RHYS POVI waited patiently in my car as I dialed the number of the nurse. Last night, Mia suddenly decided that she wanted to host Jack and Emma that very day. I was pleased; at least I’d get to see him and get his DNA too.The dinner had gone uneventful and tense. No one spoke for hours, only I and Jack conversed about the makings of our pack and the different troubles that came with it. They didn’t even stay up to an hour before Emma complained of a headache and Jack led her out. I wished I was the one doing the leading, taking her out, and holding her comfortably. I wished I could scream out my liking for her, but that would be unheard of. Mia commented about how this was the most boring dinner ever before retreating to her bedroom. I had the inkling suspicion that she didn’t like how I yelled to her about Bruno so she invited them to punish me. I would have to look at Emma all night while she studiously avoided my eyes and kept looking at Jack for comfort. I hated it.After the

MIA POVWhen my phone rang, I glanced briefly at it before picking it. I knew who was calling before I placed it on my ear.“Diane. Have you got any good news for me?” I asked.“Yes,” she crooned on the phone. “Dr. Emma brought this new guy to the hospital—”“That’s Alpha James,” I said with a roll of my eyeballs.“Is he?” she gasped in delight. “Then you must like the surprise that I have packaged for you.”I stood up and walked aimlessly around my room, fingering this and that. “You have a surprise for me?”“Yes. After our chit-chat, of course.”“Of course. Now, what have you got on Dr. Emma?”“She’s been trying too hard to cure the patient but it’s impossible. They haven’t succeeded and she’s becoming frustrated. I expect that the patient will be dead in a few hours.”I stopped walking and placed a hand to my chest, delighted. Yet, no matter how happy I was, I needed to make sure that this dead would happen. Emma was always one step ahead of me, which I didn’t mind in the past unti

ARABELLA POVMy mind was blank, focusing on the nothingness of my empty skull. I saw nothing for straight three minutes, before the nurse began to repeat her words as though recalling what I didn’t hear. While she recounted the mechanics of meeting the patient dead, I thought about the time and effort I had put into the whole thing, now even that was gone. Where was Jack when I needed him? Oh, right. I’d asked him to leave. I thought it was over, and so I asked him to leave.“She had already given up the ghost before you left the hospital,” the nurse continued to say. “I waited for a few minutes to try another revival method, but that was the last chance. She never came back after that.”I felt my chest constricting into itself. I looked like and probably felt like a ghost too. The patient is dead. The patient is dead.The patient is dead.“How could you let this happen?” I asked the nurse aloud. “I left her in your care. I was just going to take a rest, so how did this thing happen

RHYS POVI’m not sure I’ve ever felt as lost as I did until now. That statement she made continued running through my head. Oh Emma, you’ll be the death of me.I walked anxiously around the house, holding my glass of dry gin. It tastes horrible, but I couldn’t stop drinking it at this point. Ever since I found out that Damon was my son, I’ve been living a miserable life. I had to sneak in at their school and offer the remaining two kids juice boxes so I could get their DNA. Is this what I’ve turned to—a man who was secretly gathering samples of children to prove that they were his or not?When my phone rang, I rushed to pick it, only to see that it wasn’t Meredith. I was dying from the anticipation of it alone. And that statement she made back at the hospital when I was trying to save her life… What did that mean?The door sprung open and I turned around. Mia walked in with a shopping bag, her face brighter than I’d last seen it. She looked happy, content even. She gave me a look and

ARABELLA POVWhen he left, my heart started to press into itself. I’ve experienced this pain before, but now it seems to come in two-fold force. I felt pain, betrayal, anger. I didn’t even register Jack’s question until he asked me a second time.‘Did you tell him that we aren’t cousins, Arabella? Did you tell him?”I raised my eyes to meet him. Here he was, outside the bars of a cell that Rhys dumped me in. Rhys, who was stupid enough to cast me aside a second time. Rhys, who claimed to have loved me a thousand times but couldn’t even fight for our love. To say that I was disappointed was an understatement.“Arabella?”I shook my head and focused my thoughts on Jack. Jack was calm and sweet. He wouldn’t do anything to consciously hurt me. He was always there, acting nice and sweet and just being generally available for me. I tried to think about his question again so I could give an answer.“Yes,” I said.“You told him we were cousins?”“Yes.” I wanted to end it there, but had to c