“Where shall we take you, Miss Hedy?” The leader asked me, opening the door to the jeep. “New Moon,” I said as I climbed into the jeep. “It’s a bit of a remote place, so you might not be able to drive me all the way there.” They looked wary, but they revved up the car and drove me toward the border. I didn’t look out the window until we reached the forest. The forest closed in around us as we entered it and drove away from the capital. The sun was beautiful, glinting off the snow. It made me think of the first time I’d had a snowball fight. It had been me and Candido outside. He’d tried so hard not to indulge me, but he was laughing by the end of it just like I was. Just as I thought, my phone rang, and it was Candido. I decided to answer it. “Hello?” “Hedy, where are you going? Why are you leaving the capital?” “To visit someone,” I said. “He lives in New Moon. We’ve been talking about getting together—” “Hedy,” he growled. “Are you… Is he your mate?” I smirked. “Why does th
The woman looked just like Francium down to the cut of her jaw, but she held herself with a different sort of poise than he did. She was dressed in a simple shirt and pants, but her jacket had a hood pulled up over her head. Where had she come from? How had she gotten behind me when she had been in front of me. The unease that had been building since I’d arrived in this town only got worse, but I couldn’t say exactly why. Where had all the people gone? Why did I feel like someone was just behind me, ready to pounce? I turned my head quickly, trying to catch sight of the person, but there was no one there. I still felt it, though as I turned back to the woman. Her eyes focused on me. She seemed completely unafraid though my heart was hammering. The entire town seemed empty, and that just couldn’t be right. Where had all those people gone? “I’m looking for Francium,” I said. “My name is Hedy.” Her eyes brightened, and she approached me, taking my hand and squeezing it. “Hedy? I’ve h
The thought terrified me. How much time did I have before they showed up? Maybe I didn’t have nearly as much time as I needed to figure out where Francium was and where Claire was. Francia didn’t seem nefarious, but how much of that was a stall tactic. I would have never thought Francium was capable of killing anyone, let alone Claire, but I’d heard it, and I was here trying to track him down to find her. I still wasn’t entirely sure what that vampire wanted from me or wanted to do with me. Did he want to turn me the way Francium had turned Claire, or did he just want to kill me. Maybe it was related to my mother. I had no idea and I wasn’t ready to find out today. I was still recuperating to some degree. I almost regretted this ploy to make Candido jealous. It seemed like it was turning back on me quickly. I pushed that thought away. How could I know that Francium’s mom was probably in league with the vampires that were out to destroy everything that werewolves had built. I had
Francia said nothing for a while. I waited and waited, wondering what she was going to say, then her eyes drifted away from me, and her voice turned light. “What do you know about the New Moon Pack?” “You like literature and art.” She chuckled. “Well, I supposed that’s a start… Francium did mention that wasn’t your forte. I told him that pursuing a relationship with you would be difficult if you were so disinterested in the arts.” “I wasn’t interested.” “So, he said.” Francia said. “What do you know of werewolves and how they came to be?” I wondered what to say as she smiled and tilted her head. “Or how similar they are to vampires?” I narrowed my eyes, thinking back to the Moon Goddess book and the vampire book. “I know… a bit. And I have theories.” “Not surprising.” She nodded and her lips twitched. “Francium isn’t here. He’ll be back soon, I’m sure… Claire is nearby, but you can’t go there. Perhaps we might pass the time with a bit of history?” I narrowed my eyes. “Why can
I couldn’t recognize him almost. As I stared at him. He froze in the doorway. The last time I saw him, he was thin and paler. He’d gotten some color in his skin and filled out a bit. His hair had darkened. He was bigger than before. I swear his eyes had changed too, but I couldn’t focus on that. He’d gotten more handsome, but he was nothing compared to Candido. When I thought about Candido’s jealousy towards Francium it seemed so silly. Who would ever choose him over Candido? “Hedy?” He asked. “What are you…?” “Where is Claire?” He froze. His eyes widened. “Why would you—” “She called me,” I said. “I heard her… I heard you and that vampire. The prince, right?” He paled, and Francia moved subtly. Before Francium could get out the door, I darted across the room, reaching for him. He slipped away from me and turned right. I chased after him, hearing Francia coming just behind us. We ran into town, and he vanished like smoke in the air. I stood still and turned around, glaring at
Francium looked resigned, but he didn’t say much else. He got up and led me out of the house. Francia followed close behind. We walked beyond the tree line into the woods. I kept close, knowing how easy it would be for him to lose me and start the chase again. The trees rustled and seemed to change around us, but Francium didn’t disappear. “You have powers?” I asked. “Illusion?” “Not yet,” he said. “I haven’t… I’m not done turning yet, I guess you could say.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “And what are you planning to do when you are? You know they’re making plans to take over the werewolf world.” He stopped and looked back at me. “Tell me what favors the werewolf world has done for me.” Francia hurried and stepped between us. “I don’t think right now is the time to debate such a thing.” I considered telling her that it was the perfect time, but I wasn’t in the mood. My head was pounding. There was still blood trickling out of my nose. I wiped it off on my sleeve and kept going aft
Francia and Francium looked at one another for a long, tense moment. They seemed to be sharing some sort of conversation before she vanished, dropping down to the ground in the form of a silver-furred wolf. She crept away and down the hall, away from where the vampire was coming. She stopped and nodded towards the direction she was heading, indicating that I should follow. “Francium, please say something? What’s going on?” “Everything is going to be fine,” Francium said. “Just stay calm.” Francium nodded away from the cell toward where Francia was going. I didn’t see what other choice I had. Maybe he hadn’t meant to get me caught here. Maybe I could trust him a little more, but I would have to find out if that was the case some other time. For now, I just needed to escape before the vampire found me. I followed Francia as quietly as I could, but I couldn’t go fast enough. “She’s… awake,” Francium said stiffly. “She’s just… irate.” The footsteps stopped near where Francium’s voic
Francium’s eyes flicked between the bottle of pills and back to the gun. He took the gun slowly, hesitantly. I could see his hands trembling as he looked at me. He looked down at the gun then back up at me. I could see him considering it.Then I heard something further away, down the hall, like the creak of a door or something. I didn’t know what that was, but my heart was pounding. How long would it take for Moon Shadow to find my body? Would they leave me here? Would Francium actually shoot me?It seemed like he would. He’d killed Claire. He may have howled in agony afterward, but he still killed her and they were mates. What hope did I have to get out of this alive?My spirit started to deflated and I thought about Candido. I wished the last thing I’d spoken about with Candido was something else. Anything else. I wish I had at least met his mate before going off on this spree to try and make him jealous.I felt stupid.“I can’t.”My eyes widened and I looked up.The vampire looked