I looked back at Candido and worried my lip. I didn’t want to wake him. He had just gone to sleep, but this felt important. I opened the message and messaged Vanessa. Soon, she called my cellphone. I stepped out of the room as quietly as I could.“Let me guess, he’s sleeping?”“His nose was bleeding,” I told her. She let out a low hiss.“That boy…” she sighed. “Fine. We’ll commence with Bella’s interrogation above the table.”“Above the table?”“Officially the Full Moon’s investigation,” she said. “That way, her parents can be brought in. We’ll have her transferred to Full Moon’s Official prison.”My stomach jolted. “How long will that take?”“A few hours.”I leaned back against the door. “I guess… he’ll at least get a few hours of sleep that way.”“Just a few assuming he’s not awake in that office fiddling around.”I narrowed my eyes and opened the door, finding him at the desk, typing. He didn’t even glance up.“I’ve made arrangements to be put into maximum security. I’ll handle the
Steven looked up at Candido then down to me.“Should I think have you put back in a jail cell for consorting with someone with known vampire ties?" Candido asked. “I don’t punish people for being born to criminals.”He flinched. “It’s not like that. I mean I can’t be sure if—”“So, now you’re going to lie to me?” Candido asked. “Which part is a lie?”He flushed. “No, you’re accusing me—”“You attempted to play a card you don’t have the right to play,” Candido growled.“I’d like to talk to Hedy in private.”“You have no reason to speak to my pack member in private,” Candido said.“She’s my—”“It’s fine,” I said and looked up at Candido. He didn’t look like he wanted to agree before I looked back at Steven. “But I’m not speaking to another pack’s leader without my alpha present.”He growled. “This has gone on far enough! You’ve already caused so much trouble for my pack and now you’re standing there like this? What about Bella? You should be apologizing and pleading for leniency on her
I turned the name over in my mind over and over again as we rode back to the estate.“Should we go out tonight?”I pouted at him. “You need rest! Stop trying to get out of going to be!”He chuckled. “I’m not. I’ll take a nap before we go. I promise.”I narrowed my eyes at him. “Promise?”He held up a hand. “As someone who is also named after their mother. I promise.”I nodded hesitantly. “Fine. But… where are we going?”He smirked and kissed my temple. “You’re going to have to wait to find that out, princess.”“But Candido!”He faked a yawn and turned. “Sorry, Hedwig Jr. My mate has ganged up on me with my aunt, so I have to rest or I’ll never get anything done.”I pouted at him as he laughed and walked away.“You’re so mean to me!”He leaned on the banister and grinned. “You have no idea how mean I can be… but I think you like it that way.”My face heated. He wiggled his eyebrows before heading up stairs and disappearing down the hallway. I headed up to my room and huffed as I realiz
I jumped out of bed, Candido was just behind me.“Give me a status update. Injured. Damage.”“It just started, but they’ve already leveled half of downtown.”My stomach turned as I raced back to my room to get dressed. My Blue Moon phone was ringing. I answered it.“Pandora, we’re mobilizing ever agent in the Full Moon capital area for search, rescue, and evacuation.”“I’m on it.”I put on my tennis shoes and athletic gear before grabbing a hoodie. The door opened to reveal Claire. Her eyes were filled with red light.“What is it?”“It’s vampires,” Claire said. “Francium said I should warn you about what they’re using.”I frowned, “What does that mean? I thought he gave us all the information—”“He did, about their plans. This is news from Francia.”My eyes widened. “And where… is she?”“I don’t know,” Claire said, falling into step with me as we headed back downstairs. There was a jeep parked at the back of the estate, marked with the Blue Moon symbol. Francium was there, looking a b
Gilgamesh came trotting over, waving his hand. “Thank the Goddess.”Candido turned to him. “How are things looking?”“They’re headed towards the forest. People are chasing them, but we’re trying to get the citizens out of the way. They attacked out of nowhere.”“And they’re not done. We’ll cut them off before they leave the city. The more we get rid of now the better.”“At least the rain will help put out the fires.”I followed Candido as he jogged through the city toward where the battle had picked up. Gilgamesh turned, aiming to punch, but the figure twisted out of the way and dropped down beside us.“Stop!” I said. “It’s Claire.”She was covered in blood. It was smeared across her mouth and running down her neck as the rain drenched her.“She’s a vampire, and—” He stepped back. “You’re that girl from the news!”“Long story,” Claire said and looked at me. “Francium’s keeping an ear out for more intel, but they aren’t leaving the city it looks like.”“Well, what are they doing?”“Reg
I was rocking. No. Maybe I was bumping or something. I heard an engine and the road, but I didn’t remember getting into one. I groaned as the vehicle came to a stop. The floor of it smelled clean and new as if it had never been used for anything else.“She seems a bit fragile, are you sure?” I went still. I didn’t recognize that voice.“Did you look at her?”“Could be a coincidence. What do you think… Hedy?”I sat up, swooning at the pain in my head and scrambled back and away from the voices. My back hit the cold metal of a van door and my stomach lurched. I was in a van. Who knew how long I had been in it and where we had gone. And Candido, had they reached him in time? Was he okay or had he exhausted himself?Was he looking for me right now? Would he find me?They tutted. The two men who had been talking turned to me at the same time. They were brothers at least if not twins. Both of them had the same curly hair though one of them had longer hair than the other. Their eyes were the
Shiloh seemed almost amused as we listened to the fight outside. Messiah was grunting and cursing outside. Something bumped into the side of the van when Shiloh pulled out a cigarette.He lit it with a flicker of flame on his finger and I gasped.“You…You can make fire.”“I can do a lot of things,” he said and took a deep breath, breathing out a puff of smoke.The smoke was sweet rather than bitter like I thought it would be. It didn’t even smell like tobacco, but sort of floral. He huffed as the van rocked again.“He must be pissed off,” Shiloh mused and glanced at me. “Makes since considering what we’re up against.”“Are you talking about me?” I asked, glaring at him.“What was your first clue?” He huffed.“You can’t talk to me like that!”“Oh? What are you going to do, princess?” Shiloh asked. “Call for your king? Him that pipe are going to have a hard time dealing with Messiah, let alone me.”I grit my teeth. “Just because you can make fire doesn’t mean anything. Candido—”“Is an
I woke up slowly to the smell of burning trees and smoke. I felt the heat of it on my back and still tasted sweetness in my mouth. I choked and tried to cover my mouth, searching for the source of the fire. I felt the heat, but it wasn’t so close that I couldn’t get away. I felt terrible, dizzy, and nauseous. I dragged my body away from the fires, trying to get further into the forest and away from the fire.I heard something roar and the ground began to shake as if something was coming toward me. Was it another beast? Had the fire been set by Shiloh? Maybe one of the vampires that had been attacking the van? Where were they? Were they still nearby waiting to grab me and drag me to Damian?Who was the person who pulled me out of the van? What had he done to me? My stomach lurched. I didn’t feel any odd pains. My head ached, but the rest of me didn’t hurt any more than it had when I’d been pulled out of the van. I looked down and felt a shudder of relief go through me as I realized I w