AtwoodRuby emerges from her hiding spot looking rather embarrassed. I’m not upset with her for snooping, though -- how could I be? She’s a naturally curious girl, and besides, after what happened in the auditorium, I can’t blame her for wanting to follow when she saw the headmaster and I storming off with my men at my heels. I just hope that she didn’t overhear too much.My suspicions are confirmed, however, when we get into the back of the car to go back to the castle and the first thing out of her mouth has to do with the Bears.“Why are we going to be attacked?” she says. Her voice quivers a bit. She sounds frightened, rightfully so.I sigh as Kayne pulls out of the school parking lot. There’s no beating around the bush or trying to hide this now. The girl deserves to know the truth.“They want to overthrow me,” I say, matter-of-factly.She looks confused.“But… why?”“Because,” I answer, “the Bears… don’t agree with my method of rule. They’ve never sided with the Lycans.”Ruby lo
RubyThe night that I asked about Luna, Atwood gave me a cold and distant answer and then promptly sent me to bed. I tried not to think about it, but I couldn’t help but toss and turn all night wondering just who Luna was and why Atwood was being so strange about it.That night, as I lay in bed, I had another vision. Truthfully, I’m not sure if it was a vision or a dream, but even now, two weeks later, it burns inside my mind.In the vision, there was a beautiful woman with long, dark hair staring at me.Not a real woman, not really.A painting.I was standing in that same dark room from that day I had been running around the castle. I don’t know how I had gotten in there, or the events leading up to it, but there I was, holding the white sheet that covered the painting in my hand.Was this Luna?I looked down.There was blood on my hands.I haven’t stopped thinking about that vision.It seems as though Atwood forgot about my question -- or at least, he’s pretending that he forgot, be
AtwoodI wanted to go to Ruby’s play. It was really, truly all I wanted.As I limp through woods with my blood dripping into the snow, she’s all I can think about.Tamara and I were both dressed and heading out the door to go to Ruby’s play when they came in. Tamara looked so cute in her little blue dress and matching peacoat, holding a big bouquet to give Ruby after the play.When they came in, however, I immediately ushered Tamara away so she wouldn’t have to see the blood.“They came out of nowhere,” my pack member, Noah, said. “Ambushed us. We… We didn’t have time to shift.”“Medics!” I screamed down the hallway. Frightened servants frantically ran to and fro. I don’t even think some of them knew where they were going in all of the commotion.I ran up to Noah and helped him to lift Kayne onto the stretcher.Kayne’s face… My best friend from childhood…There was so much blood.The medics rushed him away to the infirmary. Noah wasn’t so badly injured, but still needed to hold onto m
RubyWhen I first saw Atwood’s empty seat in the theater, I was angry and hurt that he would miss my show. Now, however, as I stand in the middle of the quad as the snow falls around me, it all makes sense.I reach into my shirt and pull out my locket, which I haven’t taken off since Atwood gave it to me. His instructions from this morning flash across my mind.“If you ever need me, or just want to feel my presence, all you have to do is hold the pendant.”With a deep breath, I close my eyes and wrap my fingers around the pendant, squeezing it tightly in my hand. I wait like this for several moments, searching for the sound of Atwood’s voice, his touch, his smell, but… there is nothing.Just as I’m about to give up and go back inside, thinking to myself that maybe Atwood’s words were more metaphorical than anything, I feel something.It’s small, just a spark, but it’s there. At the edges of my mind I can just barely feel Atwood’s presence, but it’s weak. I squeeze my eyes shut even ha
RubyWhen I wake, I’m back in Atwood’s bedroom. Was this all a dream? Is it the morning before school again, and will Atwood come strolling in with my homecoming dress any minute?I look over to see Atwood laying beside me. He’s back in his human form. Someone has bandaged his wounds; I guess I knew that my healing abilities wouldn’t be able to fully heal his wound, but I’m satisfied to know at least that maybe my healing kept him alive until the rest of the pack came.I sit up and quietly climb out of bed so as not to wake him. As I do so, I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror and pause to look at my reflection.Even though my vision showed me laying dead in the woods having frozen to death, I’m here. I’m alive, I’m warm, and I’m okay. I guess this wouldn’t be the first time that my vision was wrong, but… Even when I had my vision about Atwood in the tunnels, it had still technically been correct; just scattered and misinterpreted.This vision, on the other hand… I stopped it fro
AtwoodI wake up before Ruby. The sun hasn’t even risen yet and the castle grounds are blanketed in the soft, dim light of early dawn, but I have work to do. Thanks to Ruby’s sudden healing abilities, the deft work of my medics, and my own healing abilities, the pain from my wounds no longer plagues me.As I quietly move my sleeping mate off of me and climb out of bed, I take a moment to look down at her. She looks pained in her sleep as though she is having nightmares, but I don’t want to wake her. Ruby is strong. A few nightmares won’t hurt her.I make my side of the bed, then pull on my clothes in the dim morning light and peel the bandages off of my face. I can see a faint scar across my face in the mirror, but nothing more. Thankfully my vision wasn’t harmed by the Bear’s attack.I’m about to leave when I look over my shoulder one last time at Ruby, who has already sprawled herself across the bed and is sleeping on her belly with her mouth open. It’s funny, in a cute way. Before
RubyGoing to the homecoming dance is the furthest thing from my mind after what happened last night. All I want is to stay with Atwood today, but when I try to go to his study to tell him that I don’t want to go anymore, he’s not there.Alice finds me standing inside his study, and yanks me out by my arm.“You should know by now not to enter the King’s study without his permission,” she snarls, slamming the door shut and locking it with one of the keys on her keyring.“I didn’t mean to,” I answer, yanking my arm away. “I was looking for him. I want to talk to him.”Alice rolls her eyes and folds her arms. “And what exactly did you intend on bothering the King about now? He’s a very busy man, you know. He’ll have even less time for you now that his beta is dead.”My heart wrenches at Alice’s words. No one told me that Kayne died. That must be why Atwood killed that Bear: for revenge.“Go on, spit it out, girl. I don’t have all day.”“I don’t want to go to the homecoming dance,” I say,
RubyAs I look down at the slip of paper in my hands, I’m faced with two possibilities: I can throw Cayden’s number away, giving into my fate with Atwood and becoming his mate. I can marry Atwood and become his princess. I can live in the castle until the end of my days, being abused by Alice and the Queen, loving a man who can never give all of himself to me because a woman with dark hair will forever haunt his memories.Or… I can run away with Cayden, leaving all of this behind. We could take Tamara and run far away, so far that Atwood won’t be able to find us. We’ll change our names. I’ll dye my hair and become someone else, someone that never knew Atwood, never knew Nancy, never attended the Lycan school and never saw the inside of the castle.Can I really run from my fate like that? Do I possess the power to change the course of my fate, just like how I changed the outcome of my vision?“Ruby, what are you doing out here?” Nancy suddenly says from behind me. Without thinking, I h