EvaNox arrived very late in the night. "Awake?" he asked when I turned around to look at him. "Yeah, couldn't sleep," I revealed. He crawled in bed next to me. His scent was so therapeutic. I shoved my face in his chest and he held me tight. "How was everything?""Things are going as planned," he simply said. "We've got everything sorted out for tomorrow."Tomorrow. Since it was around two in the morning, it still felt like it would be in two days. I was terrified of this event. Nox was definitely risking his life by doing this. Things might not go as planned. He could die. That thought made me sick to my stomach. "What's wrong? You're tense.""I'm not necessarily excited about you doing this," I answered. "There are risks involved and I know that man's reputation by now.""Don't worry about it," he said dismissively. Saying more would make it seem like I was negative and didn't have much faith in his plan, so I kept my lips sealed. My doubts and fears wouldn't help him, I kne
Cyrus Now that everything was organized, I felt more optimistic. I had my crew here with me, and it was only a matter of time before I found Eva. Kolton was oblivious to this, of course. I didn’t want to declare war openly. But I was done waiting for him. It was clear that I wasn’t going to go anywhere. I had a meeting with Brock and Cameron, so I left in the morning, keeping an eye out for spies. I saw them right away—they were always in a small red car. It was like he didn’t care if I noticed what he was doing. I had a plan of my own, though. There was an underground parking right off Silver street, and I would be using it as a diversion. Cameron was waiting for me there in a car, which had tainted windows. That way, they would never figure out where I went or how to catch me. Ditching them would be easy. I’d rented an entire building just to keep the members of my pack there. According to Brock, they were here with a hundred guys. Each of them would be circulating the street
Nox The morning of our big day arrived, and as I stared out of the tiny window in my office, I couldn’t quite believe that it was happening. The sky was gray, and it looked like it was going to rain. It rarely rained here, so I didn’t know if that was some kind of sign from the goddess. Would my plan work? I was hoping that it would. It would benefit a lot of people if it did. I could tell Eva was worried about it but she avoided talking about it. Ever since we mated officially, I’d become more aware of her emotions and thoughts. She avoided talking about it because she didn’t want to leave me worried. I didn’t want to talk about it either. It was best to wait for the moment to happen to avoid unnecessary anxiety. I didn’t know how things would end up. Why dwell on what could be when there was the perfectly good option of waiting it out?Vic entered the office and told me, “The cars are all equipped and ready. We can leave at any moment.”“Thanks, Vic,” I told him, not peeling my
Cyrus When I arrived last night, I didn’t get to see Kolton. Apparently, he was indisposed, but I sensed it was all a strategy to humiliate me. I didn’t go searching for him and simply went upstairs. I’d asked Brock and Cameron to stay put. I told them that I’d let them know tomorrow—which was now today—what my decision was. They could either keep looking or go home and call the search off. Depending on my interaction with Kolton, I would’ve made the decision, but since I didn’t get to talk to him, my team was on standby. I left my bedroom in a pissy mood. I was thankful that Leonora wasn’t lingering around or I would definitely take my frustration out on her. Her father kept making me look like an idiot and I didn’t appreciate that. Why would he invite me for dinner only to blow me off when I accepted the invitation?This time, I felt sure that I’d find him in his office. I wasn’t wrong. He was there with his daughter. Not entirely alone, but not as alone as I hoped. I met her ga
Eva Nox was back, and he was alive. I thanked the goddess again and again for bringing him back to me. I was so worried that I would never see him again. My only hope was that I was still alive, and if I was alive, that meant that Nox wasn’t dead. Of course, the theory of two mates being so connected in the beginning wasn’t extremely accurate, but I liked to think that we were. It brought me comfort. I figured out fairly quickly that things hadn’t gone according to plan. Nox seemed dejected. Heartbroken. Defeated. I didn’t think I’d see him this way after this. We went into his office, and he closed the door. Earlier on outside, he told everyone that he wanted a moment alone with me. I had no idea what to expect. “We didn’t get Kolton,” he told me before shaking his head. “We didn’t. He was nowhere to be found and we had to give up and run away before anyone tried to catch up with us.”I searched his eyes. “But you…you did other things?”Nox ran a hand through his hair in frust
EvaThe new place was dusty and impossible to live in. Before we settled, we had to clean. Everyone got their hands dirty and helped make the space beneath the ground more hospitable. I was dead exhausted by the time we were done. I couldn’t even move my legs as soon as I collapsed on top of the mattress we placed in the office space, which was the space Nox and I would be occupying for the time being. It wasn’t fair to the others that we got to get some privacy and they didn’t, but he was the Alpha of Ghost Moon, and technically, I was the Luna. If we couldn’t get a few privileges, then what was the point?I waited for him in the dark. He showed a few hours later, exhaling sharply as he closed the door. He sank onto the mattress next to me, a groan leaving his lips. “Nox?” I said. He turned his head to face me. “You’re awake?”“I was waiting for you,” I told him. I felt his warm hand on my cheek and sighed contentedly. These were the moments that made all of this worth it. I h
Cyrus Words couldn’t describe how furious I was. Every time I took a breath, it was like my whole body was on fire. I couldn’t see straight. Couldn’t think. Eva and Nox? Eva and fucking Nox!?I had to admit that when I first saw them together outside that warehouse, I thought there was some kind of misunderstanding. Shock was the reason behind this. I tried (and failed) to find explanations as to why the love of my life was with my brother. Now, I was sure of what happened. Nox took her from me. He did it to get back at me for not having supported him when he blamed Brock for having our parents killed. When that woman caught me last night, I thought that it was the end. I was in Nox’s territory and had no doubt of what he would do to me if he caught me. But I’d gotten away, and now, I was on the way back with an army of my own, an army that would be more efficient than theirs. Kolton had been missing for two days now. Nobody knew anything about him. He was definitely hiding be
EvaMy heart was slamming against my throat. I was in a permanent state of disbelief. How had such a thing happened? We’d spent the whole day alert. Nox wouldn’t leave the roof for a second. He tried to play it cool but he was very nervous. I’d only managed to get him down from there like fifteen minutes ago so he could have something to eat and rest for a bit. And within that time, we’d been attacked. To make matters worse, whoever was out there knew his name. Currently, Nox and I were barricaded in the office. It had been a mistake and now we were going to pay for it. We should’ve ran when we had the chance. Nox had been so busy supporting at the people who came downstairs that he didn’t have a chance to go up. He was protecting me, and now, I’d landed us in this situation. He wanted me to hide in the office but I couldn’t leave his side, and when more and more of the intruders came down here, we were both forced to hide. Nox was out of bullets. “Shit!” he cursed. “Fuck!”His d
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