Eliana POV“This is awful, and I don’t know how to help Yvonne without going to Nathan - but if she refuses to let us do that, then what can we do?” Cassie and I were chatting about the wedding dress fitting as we climbed up the final flight of steps to our apartment having left Yvonne on her floor below us. “Yeah, I’m with you completely. I get not wanting to cause friction between Nathan and his mother, but this whole situation is just insane!” Cassie replied. “The worst thing is that I think Yvonne thinks the problem is herself, but it’s pretty clear that the old woman would be unhappy with anyone mated to her darling son. She probably just doesn’t want to let him go!” I was suddenly very grateful for my own mother in law, even though my marriage wasn’t the typical lovey dovey one. At least I knew Valenti didn’t resent me for marrying her son. We got to our door and stopped dead in our tracks, noticing that it was slightly ajar. “Did we not lock?” I whispered to Cassie and sh
Eliana POVElijah set a plate of mini muffins on our table with a flourish, bowing dramatically as he declared, “lunch is served.”Cassie giggled and waved a folded serviette in front of her face as she returned his banter cheerfully, “why thank you, kind sir.” Eli winked at her and nudged me. “Why can't you be as sweet as your friends over here?”I snorted and rolled my eyes, “well for starters they didn't grow up with you so don't know how mean you were to me when we were kids…”He gasped and held his hand to his heart as if I had injured him. “Me? Mean? I think you have the wrong brother.”“Oh yes of course. It was my other twin brother who put a frog in my pillow, and shaved my eyebrows off when I was sleeping,” I deadpanned, my eyes meeting his unblinking gaze. “How could I have been so mistaken.”Eli shrugged, looking oh so innocent as he replied, “I have no idea. Old age perhaps.” He ran his fingers through my hair and sighed dramatically. “It might be time to get the old ball
Eliana POV“Marco! I thought you were meant to be working on your assignment today,” Cassie blushed, having been caught out talking badly about her relationship with Marco. His eyebrow raised a little bit before he shook his head, “no. Today I had to fetch Perry’s brother from the airport because Perry had to do an assignment today.” Cassie turned an even brighter shade of pink as she mouthed “Oh” and stood up to give her potentially soon to be ex boyfriend a kiss. “Mixed messages, that’s all. I’m sorry,” she said sweetly, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger. “I guess you’ll have to make it up to me then,” he teased, playfully nipping on her lip.Yvonne and I averted our gazes, not wanting to be scarred by an imminent over-display of public affection. “Alright, what are you thinking?” we heard her ask (almost hopefully).“Come out to dinner with me?” Marco asked, causing Cassie to immediately bubble over with excitement. “Of course! Where are we going? I want to dres
“Okay, let's run through this one more time,” Enzo said, rubbing his temples. “You went to a party where you got drugged, possibly by this Thomas dude. Then Nathan Campbell took you to his house, but was a gentleman and made you sleep in his spare room. But you had a dream that you were in a warehouse, trapped in a cage, and this dude Jason was tormenting other prisoners and then dragged a teenage girl from the cage she was in and did who the fuck knows with her. And now you think this Jason dude is the cousin of this other dude Perry. Am I getting this straight?” I chewed on my bottom lip and nodded, knowing that there were pieces of the dream I'd forgotten. “Yeah, that's what I remember. Do I sound crazy?Enzo shrugged, “if you'd asked me a few weeks back, I'd have said ‘hell yeah’, but now I'm saying that I think you need to tell all of this to Luca.”I'd hoped Enzo would just tell me that I was overreacting, but he wasn't playing into my wishes and I could tell that he was sligh
Luca POVI hadn’t meant to be home that long. Hell, I hadn’t meant to go home at all. The plan had been to get Nico to the pack doctor and then disappear before my mother caught wind of my presence on the island. Well, that didn’t happen. In the single day that it took for me to get Nico home, he had started having stomach cramps, developed a fever and had begun convulsing as I got him into the clinic. Doc had immediately taken blood and sent me into isolation at the clinic, not knowing what pathogen we had picked up in that hell of a shed. I had been washed from head to toe with a specialised soap by a nurse who was far too enthusiastic about her job, and then given an utterly horrendous gown which was far too short and came up to my thighs, and was open in the back. “Sorry, Alpha,” Doc had the decency to seem empathetic. “We just can’t risk the rest of the pack until we know what has been brought back with you and the Gamma.”“I understand, Doc,” I had told him reassuringly, “the p
Eliana POV“London? The place you believe is safer than Cambridge is London?” Cassie asked incredulously as we passed the London Bridge. When there was no response from Luca, she huffed and folded her arms, mumbling under her breath, “we've left one danger for another.”Luca continued to ignore her, his eyes fixed on the scenery as we drove past, as if he were looking for something. The car stopped outside a gigantic building which seemed to be made of glass as it reached up into the sky. We didn't get much opportunity to look around though as Luca practically dragged us into the building and to the elevator. “Hold on, I know this place,” Cassie said sharply, her eyes narrowing. “You should. Vasilios has an office on one of the lower floors and an apartment close to the top,” came Luca's unemotional response, however he quickly squashed any protests from my friend with his next words. “I also own an apartment here now, so that's where we're going.”Cassie immediately settled down -
Eliana POV “Hey, Eli!” I grinned through the video chat with my brother. “Did you see the picture from mom?” Eli snorted and rolled his eyes, “you mean the declaration that she is going to be Mrs. Carnera?” He shoved his index finger into his mouth and made gagging noises. “I won't lie, it grossed me out initially too,” I giggled. “Hey, aren't you meant to be at work?” He shrugged, “for what? The whole campus is closed because of the bloody attacks. My boss said it's pointless even opening since most of the staff and students have either left Cambridge or are holed up in their homes.” “Yeah, I got emails from my lecturers and the Dean explaining that they're letting the police have free reign to investigate. Most of my lectures have been online today, or we were just emailed the lecture notes.” I sighed. “So what have you been doing?” Eli held up his guitar and strummed a few chords. “Just been getting my groove on. Thanks again for the guitar.” “It's payback for all your years
The smell of antiseptic and death assaulted us as we rushed into Cambridge University Hospital, ignoring the shouts from the porter that visiting hours were over. One look at Luca and the nurse who was hovering in the hallway gestured for us to follow her, her face solemn. As she opened the door to let Cassie and myself into a private room, she put her hand on Luca's arm to stop him from following. “Alpha, a word?” He nodded to her, letting the door swing shut behind Cassie and myself, leaving us in the room. A curtain surrounded the bed and the steady beeping of machinery was the only sound. Cassie and I shared a look of uncertainty before we stepped forward and pushed aside the curtain. Yvonne lay there, eyes closed as she breathed steadily. She would have looked so peaceful if it weren't for the long gash which ran down the side of her cheek. My eyes swept over her body, taking in the bandages which covered both arms, the dried blood which matted her hair and the cast on her