Naomi jumps out, grinning at me, and I can’t help running even harder towards her. Does she even know how badass she makes black look? It’s just sportswear, but the way she carries it, how do you ever have that much self-belief?
“Naomi! I didn't think you'd come back! I’m dodging Sawyer, Mama is always sending him to fetch me back to Cragstone.” “Why are you always getting away? Is there something wrong?” she asks, and I don’t even know where to begin. It's shameful not to get along with your wolf. To admit you're lonely and the only person you talk to regularly is hired to bother finding you. I need her to stay around long enough. Maybe I could even ask her for advice about Huli. her wolf might be a handful, too, for all I know. I open my mouth to try and string something together except for my other sister. “Hey! What are you doing this far out!” Leona interrupts, shouting out of the truck window. She can piss off, always treating me like a baby. Naomi is the one staring at me with concern in her eyes. So I flip her off, hand raised high, smirking like a child as Leona rolled her eyes. Then I felt pain. Sharp, searing agony. Only after smashing into the ground did i feel the heat and the brightness. I put a hand to my face only to feel the heat of my own blood gushing from my cheekbone. Where Leona and the truck once stood there existed only flames. Naomi was in a ball, moving, screaming, and wailing. I tried to edge myself towards her only to realise my leg and shoulder were cut up, blood seeping into my white gown. “LEONA NO!” my heartbroken sister screamed, her face completely savage with pain, staring straight at the fireball. For a few seconds, I held her, completely dumbstruck as burning paper flew about, carried by the wind. What the hell were they fetching back? /Get help!/ Huli shouted at me, snapping me out of my shock. Sawyer. Sawyer linked me a few minutes ago. /Sawyer, are you there?/ /Phoebe? Phoebe there’s been an explosion, I can see the smoke. You’ve got to come back now-/ /That's where I am. I’m hurt, so is Naomi-/ /I’m on my way, don’t move./ I somehow manage to tell Naomi I’ve linked Sawyer and hold her as she screams the darkest, most desperate roar I’ve ever heard in my life. /Are you in danger? Talk to me for fucks sake!/ Sawyer snaps, his voice as harsh as the heat that slams into Naomi and I in waves. The smell of charred flesh hits my nose and I fight back the urge to vomit. I'm bleeding. Naomi is bleeding. My big sister. A sister I had nothing nice to say about has gone. /We could have saved her. If we still had our gift/ Huli remarks and it is my wolf’s extra layer of guilt that sees me retching into the tall grass, the sound of vehicles rumbling closer over the roar of the flames.Climbing on top of the truck cabin, I got a view of a thick rising column of smoke over a mile away. /Anyone close?/ I link out to my fellow Beta Warriors. /Half an hour south of Cragstone?/ Beta Riley answers separately /Is it that black smoke in the distance?/ /We should check it out. Meet you there?/ Then Phoebe’s voice bounced into my head. Deceptively sweet and gentle for someone who hurled a rock at me the last time I tried to get her to come home. /Sawyer, are you there?/ Goddess help me. Of course she’s finally found herself in some real trouble. No doubt the cause of that fire, I bet. I didn’t panic until the link went quiet. The trembling fear in her voice hit me hard. Almost like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. No mocking. Just a plea. For me. That’s a first. She’s called me every curse word under the sun over the past few months. Mostly amusing, sometimes seriously fucking annoying. More annoying is the blue-eyed, fussing Penelope. Like a vul
“I don’t need babysitting Sawyer,” Phoebe complains. Of course. As always. “It’s not babysitting. It’s guarding. It’s also not an option. Now go inside,” I bark. She slams the door in my face, muttering expletives before gentle, sobbing noises eke out from under the wooden door. Half an hour later, Eleanor reopens it and whispers, “Thank you Sawyer. You’re a good friend to us.” “Just following orders,” I lie again. It’s just responsibility to the pack. I’d do the same for anyone else. We’re not even friends. I’m fairly certain I’m her nemesis. Well in a few weeks she’ll be chasing full moon dances like the rest of them. Probably mated to someone easily bossed around like Dash or Theo. Phoebe Kharkov coming of age. Bizarre, considering she sometimes has the temperament of a five year old. I imagine when she isn’t scowling, cursing or running away, she could be considered a beauty. She's clever too when doesn’t shrink in on herself or resort to childish insults. Comi
The orange dress Mama picked out was only one of the reasons I had to get out of the house. The sobbing takes me straight back to losing my father. I head over to Finn’s cottage for the first time in my life and find Naomi slumped on the floor bawling, the same position as I left my Mama. We don’t talk about that. We don’t talk about Finn either. Finn was exasperated when we crossed paths. Maybe that’s why he gave me the crap advice to suggest Rami is trying to fight like Naomi. He isn’t. Rami is just a whirling lump of chubby fists. So I received yet another withering look from Naomi. It’s like Leona is still here. Identical ire and exasperation. Nothing I want to say comes up during my brief time at the cottage. Like, what were all the books? Why were they coming back so soon? What were they rowing about before Naomi jumped out? Naomi refuses to wear the dress. I hate my orange, itchy monstrosity, so why did I agree? /Because you’re the baby Kharkov/ Huli sneers. Wh
