ВойтиWe try to stay out of the room as long as we can, but the silence from the other side of the door goes on for what feels like forever. After mere minutes, me and the boys’ patience becomes paper-thin. I push into the room, the boys and Alex following frantically behind me. At the same time, Olivia falls off Nester. I don’t need to know what happened before I rush forward and catch her. She jerks into me, eyes alight with panic that has my heart tightening. My grasp on her softens as I pull her into my chest, cooing, “It’s okay, we’re here. I’m here.” Her wild heartbeat rivals my own. I hate seeing her like this: out of control, alarmed. It’s not who she is. Olivia Blackwood is the queen of having a handle on things. The rest of the boys kneel around us, shushing her and purring to let her know everything is okay. She pushes her head into my chest, her heartbeat leveling as she whispers, “I’m okay. You guys can let me go.” I think the time for letting her go has long pas
I fall back, crashing into a dark, barren floor. I feel like I hit the ground, but I can’t see anything in front of me to be sure. My body aches from the slam. The only thing that exists in this room is me and the person standing over my kneeling body. Nester. “Well, well,” he says, his voice full of venom. “I didn’t think I’d see you here.” The hairs on the back of my neck raise. I try to push myself away from him, but Nester’s fingers dig into my cheeks. Hard. My body stiffens as he snaps me up to face him. His shadowed eyes bore into mine, the only things blacker than the darkness around us. “Where are we?” I gasp, my heart about to pound out of my chest. “In my head,” he responds. “In my memories. I can’t be fucking sure; all I know is your fucking silver poisoning put me here.” Okay… so I think he’s still really mad about that. His fingers tighten around my cheeks, making my words come out stilted. “You were going to enslave our entire town.” “And I was going
The path to Nester’s room is trailed with bright, red petals, a big contrast to how dark and dull Penwood is. They’re Roses.Of course it had to be roses.I’ve never thought about those stupid flowers as much as I’ve been forced to since coming to Penwood, but now it seems roses are my entire life.I walk over the stupid petals as the boys trail behind me. Each step they take rattles my heart. I begged them not to follow me, but I guess I should have learned by now that there’s no asking them to stay away from me.“Careful,” Ryker whispers. “We don’t want to make too much noise and wake the bastard up.”“He’s being drugged with silver. In what world could he possibly wake up?” Hunter asks incredulously.“That’s not the reason you shouldn’t yell,” Ryker counters.“I wasn’t yelling.”“Yes, you were.”“No, I wasn't.”I whirl to the four of them, pinning Hunter and Ryker with my death glare. “If you guys don’t shut up, you can find your way back to where we came from.”They stiffen, look
I didn’t protect Talon. All those years. All those empty alcohol bottles. All my care for him, and I couldn’t protect him. My guilt and hatred choke me. I should have known. How could I not have known? Liana’s voice is the only thing that snaps me out of my head. “I’m not participating in any fucking civil war,” she seethes, pacing the length of Olivia’s bedroom that we all gathered in. Only the adults went to the room next to us, which is for the best because I don’t think my dad could handle all of Liana’s cursing. “I don’t think that’s up to you,” Axel answers from the other side of the room, sitting at the desk bolt upright. He looks like people are going to burst into this room at any moment and try to murder him. He would not be so paranoid to think that. But he also keeps stealing glances at Talon, laying on Livvy’s bed. His white hair spills around his face, with his whole body turned to the wall. I don’t know if he’s sleeping, but he definitely needs the rest. I can
It takes 4 minutes before Roanna stops screaming.I count each excruciating second with a pounding heart. Nester’s mark pulses, only adding to my distress. The entire time, I want to look away, or hold my breath against the stench of her burning flesh… but I don’t. I don’t for Talon’s sake—my boy who has been hurt by her more times than I can count. The only time I turn is to glance at him, and I don’t know if it makes me feel better or worse. He stands statue-still, his body more rigid than the ground we’re standing on. I’m not sure he’s breathing. Eventually, Roanna’s corpse collapses at his feet. Talon doesn’t jerk back. He keeps staring at her, as if he’s waiting for her to come back to life so he can kill her again. My pack and friends don’t react. We stay so still that It’s only the crowd that remind me the world is still moving.They gasp. They gag. When Roanna collapses, a woman screams so loud my heart lurches. But no one tries to stop the burning. I’m not sure if it
I wait with bated breath for the people to respond. I realize these aren’t exactly the most ideal circumstances to make them like me, but I also don’t really fucking care. I will kill Roanna, whether that makes me their villain or not. But it’s still nerve-racking to watch them make a decision about me, eyes flitting between Roanna and myself. I’m about to explode from the silent tension when someone steps forward: a man with roguish red hair and clear blue eyes. He’s handsome, and clear, he’s not part of the undead army. Roanna shuts up the second he’s in front of her. He sizes me up, and I hear my boys growl behind me in warning. Safe to say I like having my own personal bodyguards. The boy ignores them, pointing at Roanna. “You say you want to burn her alive?” I nod curtly. No need to dwell on the facts when I’ve already placed them before him. He stares down at her, eyes hardening. Roanna mumbles through her stuffed lips, a slew of things no one will ever understand thank
Shoving. Pushing. Snarling. Breaking through this crowd in any way I can to reach that strawberry and cinnamon scent. She’s here. Why the hell is she here? “Move!” I snap, shoving a boy out of my way. Axel’s the impatient one. But right now, I’m not focused on manners. I
The door closes behind them, but the threat rings in my ears.*Trust me, human. I haven’t even begun with you.*All I wanted was to meet Talon, and the person who was meant to introduce me to him just walked out with the wolf that assaulted me.My chest constricts with panic. What if there is
This was a mistake.Someone pushes his girlfriend behind him, growling at me like my disgusting human genes will corrupt her.But his hatred doesn’t even match the one from the large, tattooed Lycan standing in front of me. We lock eyes.“Human.” He snarls, making goosebumps flare over my skin. W
Fuck, she smelt so good. “You’ve outdone yourself, Rye!” Clarissa shouts over the music. We grind in sync with other couples on the dancefloor. I control her hips, bucking against her ass with my hardened dick. But she’s not the one I want to sink my erection into. Olivia. It doesn’t make sen







