EvaWhen the car slowed to a stop, I opened my eyes automatically. “We’re here,” Eric said, pulling the brakes. I sat up tentatively, my bones cracking. I was in so much pain. The adrenaline I felt earlier kept me from feeling much of it but now that things were calmer, it was like I’d been hit by a train. Eric got out of the car. I couldn’t see further because the headlights were blinding my sensitive eyes. I saw enough to realize that there was another car right in front of ours. I glanced down at Andy and saw that he was still asleep. All that was left for me to do was wait for Eric to return, so I lied back down. Not five minutes later, the trunk was opened, and I turned my head slowly to see Eric standing over me, watching me, with Vic on his side. My eyes widened at the sight of Vic. I was happy to see him, so much that I could’ve cried.“Vic!” I said, my voice still hoarse. “Luna,” he said breathlessly. He was taking note of all my injuries. Even the soles of my feet had be
CyrusOpening my eyes was an impossible task. It was like my eyelids had been glued together. A groan left my lips as I tried to lift my hand to rub my eyes. Maybe that would help. Although my arm was inexplicably heavy, it managed to do the job. I rubbed my eyes and only afterward was I able to crack them open. I saw dim lights above. The ceiling was brown and wooden and it made me wonder where the hell I was. I had no idea. None whatsoever. I tried hard to remember while I sat up. There was a heavy weight on my chest, though. Moving was a futile attempt but I couldn’t give up. I was alarmed now. This couldn’t be normal. Slowly, the truth came to me. Kolton. Eva. My eyes opened wider and I tried to figure out why I couldn’t move. I looked down my body and saw two things; I was completely naked, and Leonora was on top of me, equally as naked. She was fast asleep. What. The. Fuck?The bolt of energy that traveled down my spine was enough to make me push her off me. I rolled to th
Eva "What's wrong with him?" I asked Vic.It took me a while to get out of that room and tear my eyes away from him. Once I learned he was alive, I envisioned a different union for us both. Thinking back to Vic’s words now, he hasn’t sounded particularly happy when he told me Nox was alive. Now, I understood why. “I don’t know,” Vic revealed. “He’s been in this state ever since he was shot. I haven’t been able to find a way to bring him back. It’s like he’s become a lifeless doll.”When he caught my expression, he apologized. “Sorry. It’s just that I don’t know what to do. I’m desperate. Nox was the head of this operation so to see him like this is more than heartbreaking.”“He hasn’t been to a doctor?” I asked. “Kolton is back in action, which makes that impossible for us. He’d come for Nox right away without ever giving him a chance to leave. Let’s not forget that Cyrus is there with him.”I didn’t have the chance to tell him that he was now mated to Leonora. I could only put my
Eva After Andy left Nox’s room, I couldn’t find it in myself to go in there and talk to him. Andy mentioned that Nox spoke to him about a few things, namely how he got here and how things ended up. I had to admit that when I listened to him talk about this, I felt hurt beyond understanding. I didn’t want to feel this way, but I couldn’t help it. Why wasn’t he willing to talk to me? Why was he neglecting me like this?I’d gone through unimaginable things. Hearing that he was alive was the best thing that ever happened to me. I was looking forward to being in the comfort of his arms again, and to be able to confide in him. I wanted things to be the way they were before. I stared out the window in the living room, tears pricking my eyes. I wished I didn’t feel this way but it was virtually impossible not to. Why wouldn’t he talk to me?How long was I supposed to keep quiet for?Vic showed up at around noon. I could tell he wanted to know if there had been progress so I told him about
EvaI sat on Nox’s lap and he held me close. Words couldn’t describe how good to felt to have his arms around me. I held onto the back of his head while he buried his face in my neck, inhaling my scent. I couldn’t say that I felt our bond right away, but something stirred within me as soon as we came close to each other. No words were exchanged between us. We simply held each other. The more his arms tightened around me, the more sure I became that we were going to be alright. After a while, I pulled away from him though I was still sitting on his lap. His eyes were wet with tears but none of them stained his cheeks. I asked him, “What’s wrong? Talk to me. Please.”Box placed his hand over mine and pulled it away from his face. My heart sank at this, but then he kissed the back of it. “It’s hard to explain.”I tilted my head. I wouldn’t accept this explanation. There had to be an explanation. There always was. “I was angry,” he claimed. “For a long time, that was all I could feel.
CyrusKolton was meant to return today and Leonora was convinced that he would be elated when he found out that we were mates.I didn't share the sentiment. Kolton had nearly fucking killed me. I wasn't sure why she was forgetting that tiny detail; I was starting to have the feeling that she was just as crazy as he was. I still had an uncanny feeling about our supposed mating. I couldn't remember shit about it, so that had to be a bad sign, right? Also, since we hadn't spoken about her father's supposed assassination, it was crazy that she was excited for his arrival and for him to find out about us when she wanted me to kill him.Or maybe it wasn't. I wasn't sure of anything anymore. As for Eva, there was no sign of her. A man had escaped a day or so before her, and his name was Eric Jager. He was the son of Kolton's greatest enemy in this city and had been stuck down in the basement for a while, it seemed. This surprised me because I didn't know Kolton had enemies here. Just frie
EvaThe next few weeks went by too quickly, but in a way, I was glad for it. Before I knew it, I'd been back with Nox for a month and a half. It was unbelievable sometimes because it felt like only yesterday I'd been stuck in that basement with silver poisoning me from the inside out. I still had bad dreams about it. Nox was back to his usual disposition. He stopped shutting us all out and was back to being the man I'd known and loved. Our bond was fragile but present, and I took care of him as best as I could. He needed a lot of assistance even though he insisted he could get things done by himself. I still hadn't told him about the miscarriage. I figured why should I say something to hurt him? He was already bothered by the fact that Kolton managed to sink his teeth into me and how incompetent Cyrus had been. I couldn't help but feel the same way about him. Why did he even bother shooting Nox and ruining his life just to then let Kolton have me? Then again, if he hadn't been so
CyrusSpending weeks living with Kolton was taking its toll on me. I rolled out of bed after removing Leonora's arm from around my waist. I sat on the edge of the bed with my elbows on my knees, desperately trying to think of a way to get out of this situation. Leonora was starting to get on my nerves because she didn't have a fixed plan. She acted like she did, but it was either she was wasting my time or she didn't have enough courage to have her father killed. Either way, I was done with this. A month of living with Kolton and being forced to communicate with him made me realize why he was so feared. His kindness and forced aloofness was all an act; Kolton was brutal and cruel, and despite his elegant mannerisms, he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. The men responsible for letting Eric Jager and Eva escape had been so brutally punished that sometimes, I could still hear their screams even though they'd been dead for some time now. They bounced off the fucking walls and fill
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