell me she’s with you.’Fuck. Suddenly, I wasn’t tired anymore. I bolted upright and shot out of the bed, dragging a t-shirt and a woolly jumper on and shuffling into my discarded pair of jeans. I shivered at the touch of the co
Scarlett’s POVBy the time I was starting to calm down, I was completely, utterly lost. Chest heaving, I bent double and sucked in breath after breath until my head stopped spinning. I’d wandered aimlessly, too exhausted to run, too full of adrenaline to stop.I looked around desperately. The damn pine trees all looked the same. If I’d ever been out in these woods before, I couldn’t remember them. Enzo didn’t trust me. No, it was worse than that – he didn’t care about me. Me as I was now, anyway. There were these moments between us that I didn’t quite understand, moments where he looked at me like he was in love with me, but those looks were always tinged with frustration at best and, at worst, pain.Slowly, I stood up. I had to lean against a tree trunk to hold myself up. My eyelids were drooping, but I couldn’t fall asleep here; not in the middle of the forest with no sense of direction. Then again…It would be light when I woke up. I couldn’t even see the mountains now, and they w
Enzo’s POVDawn came, and there was still no trace of Scarlett.The search parties came and went with the same updates: areas of the forest had been disturbed, but the same evidence could mean that a deer or bear or even a real wolf had run through the undergrowth, trampling it and leaving behind strands of fur. I paced anxiously at the front of the pack house, waiting for Bennett to tell me something of use.I’d considered beating him up a fair few times to get the answers I needed, but Davin had reminded me that he could yet be useful. “He’ll be more inclined to help if his face is intact,” he’d said. I’d just pulled a face in return.I was pretty sure Bennett already could be helpful, but he was withholding information on purpose. Grinding my teeth, I chose to ignore him for what felt like the thousandth time that night.“There is something,” he muttered, his brow creasing. “Something… dark.”Okay – I couldn’t ignore him entirely. I huffed and shifted around so that my back was fa