Aurora’s POVI’d what?It was almost impossible to contain my fury. I’d never known what had happened to make Ethan turn on me, all those years ago – but to discover that he’d divorced me because of something that had never even happened? It was bone chilling. It was spine crawling. It was awful.If only he’d allowed me to talk to him…But he hadn’t, and here we were. As much as I wanted to dig deeper, to unearth where that belief had come from, it was just making me want to get revenge even more than I already did. Because if he’d just talked to me – if he’d just bloody asked – then we could’ve still been together. He would’ve learnt the truth. And I wouldn’t have had to fake my own death and bring up our son on my own. So it didn’t matter why he believed it, not to me. It just mattered that he did, and his misplaced belief had ruined everything we’d had.I was going to ruin him for this. Breaking his heart wasn’t enough; I was going to destroy Ethan Savage, body, mind, and soul.
Aurora’s POVEthan’s hands moved to cup my face, then traced the line of my jaw. I shivered into his touch. His mouth felt both familiar and new at once; he tasted of whiskey and ginger, the alcohol lingering on his lips and tongue.His body was warm against mine. I dug my nails into the hard muscles of his shoulders, moaning into his open mouth as he deepened the kiss. I wasn’t myself, not anymore: I was pulsing heat and bad decisions made manifest. I also didn’t care.I was falling into a dark and tumultuous unknown. The past was paved with horrors, and the future…If this was what hating Ethan felt like, it was worryingly close to how loving him had felt. The mate bond roared to life in my chest, revived by the way his fingers curled around the nape of my neck, pulling me closer. It had lain dormant for many years, broken after his rejection. Being around him had sparked it – but this was no spark. This was a burning flame, guiding me home.Terror sluiced through me, ice chilling m
Ethan’s POV“Aria!” I jogged down the road after her. I had no idea what I’d done wrong, but the heat in my chest urged me to find her, to make it right. I couldn’t lose her. Not after what we’d just shared. Whatever attraction had existed between us before had magnified.Or it had for me, anyway. Aria had run off. What if I’d hurt her? What if I’d upset her? I couldn’t bear the thought of either. She had to be okay.If only we could go back in time. I wanted to be holding her again, kissing her again. Her face had felt so delicate between my large hands, her lips so soft against mine. She’d tasted of wine and desire, her body warm and pliant, her cheeks flushed and rosy. I’d never seen anyone so beautiful.Her nails had left tiny welts in my shoulders. Just thinking about it had my muscles clenching. Kissing Aria had been like nothing I’d experienced before – or, at least, not for a very long time.My chest ached, but in a good way. In a mate bond sort of way.Sterling whined. ‘She
Aurora’s POV“Nobody can hear you,” Dominic said, his voice full of glee. “Make as much noise as you like, gorgeous. It won’t help – but I do enjoy hearing it.”The problem with being a doctor was that I was good at calculations, especially when it came to matters of life or death. I could see, clear as day, just how much my chances of survival decreased with every passing second, with every stab and slice of the stake.My wounds throbbed and pulsed and stung. Warm blood dripped down both arms, down my cheeks, following the line of my jaw and the curve down to my neck. I could smell it in the air: my own blood, dizzying my head.He lifted the stake again. Splinters dug into the soft skin of my inner arm, just above my elbow. The blunt tip of the stake pierced my arm, carving a long line down to my wrist.I gritted my teeth, unwilling to let so much as a whimper escape after what he’d said. I wouldn’t give this sadistic bastard the satisfaction. “Aw, don’t be like that. Look, I’ll tr
Ethan’s POVIn the distance, I heard Aria scream.‘Run!’ I snarled at Sterling – but he was already sprinting, his ears pinned flat back to his head, his teeth bared.My chest burst open. Whatever connected us – the mate bond, if it could be possible, if it could be that, if it were some sort of second chance bond – roared to life, but it couldn’t find her. It was like trying to walk through a door, only for it to slam shut in my face.‘I can feel the tether,’ puffed Sterling, ‘but I can’t feel her wolf. It’s like she doesn’t exist.’I could barely hear him. My emotions were a rush of blood, pounding in my ears, in my head. I was nothing but the erratic beat of Sterling’s paws against the forest floor, nothing but the crunch of twigs and the slush of leaves underfoot, nothing but my racing, raging heart and the too-fast huff of air in and out of his lungs.‘We’re so sure she’s hiding something,’ Sterling went on. I focused on his steady voice, on the lilt of unease lurking within it.
Ethan’s POVI swallowed hard. The knife pricked my throat. Droplets of blood soaked into my fur.“That’s it,” the woman cooed. As she stepped into the light, finally letting me see her face, Dominic Butcher slammed the stake into Aria’s chest.Everything happened very fast then.I saw long blonde hair. Green eyes. Full lips. A dusting of freckles over her small, straight nose. A delicate beauty mark under her eye.Aurora. The woman holding me back was Aurora, but I could barely spare a glance for my not-so-dead ex-wife. Not when Aria was screaming, howling; the sounds she was making weren’t even human anymore. It was a nightmare, that scream, the noise of a life being stolen by the shadows.I let my throat get cut as I shoved Aurora aside. It couldn’t be Selene because it didn’t sound like Selene, and because Selene was in Berlin, but then again… it couldn’t be Aurora either. Aurora was dead. But the woman looked just like her as she flailed to regain her balance. Taking control of
Ethan’s POVThere was nothing I could do – but that didn’t mean there was nothing Sterling could.In a sudden burst he shifted out, taking control as I fell apart. He tore through the four men holding me like a knife through butter, twisting as he slammed into the first two, sliding his claws across their throats before turning to take down the others.They fell like toy soldiers. Their heads rolled off their necks as they hit the ground. One man’s hand twitched, then went still.But it was too little too late.The knife pierced Aria’s chest. I screamed into Sterling’s head. It hurt too much for me to wonder why it hurt so much.Sterling launched himself at Dominic. For his part, Butcher didn’t look remotely bothered by the beheadings of four of his cronies. He just side-stepped Sterling’s attack and, very calmly, said, “If you kill me, you won’t get her back.”‘He’s lying,’ I snarled. ‘Kill him.’‘We can’t take that chance.’Dominic grinned as we faltered. He knew he’d won. Wiping hi
Ethan’s POV“Aria,” I rasped. My voice broke. In an instant I was at her side, my hands on her face, on her shoulders, brushing dried blood off her exposed neck. She looked so small, so fragile, and I just wanted to hold her, to help her, to make it all better. To make all of this go away.But I couldn’t. There was nothing I could do.I couldn’t bring her back. Aria would never be okay again.I splintered. My soul shattered into a million tiny pieces. Wilting beside her on the stone slab, I cradled her too cold, too still body. It didn’t feel real. She couldn’t be dead, couldn’t be gone…She was, though. I inched back, crying silently, moving to untie her wrists and ankles. Her body was heavy, the heaviness of limp, unyielding muscles. The heaviness of death. I choked on my own tears, my vision too blurry for me to see properly as I lifted her up reverently, clutching her to my chest for a moment before I laid her carefully on the grass.The weight of what had happened started to se