By the time Easton and I got back from the bombsite, I was fit for nothing more than crashing into the bunkhouse. “Looks like we missed a party, wasn’t it meant to be a pyre?” Easton grimaced, stepping over abandoned bottles of whisky and tequila outside Riley’s room. He’s got some newbies he’s meant to be mentoring. Doesn’t seem like much of that is going on. I’ll raise it to Cillian, making a mental note for the morning. I glare at Rileys closed door. “Bet it was that fucking card game again. Want some food?” gesturing to the two wrapped plates waiting on the counter. “Yes please, I’m starved. Did you know stress, fear makes you hungrier? You send your body into fight or flight it fucks with your blood sugar.” I don’t know what he’s trying to say. He’s chunky because he’s greedy. Not because he’s battling untold levels of mortal danger on a daily basis. He notices my amusement and laughs. “You know what I mean. I bet you ate less during the war. Anyways, you know I much
Whoever said shifters don’t get hangovers are dirty, lying scumbags. They are painfully real. The instant dawn breaks, I flop out of bed, grab a towel, stick a dark blue, baggy dress over some exercise wear and vanish out of our house. Still, I was spied on the way by Dash and Kian. “Fun times Kharkov!” they called out, miming drinking actions. But they were smiling, a smattering of brown freckles dotting Dash’s nose and cheeks. Kian blushing as normal. Normally, they would pretend they hadn’t seen me and glanced the other way. I mimed a gun to the head, rolling my eyes and getting another laugh. /Well done!/ Huli chimed. “Nah, think of us, Phoebe. Shaw was sick on our feet on the run home!” “No way!” I joke. The happiness at having someone new to talk to other than Huli almost made me forget Riley. I head to the riverbank. The tyre swing I have spent endless hours mulling things over at. However, today, I have a different purpose. Untying my plaited hair, wondering wha
Naomi’s pep talk was the kick I needed. Probably nothing noticeable, but I can feel it. Even Naomi losing her cool and having a swipe at Riley didn’t derail me. It felt good hurling a fruit basket at her, though. Finally, I have plans. One I can soon talk about and the one I must take to the grave. I found Jane straight after leaving my Naomi’s, loitering skittishly around the Beta Warrior’s bunkhouse. “Hey, can we talk?” Her blonde ringlets jumped into the air, her entire body jerking in surprise. “Phoebe! Of course, sorry, I was just checking…no matter!” a forced smile stretching across her face. “Can we talk in private?” I add, aware that the longer we stand here, the more chance there was of Riley appearing. Looking down at my red-stained hands, I made a show of innocence, raising them in the air, “Hair dye, I swear!” Until she chuckled, and we made our way together. “If you want, let’s head out of town,” Jane offered calmly as together, arm in arm we strolled. Cr
It’s been a long six weeks. White Forest was of course a fucking bust. Nikolai was in no mood for house guests. Dressed in black with dark, sweeping locks to his shoulders. I received one reluctant night's bed and board before he suggested I try the inns of Silver City. His attempt at politely telling me to go away. “Nikolai,” Luna Genevieve whispers, her hand entwined in his. Her delicate peach gown floating to the ground in waves of soft tulle, disguising the power she wields. “Stay for dinner please?” “The Alpha is correct. I should go-” “Please. Do stay for dinner.” Nikolai stated, with all the temptation of a live embalming, a ruby glint in his dark eyes. Genevieve rolled her eyes, clearly mindlinking a reprimand. “I should go. But thank you.” They should be a riotous storm. A marriage of unhappiness. But somehow, they shine together. I think that is why he doesn’t want me lingering. He has found his perfection. She adores him exactly as he is. Readying my bike, I
Stopping halfway back on the bike ride back to Rising Star I wrench my hands into my bright white locks. I have to get my shit together. Why can’t she see how foolish she’s being! “FUCKING HELL!” cursing the sky above. I’ve not put a foot wrong since joining the Beta Warriors, leaving my shitty non-life in the south behind. Now I’m holding secrets. I bet she hasn’t considered the wrong person finding her notes. Or if she could control herself in the heat of an argument from striking someone down. The chaos she could awaken. I don’t mind admitting that anyone else, even men I’ve fought alongside, would have been arrested instantly. We have those two idiots locked up in Rising Star with their legs broken for lesser crimes. How could she think she would get away with this? Nash, my so-called wolf, is silent. Shifters are meant to be superior because we have these guardian angel advisors. Well I’m flying blind. Again. I should have talked it over with her. Suggested some groun