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
Gwen’s POV I weave in and out of consciousness many times. Each time, there is someone watching me. The purple-eyed man. I’m convinced that I died and went to the underworld. If I’m not dead, I must be hallucinating. I cannot tell how long I’ve been lying here…wherever ‘here’ is. During the small spells when I’m awake, I recollect my memories. Leaving Stefan’s place, taking a bus, the bleeding. After that, nothing. What happened? Did someone take me to a hospital? When I fully regain consciousness, the man is not there. But when I turn my head, I see him. He is at the window. The room looks pretty bare for a hospital room. The walls are stone and there is no other furniture in the room. But the bed is quite comfortable. I sit up, bracing for pain to wash through my body. But there’s no discomfort. “Hey.” My voice comes out as a scratchy whisper, but he hears it anyway. He turns around and even across the room, I can see his purple eyes clearly. It wasn’t a dream. “Ruby!” h
Stefan’s POV When I get to the briefing room, Hanna, Max, and Andreas are waiting. As I walk to my seat, Hanna rises from hers. “Gwen is gone,” she tells me. I take my seat. “I know.” All three pairs of eyes in the room follow me, as if awaiting further comment. When I offer none, Hanna adds, “Like she is gone gone. She took her car and I checked her room. Her things are gone.” “Let’s talk about Blackrise.” While Hanna looks at me as if I’ve grown a second head, Levi appears at the door. He is using crutches. While our kind heals fast, fractures take a while. “Can I talk to you for a second?” he asks as he hobbles into the room. He doesn’t wait for my reply as he walks right past the table and towards the door to my private office. I rise and go to him. After I’ve let us in and closed the door behind me, I ask, “What is it?” “What happened back there?” he asks as he settles in a chair and puts his crutches aside. “What?” If he too wants to interrogate me about Gwen, it’s not
Stefan’s POV When Gwen left, she only took what she had with her when I brought her here. She didn’t take any of her new clothes or the cards I’d given her. Which means she left with no money. She only has her car, which she cannot refuel. Unless she decides to stay nearby for a while, it’s the only thing she can use to get money. Hanna, Max, Andreas, and I split up and check the used car dealerships in town and pawnshops. On my third try, I find what I’m looking for. She indeed pawned her car for cash…but now, I have no idea where to find her. According to the owner, she came by over two hours ago. That’s a lot of time to get far away from here. Without her car, she must have taken a bus. Or a train. “She asked about the farthest bus route,” the owner provides. The farthest. I hope that small detail narrows my search. I contact the others and ask Max to come and get her car back while I head to the bus station. ‘She better still be there,’ Eric growls. I stay silent and f