CyrusMy apology wasn’t accepted, just as I knew it wasn’t, but at least it wasn’t sitting on my conscience anymore, just like Eva said. I was glad I’d followed her advice. I had quite a bit of work today, and was dreading it before it even happened because of how much pain I was in. The fight left my muscles aching from the exertion, but for the first time in a long time, I felt alive. Cameron wouldn’t be accompanying me to the Convent, so I went alone. He was more pissed than Vivian even, and I wished I could take the stupid shit I said back, but that wasn’t possible. I hated it when the family was so divided. Then again, we were always like this. It was them against me; always had been. If it weren’t for Eva, I wasn’t sure of what I was going to do with myself. I’d probably keep the argument going and made things much worse. Speaking of which, last night was a breakthrough. I wasn’t exactly sure why I felt that way, but something convinced me of that. We would never go hack to
Eva There was some agitation downstairs though I had no idea why. I decided to check, mostly because I was tired of being in the room all the time. When I reached the top of the stairs, I saw that Cyrus and his uncle were exiting the house. They seemed to be arguing, but I couldn’t make out a word they were saying. I decided to go all the way to the living area. I saw that Marcia was clearing the dining table—she was simply removing a plate and a cup along with a bread basket and a few other things, which appeared to me like someone had a late breakfast. She looked up at me and then lowered her gaze instantly. Honestly, I was confused by her reaction. I thought we were friends, yet somehow, she was treating me like a stranger. “Marcia,” I said as she started toward the kitchen. She didn’t even look at me. “Is everything okay? I thought I might have a word with you.”“I’m quite busy right now. Do let me know if you have any requests, though. I’ll see to them as soon as I can.”My
Cyrus Dinner was served in exactly twenty minutes. I was surprised by the efficiency, and mildly disappointed because I really wanted to make an example of them in hopes that this would never again happen. Eva’s eyes were downcast, and I feared that I’d embarrassed her. She didn’t understand, though. To me, she meant more than all these people even though I’d known her for a shorter time. The fact that my own damn employees were seeking to belittle her when my family was already doing it drove me mad with the kind of rage that could cause some serious damage. Who’d they think they were?Eva could very well be my future Luna. I meant what I’d said. “Let’s eat,” I told her, digging in first even though I wasn’t particularly hungry. I felt guilty for not having told her that I wouldn’t have dinner at home. I told Marcia to deliver the message, though, and she didn’t. For some reason, she interpreted ‘tell Eva I won’t be home for dinner’ as ‘don’t make any dinner and let my mate sta
Eva Only Cyrus and I were having breakfast, which made me wonder where everyone else was though I didn’t have the courage to ask. We didn’t talk about last night. Honestly, I just wanted the whole thing dead and buried. I couldn’t even look at anyone directly in the face; that was how embarrassed I was. After breakfast, Cyrus told me that he had news for me. “Let’s walk around in the garden,” he told me. “I believe we’ll need privacy for this.”We walked around the front garden, not the back one which was all around the pool. Cyrus had his hands clasped behind his back, and he looked especially grim in his black clothing. “Yesterday, I found out something. I don’t know how you’re going to take it, but I want you to know that I’m looking into the matter and that the situation is under control.”“Okay,” I said. “There was a survivor,” he told me. Before I could gasp, he added, “Unfortunately, she didn’t make it. Her injuries were too severe. We couldn’t even get her name.”Goodnes
CyrusWords couldn’t describe how pissed off at Eva I was. For a few reckless moments, I’d allowed myself to hope that something could happen between us. I thought we were making progress. I’d never force her to get into any kind of relationship with me, but I sure as hell wouldn’t mind it if we entered into one consensually. However, with this talk of her becoming Head Priestess of the New Convent, it all would come crashing down and we’d have no chance whatsoever. I never hated Gasper more than I did right now. I invited them to stay for lunch, but they declined, claiming that they had much to do. Gasper was currently explaining to Eva everything that he planned on doing with the Convent, and she was so excited at the prospect that it just made me feel like shit all over again. Meanwhile, Xilian wouldn’t stop looking at me, and it was unnerving. We broke things off. This shouldn’t be happening. She made a signal with her eyebrows the way she always did when she wanted to fuck
EvaI was breathing harshly, and the hand I used to punch him was shaking. “Eva,” he said in disbelief. I saw that his lips were bright red with his blood. “What the hell has gotten into you?”“Get out!” I yelled, not feeling at all guilty about what I’d done. If anything, I wanted to hit him more. Goddess, I felt like an idiot. I was sacrificing my immortal soul because of some scum bag who claimed to want me yet couldn’t keep his hands to himself when a beautiful woman was close by. A scum bag was what he was. Oh, I felt like an idiot!“Not until you tell me what’s wrong,” he insisted, his tongue darting out to lick the blood from his lips. “I don’t understand why you’re the one being aggressive when you just agreed to being the Head Priestess of the new convent.”I nodded wildly. “I did, and it was the best decision I ever made!”“Why are you acting this way all of a sudden?” he asked. “I thought we were starting to become friends. I thought that…that you’d want to stay here.”“W
