Gwen’s POV “Hey, have you…have you seen Stefan?” I ask Hanna, joining her on the watchtower of the old pack house. The watchtower is at the back of the left side of the house, and it seems to have survived the raid for the most part. The wooden stairs leading to the top are a little rickety and could do with some work before being put to use again. Hanna puts out the cigarette in her hand–this is the first time I’ve seen her smoke–and crushes the stub beneath her boot. “You smoke?” I ask, sidling up next to her. The platform at the top is box-like, with a surrounding walkway shielded by wooden rails. She’s leaning against a corner stilt, and since it isn’t giving way under her weight, I become confident in the strength of the structure and prop myself against the railing. “Rarely,” she says, rubbing her hands along her arms. “Fuck, it’s cold out here.” “Is it?” I ask, frowning. I’m not feeling the chill, and she’s the one wearing a pull-neck sweater beneath a denim jacket. “Ca
“What were you thinking going on the run by yourself without telling anyone? Aren’t kings supposed to always have someone accompanying them?” When I get no answer, I look up from the wound I’m cleaning on his chest to his face. He’s watching me, the corner of his lip turned up slightly as if in amusement. “What?” I question, wondering what’s funny about this situation. “Is this where you scold me?” he asks. “Damn right it is,” I reply right away. “What would have happened to you if we hadn’t come looking? What if there were more of them–” “I’m fine now, aren’t I?” I groan and put away the cotton wad. “If you do something like that again, I’ll be the one beating you up.” He chuckles and tries to sit up, but I press a palm to his chest to keep him down. “Will you at least stay still?” “We heal fast, Gwen. I can barely feel the scratches at this point.” I give a doubtful look to the wound I just finished disinfecting. “I’m not sure about that.” True, the majority of the other sc
Stefan’s POV You would think that after getting jumped by a werewolf high on vampire blood, the first thing on my mind would be addressing this new threat. I mean, sure, it’s right there at the forefront of my mind, but so are two other things as well. One, I’ve never needed to dress a wound, and I’ve received some nasty ones in all the years I’ve spent getting into fights with werewolves. Even the worst ones usually heal within hours, sometimes with a little help from a healer, but I’ve never gone to bed with one and woken up without it at least having formed a scab. The one I have on my chest right now is setting a new record, it seems. It’s still raw and doesn’t show any signs of hurrying up with the recovery. I ended up dressing it up as Gwen advised–I had no choice, really. I could get a balm from the healer, but I don’t want to raise eyebrows around here. As far as everyone knows, I should have recovered from last night’s injuries. And that’s what I’m going to keep them t
Stefan’s POV “What are you doing?” Gwen asks, rushing to my side. She pushes my hand away from the gauze I’m pulling away from my wound. “I want to see if it has healed up,” I tell her, peeking through the edge of the side of the gauze I’d pulled away before she showed up. It’s still raw. “Of course, it hasn’t,” she says, taping the side back to my skin. “It hasn’t been an hour since I applied it.” Yeah, well… She pats her palm over the gauze and looks up at me. I meet her gaze for a second and look away at the mirror. She starts doing up the buttons I’d released to check on my wound. “You are brooding,” she says. I frown down at her head. “What?” “You didn’t say goodbye to her, did you?” she asks. “Why didn’t you?” “I told you I saw her before the meeting.” “No, you didn’t,” she says, and I wonder whether Mari said something that gave away the fact I hadn’t interacted with her since the previous night. “She wanted to see you before she left, I think.” She finishes with the
Gwen’s POV “There must be something we can do,” I tell Hanna as I watch the van disappear through the gate. Stefan’s wound is yet to heal, and there’s a high probability the attackers are similar to the one from last night. If one was able to injure him so, when he is the most powerful werewolf around, what will happen if they are facing five or more? “There is,” she says, turning to walk back into the house. “Do you know how to use a gun?” “Yes.” Connor brought me to the shooting range enough times for me to perfect my aim. I never thought anything that happened with him would come in handy at some point. “Good,” she says, heading for the stairs. “Wait here, I’ve got one for you.” She heads upstairs and I wait, pacing in the foyer. Every second that passes feels like an eternity. She doesn’t stay long, and when she gets back, she has a handgun. “Stefan will want to skin me alive for bringing you, but he might spare me if you have this,” she tells me as she hands me the pistol
Gwen’s POV It’s been four hours. Four hours since Stefan disappeared into the infirmary with Mari in his arms. I’ve spent most of that time wearing down a path in the living room carpet. My eyes keep darting to the hallway leading to the infirmary. Nobody has been allowed into the room since Levi had his leg set three hours ago. He left to recover in his room. Since then, only three people have been in the infirmary–Stefan, Mari, and the healer. A few times, I’ve almost convinced myself to go ahead and take a look. She is my twin sister, he is my mate. I should get to check on them. But the memory of Stefan’s threatening glare back in the forest is enough to keep me from doing it. If he looks at me like that ever again… I turn away from the hallway. Maybe I should get out of this house. Take a walk, a drive, anything. Because if I have to stay here one more minute and wonder what’s going on with them, I’ll go crazy. I take the stairs two at a time. In our bedroom, I open one o
Stefan’s POV “Where are you going?” I stop in my tracks and turn. Mari’s eyes are on me as she props herself up on a pillow. I walk back to the bed and help her arrange the pillow behind her. “I thought you were sleeping.” I haven’t left her side since we got back from Red Creek. One of Theodore’s werewolves hurt her and almost got away with her while his partners distracted Max and Levi. But I got there just in time to rip him apart. He had banged her up so badly that she remained unconscious for a few hours after I brought her home. The healer administered some medication, but she was still in some pain when she woke up. Unlike our kind, shapeshifters don’t have fast healing abilities. She finally fell asleep an hour ago, and I’ve been watching her. It looked like she would be resting for a while, so I wanted to go downstairs to discuss our next step. “How are you feeling?” I ask, pulling back when she is comfortable. “Do you need anything?” She shakes her head. “I feel muc
Gwen’s POV I can barely see where I’m going as I take the stairs. Nothing. That’s all I got from him. Nothing. While I told him goodbye, while my heart broke into a thousand pieces, while I wished he would tell me I was wrong and I was the one for him. I blink to keep the tears at bay. They still break free, and I wipe at them quickly. There’s no time to cry. It’s over. Like I should have known from the day I realised he had mistaken me for my sister. Along the way, I lost my mind and thought I could have a fairytale ending. Should I be happy that it’s over soon? That I longer have to lie to myself? I get to the bottom of the stairs and head towards the kitchen. My plan is to get out of here without anyone noticing. Does it even matter? Unless he gives the orders, nobody can stop me from leaving. And I’ve already confirmed he doesn’t care what I do or where I go. He has found the one he was looking for. He has no reason to keep me here. I’m about to get into the kitchen