I expect him to drop me in the water to clean my wounds, considering the way he mentioned dipping me in a few times. I don’t think I would have been too crazy to assume that.What I didn’t expect him to do, however, is to gently walk me into the small pool where the water churns from the falls. I let go of him, waiting for him to lower me into the water but his grip remains firm. “Are you going to dip me in?” I ask him and he seems to snap out of a daze. His right arm lowers my legs, my hands clinging to his shoulder as nausea hits me harder than the icy water. I gasp, sucking in my breath, my side throbbing. “You need to scrub the mud off,” He tells me and I nod, but don’t make a move. The nausea clings to me, ebbing and flowing with the ripples of the water, and I whimper, trying to keep from blowing chunks. “Are you okay?” he asks. A big brave person would shoot off a snarky remark, ensuring they are totally fine, even when they aren’t. But I’m not a big or a brave person. Hell,
*Rocky*Blossom holds hands with Gemini as we walk through the trees. She is doing incredible for the amount of poison that was in her body. That damn stab wound is still there, the one the fucking rogue put in her with his wolfsbane laced blade, but it’s no longer gross and infected looking.Gemini is healing. I can see it in the way her skin color is returning to her cheeks. She is no longer that ghoulish green shade that struck fear into my chest.“What’d you do to piss her off?” Jude whispers to me as we stare at the two girls’ backs. I sigh heavily, shaking my head.“She is embarrassed, Jude.” I tell him, though I know embarrassment is the furthest thing from the truth. She isn’t embarrassed, she is hurt. I drove an emotional dagger through her heart so I could avoid having to use one made of steel.“You don’t know my sister very well if you think that’s embarrassment.” He scoffs and shakes his head at me, a smile grin on his lips.I watch as Gemini looks down at Blossom with a so
*Gemini*I can’t bring myself to look at Rocky any longer as I take a step away from him, a frown tugging at my lips. I can feel his eyes, the way he wants to say something, but I know he won’t say what I want to hear. There is no point in waiting around for him to make a promise he doesn’t owe me.What good does it do to cling to a man who repeatedly tells me and everyone around me that I am nothing but a tool to him? He may want friendship, but he is like everyone else. I am of use to him and when I cease to be, he will disappear from my life.“How far away are we from this meeting?” Violet asks behind me as I trudge forward, alone. Not that it matters that no one else is following along. I’m not incredibly speedy at the moment, so they will catch me in a few steps. “A day and a half, at least. Two days at most.” Ames answers and I can nearly feel the icy demeanor I know she is sporting talking to him. “Great. So for that entire time, direct all conversation to anyone but me.” She
*Rocky*Well, I think it’s fair to say Gemini hates me. One whole day of traveling and one night of sleep and only once has she looked in my direction when I speak. It’s for the best, I know that. But every fiber of my being screams for me to stop making things worse and yet each chance I get, I dig that knife deeper. Hurt her more to save her. How fucking noble of me. I should be asking questions of Ames and Violet, paying attention to details around me, but all I can do is overthink everything she does. A small stutter in her steps has me flying to her side to check on her. Every scowl makes me want to annoy her until she smiles. Every time I’m within arm’s reach, I have to have a gentle brush of a hand on her back or arm for a second. It’s pathetic but I’m happy eating these scraps, knowing she can live to see another day. ‘Happy’ might not be the right word. Content, maybe? Fuck. I hate being me more and more every damn day. “Why do you look like you want to kill someone?” Jud
“Eleven!” Luna Amy says with a plastered smile, her eyes skirting over the crowd of us below them. I glance down at the small paper in my hand. My breathing turns ragged and the air around me thin as I place my hand over my erratically beating heart. My clammy hand clutches the paper in my palm, afraid to let it go, afraid to lose it and the freedom that comes along with it. I have been selected. My number drawn and now–finally, I am to be offered to the Lycan King. The virgin who will keep this shit hole safe for one more year, but I have no intention of actually meeting the monster Lycan King who lurks beyond our walls. No, I plan to get outside and run my ass off to find Jude, my little brother, who these assholes exiled for his gentle heart and shifting too young. He was a curse, they said, a bad omen, so they beat him and sent him to his death while I they made to watch. No amount of pleading would save him and with zero control over my gift of healing, I was never strong e
“No” I gape at him. This can not be happening. The heavens wouldn’t be this cruel, would they?This ass just tried to kill Athena and I have not forgotten that. He growls, standing up straight as I blink at him in shock. The beast of a man seems to go on forever as he grows to his full height. Holy shit, he is massive, and it’s not the fear I have of him that makes him appear so.My captor’s body is ridiculously toned but covered in strange black markings that wind around his body, looking almost as if he has been chained. As he leans closer to me, his broad shoulders block out the moon that hangs above us and I swallow the lump in my throat, the one suppressing my screams. He is not just a massive man, but also a completely stark naked man. “What is your name?” His voice seems to rumble through the earth and I clear my throat, looking away, my cheeks heated in embarrassment as he moves closer. “Does it matter? You are going to just kill me, anyway.” I mutter, and he laughs. I can’t
“What are you going to do with me?” I ask him, as he watches me like I am going to run again. And I might, if he gives me the chance, not that it will do me much good with my ankle. “If you are a healer, why are you so damn weak?” he asks, tilting his head.“Are you going to kill me? Or let me go like you mentioned earlier…” I ask, ignoring his question as right now, my questions are more pertinent. If I’m about to die, I need to make a plan.“Damn, you are scrawny.” He mutters, leaning in and looking closer. My cheeks flare in embarrassment and I instinctively hug myself, looking for coverage, looking away as he circles me. Didn’t we go over my shitty body figure earlier? “And your ankle should be healing by now, but it is not. Not that great of a healer, if you ask me.”He seems to talk to himself, or maybe his lycan, as he circles around me, inspecting me. My wolf retreats, licking our wounds and mourning the loss of our mate who just rejected us. Not that we are missing out on mu
*Roscoe POV* Air floods back into my lungs as I gasp for breath. The chains twist and pinch at my skin like an octopus choking the life out of its prey until the suddenly cease. I heave, heavily bile threatening to rise as I try to calm myself and my agitated lycan. A warmth radiates at my shoulder and I look toward it, finding Gemini. Her head seems to wobble before it falls back and her breathing grows ragged. I stand, reaching out to grab her, my eyes meeting hers as she sways and Bridger goes on about the barrier. She collapses in my arms, and I blink, staring at her, completely lost for words. Healers don’t do that. Not this type of healing. They don’t take all the pain and heal at the same time. It’s impossible for them to keep up at that pace. There should always be a balance. She seems to have none. “Alpha,” Bridger calls out, finally securing my attention as I look up at him, still shocked I have a passed out woman in my arms. “What the fuck is going on?” “I don’t know