Eva Nausea rolled in the pit of my stomach as I handed the binoculars back to Vic. He continued observing the restaurant while I leaned against the wall and looked elsewhere. I couldn’t get the image of Kolton out of my mind. I was so bothered by the fact that I looked like him. What was this, some kind of curse? So, whenever people looked at me, particularly the ones who knew him, they saw his face? Of course, they’d hate me. I wished I’d never come. At the same time, I was glad that I found this out. “There he is,” Vic murmured, and I deduced that he was talking about Nox. I stared at the building across from us—the restaurant—and I could clearly see people sitting around, servers walking with trays of food or drinks. I could even see my father though the details of his face were not visible. “Is this safe?” I asked Vic. “Nothing ever is.”I cut him a look. “So, technically, Nox is in danger?”He glanced at me. “He needs to see this through because we’ll make progress if toni
Nox I was over the moon with this new development in our plan. For years, we'd been trying to do this and failed. The tricky part with this plan was that we couldn't show up at the restaurant so frequently that we'd be regarded as 'regulars'. Having that label would make Kolton suspicious of us because he was the regular here. He came here every single night for dinner with his closest pack members. Sometimes, his daughter would be with him. Tonight, she wasn't. So, we had to space out our visits and must of the time, Ursula was unable to catch someone's eye and make a gesture for him to follow her to the bathroom. Tonight was different, however. Before I realized it, she'd gotten up and left. And when she returned, she gave my leg a light kick and we were up. I still couldn't believe that she did it. We were all crammed in the car. My mind was racing so much that I had momentarily forgotten about Eva. Ursula mentioned something about how Eva wasn't supposed to be here, and now I
Eva When Vic and Ursula took a long time to return, Nox decided that it was time to check and see what was happening. All sorts of things were going through my mind and I was afraid for them. What if they’d been caught? What if the worst had happened? The possibilities were endless. Nox looked back at me with his brows drawn together. I could tell that he didn’t want to leave me. I nodded and said, “I won’t move. I can take care of myself, you know. It’s not like I’m going to do anything stupid.”“I’ll keep the doors locked,” he stated. “And it’s not that I thought you’d do anything stupid. Anyone could hurt you while I’m gone.”“They won’t,” I insisted. And so, Nox rushed out of the car and went upstairs. I felt very anxious about all of this. I hoped nothing bad happened. Being Kolton’s daughter made me feel responsible for his actions somehow. Ashamed of them. Now, I wanted him caught because it was associated with my peace of mind. While he was still out there, I would never k
Cyrus I wished I could say that the days got better as they went by but that would be a complete lie. To sleep was near impossible. I spent most of my nights awake, sometimes just walking around the house and hoping she’ll magically appear on my front step. Eva disappeared into thin air, it seemed. Nobody had seen her, not after she left the town center that night, at least. Kolton was still searching for her but it didn’t matter how full of shit he was about his own capabilities. He couldn’t find her. Some people had started suggesting checking in the rivers and lakes. I punched the man who suggested this out of pure rage and despair. Checking around those areas would imply that Eva died. I couldn’t handle that. I refused to believe that. Where else could she have been?Vivian suggested that she might have just upped and left. A lot about Eva’s character suggested that she was sick and tired of us. Of me. And they believe that she simply left. That was only because they didn’t
EvaI was awakened by Nox entering my room. He sat on the edge of the bed and his back was turned to me. I saw that his head was low, and I was confused by his entrance altogether. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. I said his name softly. “Nox?”He turned his head to look at me over his shoulder. His eyes were dimmed somehow. I stared at him for a while longer before asking, “What’s wrong?”He didn’t answer me. I kept staring at him before concern made me stand up and move closer to his side. He was staring down at his hands and I had the impression that they were shaking a little. “What’s the matter?” I asked. “We were with the guys from Kolton’s pack,” he said. “Trying to get something out of them.”“Did it work?” I asked. He shook his head. “Not quite. They seem to be more afraid of Kolton than whatever we’re doing to them. It’s like they prefer to be dead rather than tell us anything.”I folded my arms. “I thought it would be easier,” he added. “I didn’t think that we’d have to g
Eva I didn’t want to ask Kyra to send for Nox so we could have our serious conversation, so I walked around the warehouse for about half an hour hoping to stumble across him so we could talk. That didn’t happen. Instead, I received odd looks from people, especially those I came across a second time. I felt sick with anxiety. I wanted to talk to him so I could get this out of the way. I was letting things get too far and it was my job to tell him where the line had to be crossed. What happened last night could ever again repeat itself. Nox and I couldn’t be a romantic pair, but because of this bond, we both wanted it. However, we had to fight against it regardless of how we felt because my heart belonged to another. And that man happened to be his brother. Eventually, I had to stop. I was so overwhelmed with everything that happened last night that I could hardly think straight and I kept bumping into people. Sometimes, into walls. I kept looking for a few more minutes before deci
Eva The place Nox wanted to take me to was away from the warehouse. The two of us were in the car. I didn’t say a word to him. I even stared out the window to avoid looking at him; I was furious. And it didn’t help that my body hummed when I was next to him. I made a mental note to remind him that there was no reason why he couldn’t reject me. My anger caused me to get lost in my thoughts one too many times. As a result, I didn’t really pay close attention to where we were going. I was surprised when he parked the car outside a place that said ‘Grayson’s Café’. I glanced at him uncertainly. “This is where I come whenever I feel like taking a break from everything,” he told me. “The food is great.”I’d never eaten in a place that was like a restaurant before. I was taken aback by this because I thought we’d go somewhere private to talk. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to stay calm when I spoke to him about everything that had been brewing inside of me for days now. We got out of the ca
Eva Nox and I left right away. I didn’t feel safe, not even when we were in the car and driving away from the café. I had this feeling like I was exposed, being followed, or something similar. “So, you’re saying that woman tried to kill you? Why?”“They were rogues and formed this pack near Silver Crescent. I don’t remember their name. She was the Luna, and the man next to her was the Alpha’s brother, I believe. He came into my room one day, scared me, and Cyrus just attacked him. This caused problems, naturally, and the next thing we knew, they bombed the gates down and took me into the woods. A man tried to drown me. She got away. Cyrus tried to follow them to bring justice but they’d gone to—”I hated as I tried to remember what he’d said exactly. I couldn’t. “They’d crossed someone’s territory. Cyrus couldn’t go there or something. He feared conflict.”Nox nodded somberly. “Did they see you?”I sighed. “I hope not. It’ll be terrible if they did.”“Well, we’re not being followed
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