Cyrus What the hell just happened?I couldn’t explain it even if someone held a damn gun to my head. One second, we were arguing, and the next, I’d kissed her and then everything went straight to hell from there. I rushed to my bedroom, hoping that nobody would see me because I was rock hard. I closed the door behind me and then rushed to the bathroom. I splashed water on my face, but what was I thinking? It wasn’t going to be enough. Not even the coldest shower in the world would get rid of this boner. So, I unzipped my pants, and got straight to work. I came hard, Eva’s name dangling on the tip of my tongue. I could still taste her in my mouth, and smell her heavenly scent on my skin. Once I was done, I cleaned up and sat on the floor of the bathroom with my head in my hands. What was I going to do now?I had no clue, and that was a rarity for me. I always had a plan, even when everything had long gone to shit. However, everything with her was different, and I was all but losi
Eva I couldn’t recall ever being this disgusted with myself. Goddess, I was losing my mind. This wasn’t a joke anymore. I’d crossed all the lines. Before, lines had been crossed, but not like this. Dammit, never like this. And now, I felt doomed. The sin I’d committed was too bad. I made out with Cyrus. We’d been so intimate. The worst part was how I was still throbbing between my legs, and how the need hadn’t left me. It didn’t matter how much I prayed for this feeling to pass—it persisted. My body was on fire, and the only way to extinguish this fire would be by indulging in what it wanted. And that was Cyrus. I cursed him. I hated every inch of him. He’d done this to me and would never have to suffer any of the consequences. Right now, he was probably beyond pleased with himself while I was breaking down. I took a cold shower. It was incredible that even that didn’t help. My very skin was sensitive now, and the water pressure felt like hands on my back, which transported me
EvaThe sound of Jace calling me interrupted my train of thoughts. I looked over my shoulder and saw him running toward me, holding something. It appeared to me like his toy superhero was broken again, and he sounded like he was going to cry. “Mommy, look!”I took the toy from him and offered him a gentle smile. “When Daddy comes home, he’s going to fix it, okay? I don’t know how to.”My son looked at his toes and made a disheartened noise in the back of his throat. I knelt in front of him, grabbed him by the arms, and said, “Hell be back soon. He just went to get something.”He huffed an, “Okay.”“Why don’t you sit down and I’ll bring you something to drink,” I said. “What do you want? Some juice? Soda?”“Juice!”Just like that, he was cheerful again, the broken toy completely forgotten. I lured him some juice and snacks, and then he sat down and amused himself with eating. I watched him from the kitchen, happy beyond reasoning. The last few years weren’t easy for any of us—but the
CyrusI stopped in front of the door to the shitty apartment. I knew somebody had to be inside because the baby was crying. I could hear it. They didn’t leave him alone, though. They never would have. By now, Kolton was dead. When Brock stopped me from making the biggest mistake of my life, I’d backed away but not without giving it much thought. He guaranteed me that he would kill Kolton as he should have years ago—the way he said it was a confirmation of everything. Our whole story. The reason why Nox left. Why things turned out the way they did. Nox had been right. It was all Brock’s fault. I wasn’t sure how to feel about that for a while. Now, I was sure that I didn’t hold it against him. It happened a long time ago, and maybe I was too grateful for everything he did for me to judge him for something he clearly regretted doing. Maybe I always knew that Nox was right. Deep down, I’d suspected it. But Brock had always been a solid figure in my life, even more than my parents we
NoxAll around us, there was chaos. I could positively say that neither of us expected an ambush from Kolton. He’d taken everything from me, so what else did he want? He wasn’t here; only his men were. The one thing that saved us was that we still had a few weapons left or we would’ve been screwed. Also, Vivian’s people joined us right on time. I could tell by the way they were fighting that they had been thirsty for Redwood blood for a long time. Men. Women. Kolton didn’t discriminate. He had every able-bodied person in his pack fighting us. The only person that wasn’t here was him. Coward. What else did I expect? He loved to watch shit burn from afar. He always had other people doing his dirty work. “Where are you Kolton!?” one of the guys who had been with Vivian asked out loud as he slammed someone’s knees in with a baseball bat. “Where are you hiding!? Come and face us, you fucking rat!”Could I say we were winning the fight? I wasn’t sure. Many of the people here were strang
