Time seems to slow down right before my eyes at that very moment. My breath gets stuck in my throat. I can feel my mouth opening and from it comes a high-pitched scream, but it still takes me a while to realize that it’s coming from me.I collapse on the ground, clutching Dad’s body against mine. Alpha Salvatore just watches me, holding his hand up and freezing everyone around me like he did with me earlier.I know I should keep fighting. I know I should strike back. But seeing Dad bleeding and coughing blood against me is pulling me apart. It’s like my heart is being torn out of my chest, and all I can think about is that time when Dad told me about my mother.Now he’s here, his breathing getting more and more erratic as the seconds tick by. I hold him tighter against me, wanting to comfort him but no words come out of my mouth.But he turns to me, struggling to breathe, and when I look into his eyes, the message is clear.“Get him for me.”That’s when it all clicks for me.Without h
Chiara As quickly as I can, I get to my feet and intercept Alpha Salvatore before his claws can come remotely close to Alessio. I pull him out of the way, flinging him to the side where he cannot be touched, then I turn to Alpha Salvatore and try to deliver the strongest kick I can muster aimed at his chest. He steps back just in time and avoids my blow. That simple motion alone makes me realize how fast he can go. He ends up pressing himself against the wall, smiling at Alessio and me. Alessio positions himself in front of me, determined to put me away from harm as much as possible. This time, Isaac doesn’t seem all that interested in stabbing or wounding us. He’s just observing us from his spot, that smug expression prominent and his growing smile chilling. My skin gets covered in goosebumps. “I suppose I should be proud of you, Alessio,” he suddenly says, his voice a soft croon, the tone someone might use to refer to someone they are especially fond of. “After all, you’re my gr
ChiaraWhen Alessio tackled Alpha Salvatore all the way down, I felt so helpless that I immediately considered jumping down to his aid.But as I look down from above, I see Dad crawling on the ground, trying to get upright. That strengthens my decision. Instead of going down to the chasm where the two men are, I back away and remain at the edge, kneeling beside my father and touching his face.“Dad!” I say in a shaky voice, feeling his skin getting cold. “Dad, hold onto me.”He turns around and I see that there’s a big bleeding gash on the back of his head too, an injury that he must have acquired somewhere else.To my horror, his body looks ruined. Mangled. The fall that he took crushed him. My eyes well with tears. “Dad, come with me. Let’s get you to safety.”“No.” He tries to shake his head and blood comes out of his parted lips Miraculously, he manages to get to his feet. “No. You help your mate. Help him win. You can lend him your power. I will be right behind you.”I swallow ha
ChiaraDays pass. Then weeks. Before I know it, a whole month passes, and when I wake up with this realization, I just feel like a gigantic weight has been lifted off my chest. Life goes on, I realize. No matter how bad the situation is, my life still goes on. And so do the lives of others. The past month proved that. Since the war between Cavaliere Ombra and Arcieri Luminari ended, so many things changed. Not only in the world of the Wolves, but also in the world of humans.Evelyn was the saving grace during the first week, when what we needed to do in the most urgent sense is to make sure that none of the humans are convinced or even remotely suspicious about the existence of humans that turn into monsters. She asked Gio’s family for help, and they were happy to oblige.She had to jump through hoops and use her connections just to get all the news outlets to convince everyone that it was just some kind of bomb exploding in Milan by an armed vigilante group. All the videos that c
Chiara In my humble opinion, there is nothing worse than a slow song when you’re a stripper like me. Pair that up with a young obviously inexperienced man wanting a lap dance and that's basically my hell loop. Pretending to enjoy it as the song dragged on. Slapping greedy sweaty hands away from my thighs. Getting paid cheap for arching my back all night. All packaged in an awful tune. The blue and pink neon lights flash on my blonde wig as I push my young client onto a chair, sliding the twenty euros that he just paid into the hem of my lingerie. I flash him a polite smile as he tries to touch my butt, waiting for the damn song to finish. It just has to be another jazz number. The owner of this club Monamour, a portly woman named Heidi, claims that she loves to make things feel classy. Sophisticated. That’s why she prided her club as some kind of gentleman's cove, a tasteful place to explore desires. I have to call bullshit on that. There’s nothing classy about bored women trying
Chiara The words swim in my head until I feel faint. I grab the door of my locker, feeling like I just got punched in the gut. After a while, the words start to sink in, and I manage to find my voice again. “A . . . scholarship?” I echo. “But how?” Dad laughs louder on the other end, and I feel even more thrown. “Is this a prank?” I ask him suspiciously. “Dad, I swear to God, if you got on drugs again, I will--” “Darling, no.” His smile is very apparent even from this side of the phone call. “I met someone at the . . . casino,” he mumbles. “His name is Alessio de Marco. He, uh, has some connections in the University of Catania, so I tried to hook you up over a game of cards. He talked to his supervisor, and they need one more beneficiary for their program. You’re going back to college!” My eyes go wide in surprise. "Is this true? Is this really happening?" "Yes, my love." His voice softens. "I know I haven't been great to you, but I didn't forget what you want. And now I can fin
Chiara "So this is his daughter?" "Yes, Master. She went home because of her father's request." "Perfect. Did you search her belongings?" “We did. But we didn’t find anything other than costumes and wigs, Master.” The two male voices talking in whispers pull me out of unconsciousness. My eyelids feel sticky. My limbs feel like they're a hundred pounds heavier. I try to get up, but then I feel a strip of cold leather strapping me down. I realize that I'm bound to something hard and cold, like a steel bed, through my neck, wrists, and ankles. I blink repeatedly, trying to get rid of the haze in my vision. Slowly, the room I am in starts to loom into view. Dark red walls. Bare, except for the array of weapons that are displayed in cases. Knives, swords, axes . . . even what looks like teeth. Sharp, big, animal teeth. Chills run down my spine. I try to move but I'm plastered in place. I want to scream, but something is slapped right in my mouth, preventing me from making a single
Alessio I slam Chiara down on the metal bed, grabbing her hand that she somehow managed to slip out of the strap. I look around for my knife, but I realize that she managed to swipe it away from my grasp and it fell on the floor. I twist her wrist and slip it back inside the strap, tightening it and making her cry out. I stare at her in anger, breathing hard because of what almost transpired. She shouldn’t have attempted to touch my mask. No one knows who I am and what I am, and it should stay that way. I’ve been protecting myself for far too long and I won’t let some rat’s child get in the way of that. Anyone who crosses me must die. And now, she’s staring at me with her black hair all over her face, her brown eyes wide and crazy, saying something that her muffled mouth won’t let her. That doesn’t make me happy at all. I pull the gag down from the girl’s mouth. Immediately, a scream erupts in the room. High pitched and reedy, like a little girl’s. I almost want to bring the gag