It was unsettling without Leona. Remembering that everyone around me didn’t have an automatic sense of how I was feeling. Guiding my women into position, their arrows, and lighter fuel ready to go, I could easily imagine my sister. Face furrowed in concentration. Double checking her equipment. Betting with me on the likelihood the enemy would refer to us as bitches.. She would be magnificent. All those times we defended Cragstone together. Now I'm forced to inhale, stand proud, and give Diane Jackson a wry smile. Although, to her credit, she hasn’t mentioned kissing, laying her hands on, or sleeping with Finn once since the night I returned. /Good. She’d be no use after we’d finished with her/ Impes growled possessively. Our long lines of dynamite exploded, Alpha Nikolai and Zeke sprinted with their men through the shattered minefield. "NOW!" I cry, our flaming arrows soaring overhead like hellfire. Finn’s idea looks to have worked perfectly. In the smoke and confusion, the
The fire seized me. Beyond anything I could control. All the muscles are attached to none of the brain. Those burning buildings took me back to a place I never wish to visit again. Clutching a lifeless Naomi. then Rami in my arms, wondering if the sacrifice needed was my own life. I leapt out of that top window fully willing to offer it. Adamo took care of me that night. After a few seconds 6 panic, I felt my gentle, kind wolf nudging me to look towards the western side of Bridgend. Had my wolf cursed and belittled me, I might have never moved again. Instead, we looked to the non-burning areas. Clearing my throat and pointing, I tried to sound authoritative. “We’ll go this way. Around the far edge of the city. Catch them off guard. They’ll all be running towards the fire, the explosions. Might be prepping traps, gathering weapons back there." “Are we not meant to join the fight straight away?” Dash asked, his freckled face screwed in confusion. “No you’re meant to follow
We could smell Nikolai even before Finn charged through the arched stone doorway. It was a heartbreaking sight. For such a tall, powerful man to be helplessly splayed out, resembling a butcher's discarded cut of meat. Zeke’s hands and arms were raw from trying to lift away the weighted, criss-crossed silver laced netting. Covering his hands just saw Zeke’s arms and even his face branded with silver burns, such was the panic to release Nikolai from his trap. It took waiting for Cillian to arrive to provide the lift and strength to get it away as cleanly as possible. Savages. /All those traps need destroying before we leave here./ /Absolutely. Good idea/ Finn agreed silently. But right now, Nikoali was naked. Seared from head to toe in grisly black lines, angry red boils already erupting around the flesh. “Get me home! Just get me home to Genevieve,” he screamed before his eyes rolled into the back of his head. “I need Vee.” Across our bond flowed sorrow and heartache. If I
/Phoebe. Phoebe come on!/ The frustrated voice of Sawyer jump into my brain. Shit, he must be getting closer. I thought I’d done a good job this time. /Please just leave me alone. Lie for once?/ /You know I can’t do that. It’s not just your Mama now, Cillian is concerned too./ /Cillian has absolutely zero reason to be concerned about me/ I reply back sarcastically. I’m a nobody. He's only trying to shut up my mothers nagging. /Phoebe!/ Sawyer growls once more before the mind link finally cuts off. /He’ll find us. He always does./ Huli complained, her tinny, grating voice loud and clear in my head. No Sawyer will give up soon. He made it clear last time he’s sick of chasing us around. Hugging my legs and sitting a little lower in the field. Hiding from everything. Sawyer will soon find something better to do than stare at me with that immovable look of pure annoyance. /He's just pure, cold ice inside/ Huli says with a low growl. Being scrunched down low whilst the
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 m
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