Eva I cracked an eye open and saw that the sun had risen. I didn’t move for a very long time. I was so tired. Tired of feeling pain. Tired of having to wake up with horrible memories of the night before. It was then that I prayed to the goddess for strength. I couldn’t do this anymore. There was only so much one could take and I’d reached my limit. For a moment, I lied on the hard rocks of the mountain and wished for death. I’d never done it before because all my life, I was raised to believe life was a gift, but my body was tired of fighting. I wasn’t sure how much time passed. I was fully conscious of everything going on around and within me. The sun was high in the sky but it was a bitterly cold day. I knew that my only solution would be to shift and I had to do it quickly or I’d die of hypothermia. However, I couldn’t find the strength to even roll to my side. Then, something incredible happened. I thought about the baby that had been inside of me—the baby I’d been carrying f
Nox Time was going very slowly in this house of horrors. Someone must have injected me with poison and left me sitting on this bench to die because how else could this burning be explained? No, I remembered now why I felt this way. It was when Vic told me that Eva had been taken that I became paralyzed with shock and fear. Despite all our attempts to make sure she wasn’t recognized and found by Kolton, we lost. The baby hadn’t been taken, and Vic was organizing to have him taken home. He was a healthy boy, so why not? The doctor didn’t have any protests. What it sounded to me was that Kolton wasn’t interested in the baby. If he were, he would’ve been gone too. As for the doctor, I could’ve crushed his skull in with my cane and wasted time interrogating him, but there was just no guarantee that he was the one who even placed the call. Maybe it wasn’t him. In fact, there was a very high likelihood that it wasn’t him but someone else on his team. Maybe one of the nurses. He knew wha
CyrusI couldn’t believe my fucking eyes. Did…did this man just push Eva off a cliff?I looked at him slowly, shock rooting me to the spot. I felt like I was losing my fucking mind here. There was no way that I just witnessed this. I looked back at Leonora and saw that she was walking toward us. I watched her stride past me and peer over the edge of the cliff. She looked around and then nodded, seemingly satisfied. “Good. Now, we can get going.”Something about the way she said those words—maybe it was how casually she said them—made me break away from my trance and race toward her. The man noticed this and immediately rushed to intercede me. Leonora peered back at me with unbothered eyes. Once the man touched me, I made a fist and punched him directly on the face. He staggered backward, getting closer to the edge. It was then that the malignant thought to push him crossed my mind, and I felt every muscle in my body force me to do it. I lunged at him and shoved him as hard as I cou
EvaOpening my eyes was a painfully slow process. I had such a hard time figuring out where I was. Every time my eyelids parted just a little I was being blinded by bright lights. I tried to put a hand over my face but found that I couldn’t move. Why was this so familiar to me?I also had this feeling like I was moving even though my feet weren’t touching the ground. It was so strange that I felt a sense of urgency that helped me insist on opening my eyes despite the brightness. I looked to my left and saw someone grabbing the side of the bed I was on while looking straight ahead. This person was wearing a dark denim jacket and a beanie. I didn’t recognize this person. Then, I looked to my right and saw shoulder-length hair and a familiar build. Cyrus?The fear I felt was enough to make me open my eyes wide and realize that I had to get away from him. I tried to turn on my side and felt a lot pins and needles all over my body. I felt no pain, so that was the good thing. However,
Nox Fear was a living, breathing thing inside of me. I couldn’t focus on anything else other than getting Eva to the hospital safely. At first, it hadn’t been an option. We all knew how Kolton was well connected to the hospitals in this city. It was the one place where he had the chance to catch his enemies in a vulnerable state. However, Eva hadn’t regained her consciousness and she was still bleeding. It was enough blood to stain her clothes but at least it wasn’t like she was hemorrhaging. Even so, we didn’t know what was wrong with her and Kyra didn’t know how to help us. I wasn’t going to risk her life. When it came to keeping her safe and healthy, I was ready to face anything. Besides, there was a chance that Kolton wouldn’t know about this. “Hurry up, Vic!” I said, agitated. He was in the wheel and I was behind with Eva. Ursula was in the front seat. Only one car filled with our people was following us. It was crazy how our numbers had been reduced so drastically. Sweat w
EvaA few hours earlier...Nox had been getting better and better with time. In the first week, he could only stand, now, three weeks later, he'd been taking several steps without falling. He claimed that he was now feeling sensations in his legs, which meant that he was finally healing. This was a miracle. I was so busy helping him that I barely noticed the time flying. Every day was an accomplishment and I was so proud of him. My heart swelled with pride. Nox wasn't a quitter; every time he fell, he'd get back up. It was so inspiring, watching him achieve this. It brought tears to my eyes every time I thought about it. Everyone was happy for him and supported him in any way they could. It was great to see everyone working as a team. It was clear that they respected him very much. All his fears concerning people looking down on him because of his condition disappeared and I hoped he understood that he was wrong. We never talked about it, though. It was better to leave those fears