KILLIAN'S POV "You're not letting some witch probe in my head, Vivian!" Caleb yelled. It took everything in me not to storm into his cell and rip his head off, but I knew Vivian wouldn't like that based on the desperate look she shot my way. "She's not probing around in your head, Caleb. She needs to hold your hand and mine, do some light searching and figure out if our mate bond is the real thing. Aren't you curious?" Caleb glared. "It is the real thing. I feel it. You feel it. You're just trying to make yourself feel better about rejecting me by coming up with some crazy conspiracy theory that it's not." "Caleb, please. What can I do to make you feel better about this?" Vivian pleaded. Caleb looked at her and then at me. "I'll make you a deal." "Anything." "If our mate bond is real, I want you to agree that you'll be my mate. You'll stop this talk of rejection. You'll agree to let me claim you."
VIVIAN'S POV "I'm so glad you're here with me." Caleb was practically skipping, making me sick to my stomach. I forced a smile. "I'm glad to be here." He stopped walking and looked at me seriously. "Do you mean that?" "Of course I do. I told you before. I was playing the part back there. We're mates, Caleb. I'd always choose you over them." He grinned at me. "I knew it." He fist pumped the air. I caught myself almost physically cringing. Had he always been this obnoxious? Knowing what I knew now had all but withered the mate bond, I learned to be a hoax. I felt nothing. “So, tell me more about what you and Sarah talked about." Caleb narrowed his eyes. "Her name is Sam now. She said Sarah is what she used to go by." "Sam. I'm sorry. What did you and Sam talk about?" He grabbed a stick and started flicking it around in the air. "She told me that if I brought your parents to you, y
KILLIAN'S POV "Still no change?" I took a bite of my roll, staring at Chris over my plate of food, and rolled my eyes. I swallowed and then answered. "Don't you think I would have come and got you if there had been?" He rolled his eyes back at me. "No. You'd want to keep her to yourself. It's been two days. And she's still unconscious. Has Divinity been in there to see if she can do anything?" "She's been in there every day. She said she needs to rest. She lost a lot of blood. She's healing. Caleb did a number on her." "Caleb is an asshole, but I never thought he was this cruel. I don't see him doing this to her." I shrugged. "Maybe you don't know him as well as you think." He shook his head. "Something isn't adding up. He was in love with her. Then to almost murder her? No. When she wakes up, she can tell us more." "Hopefully. If she remembers anything, she went through a pretty traumatic
VIVIAN'S POV "This is where we found you." I looked at the ground where Killian was pointing; spots of blood were still covering the ground—my blood. Looking at Killian's face, I could tell he noticed, too. Chris's jaw was tense. No one was happy to be here, but they wanted answers. I looked towards the tree line, feeling a pull. Chris and Killian watched me, waiting for me to react to my surroundings. I started walking, letting myself be guided. As we continued to walk, the tugging felt stronger. I'd been here. I'd come this way. "Vivian? Where are we going?" I held up my hand, silencing Chris. I needed to feel, not talk. I paused, closing my eyes, and turned, heading in another direction, further into the forest. Where were we headed? Ivy started whimpering. She wasn't happy that we were returning to where we came from. Something here had scared her. The closer we got, the more I questioned if we should turn bac
KILLIAN'S POV "You're not serious, are you, Vivian?" Chris stepped forward, bumping my shoulder in the process. "He's right, Vivid. Take it back. We don't need her." Vivian looked back at Sylvara and then at us. "The deal's been made." Mother Nature grinned at us over her shoulder and then held up her hands. Her lackeys formed a line around her, waiting for her command. "We go with the wolves." I looked at Vivian again. "We're taking them back to Blackmoon? Now?" "How else are we going to train with them?" I groaned. "Fine. Just don't say I didn't warn you." She shrugged. "If it makes you feel better. Let's get going."*****VIVIAN'S POV I rubbed my hands together nervously, staring at the trees Sylvara should be coming from. When we'd gotten back to Blackmoon, Killian had offered to make up rooms for them, begrudgingly, but they had insisted they'd feel more at home in the fore
CHRIS'S POV "Just leave me be." I knocked on Vivid's door harder. "It's been two days. You can't keep sulking. You either open up, or I'm breaking it down." Hearing scuffling, I waited until the door cracked open, her tear streaked face staring at me. "What do you want?" I held up a paper sack of food. "You know what I want. I want you to eat something and make sure you're okay." She held out her hand. "I'll take the food, but you can go." "Yeah, right. I'm coming in and going to watch you eat this." "Not happening. I don't want to see you or Killian." My jaw dropped. "What did I do?" "Exactly that. Nothing. You didn't do anything. You stood there and did nothing." "What was I supposed to do, Vivid? She's Mother freaking Nature. Did you want a vine through my chest, too?" She flinched. "No." "So let me inside, and we can talk." She
VIVIAN'S POV "You're holding back." I closed my eyes, trying not to glare at Sylvara. I was on the ground again. "I'm giving it my all." "Listen to your body. Listen to your wolf, wolf girl." I opened my eyes to see her holding her hand out to me, which I grabbed, letting her help me up. "But this is magic. This isn't shifting. What does that have to do with it?" "Your senses. You're ignoring them. You don't have to shift to pay attention to your wolf." I let myself feel, listen, smell. Then I heard it—the sound of something coming behind me. I whipped around in time to see a vine coming straight towards me, and I sliced it in half with the force of energy Sylvara had already taught me to wield like a sword. She was a much better teacher than Clarence. She was vicious and in it to win it. I spun around, grinning at her, her expression matching mine. "I think you're catching on," she said. "
SARAH'S POV "Why aren't we letting them come to us?" Zeke asked, staring down at the paper I held in my hands. I crumpled the sheet with the scribbles of Blackmoon's mapped compound. I knew the place by heart, so it wasn't doing me much good anyway. "Can you just shut up? I know what I'm doing." "If the pack knew I was letting you call the shots, it would hurt my cred as Alpha." I rolled my eyes. "Because you're such a wonderful Alpha in their eyes." "Hey, I am. I got rid of that murderer, Vivian." I started rubbing my temples. "Right, you did. Good job, Zekey. But listen, this is super important stuff here, and I know Blackmoon better than you do, so it's best if you just let me handle the logistics. If we let them take the offensive, we're at a disadvantage." "Got it. I've never been to war before; I guess it's all these nerves." I patted the spot on the bed next to me. "Sit down, Zekey."