INICIAR SESIÓNCHAPTER 31CAROLINEThe apartment is too beautiful, but there is no air. I can’t breathe. I am completely alone here. How does that make sense? He knew that those bastard rogues, or whatever they’re called, came for me, and his next course of action was to leave me alone? He’s so stupid. I walk out and shut the door behind me.Outside, New York is loud enough to make me feel normal again, or at least human.People rush past me like I’m not important enough to notice. Cars scream down the street. A man argues into his phone. Life continues as if nothing in it has ever shifted into something impossible, which should comfort me, but it doesn’t.I walk. I don’t know where I’m going, all I know is that I need answers. I need something to do. So I take a cab to the closest hospital. If I can’t trust anything else, I can trust my work.The hospital lobby is familiar, like muscle memory - the white lights and sterile air. I approach the reception desk. “I need to check medical board registr
CHAPTER 30SALVATOREI clench my jaw hard, trying to forget the look of utter devastation on Caroline’s face. Slade is standing near the window, and Sage sits beside him. She’s watching me, and I know whatever she wants to say will piss me off.I don’t sit down. I can’t rest. Caroline is in the apartment. She’s safe. It is the only fact I allow to exist cleanly in my mind. Everything else is noise.Slade breaks it first. “You’re making a mistake.”My gaze flicks to him.He doesn’t flinch. “You can’t lock her away and pretend that solves anything,” he continues. “It doesn’t stop rogues. It doesn’t stop what’s already moving. It just isolates her.”“Isolates her from death,” I say flatly.“That’s not the same thing,” he replies.Something sharp passes through my chest, unwanted and irritating, and I don’t respond. I don’t want to continue the conversation.Sage shifts slightly behind him. “I’ve been reading,” she says softly.My attention snaps to her instantly. She’s a fucking gypsy fo
CHAPTER 29CAROLINEI wake up alone.For a second, I don’t remember where I am, then it all crashes into me at once.I remember the woods, the blood, the bodies, and him.My stomach tightens instantly.I stare at the ceiling, breathing slowly, trying to steady myself while memories from last night claw through my head in violent flashes. His claws ripping through flesh. The sound of bones snapping. The way he howled like something ancient and furious had crawled out of his chest.And the worst part? I’m not even shocked anymore. At least now, I knew what was going on. I was no longer confused.I sit up slowly, rubbing a hand over my face. My body still feels strange, too sensitive, and too aware. I can hear the trees outside shifting softly in the wind, can hear water dripping somewhere in the distance.It should overwhelm me. Instead, it just feels… exhausting.My hand drifts to my stomach. Everything comes back to the baby.What happens now?The question sits heavily in my chest.I
CHAPTER 28SALVATOREI wait until she falls asleep before I step outside.The cabin door shuts softly behind me, but the sound still feels too loud in the silence. The woods are darker now, colder. Blood still stains the earth somewhere behind the trees, and rogue bodies are already beginning to rot where they fell.I should feel calmer. She’s alive. The baby is alive. I killed every single one of them, yet rage crawls under my skin anyway, violently.I walk away from the cabin before I lose control and punch through the fucking walls.My hands flex at my sides.How did they find her again?How were they able to find us so fast? How did they know exactly where we were? How?I replay everything over and over, every scent trail, every sound, every shift in the wind. They should not have gotten that close. No rogue is skilled enough to sneak past me so easily, not when I was actively hunting the perimeter.This means something is deeply wrong with me. I’m losing my edge.I stop near the
CHAPTER 27CAROLINEHe stands a few feet away from me, still half changed, still covered in blood that glistens under the thin spill of moonlight. His chest rises and falls, slower now, but there’s nothing calm about it. The thing inside him hasn’t settled. I can see it in the way his shoulders remain tight, the way his fingers flex like he’s holding something back.He looks at me, not like before. Everything has changed now.Fear sits in my throat, thick and real. I can taste it. Metallic, sharp, almost like the blood still hanging in the air. My body wants to run again. Every instinct is screaming at me to turn, to get as far away from him as possible, to protect myself, to protect the baby, but there’s nowhere to run to.I know that now, because those things found me, they were waiting, and they went for my stomach. They went for my baby. My hand presses against my belly, my cheeks burning.The truth settles, heavy and undeniable. Salvatore is a monster, but he is not the one tryi
CHAPTER 26 CAROLINEI shouldn’t have followed him, but I couldn’t stay still. I had been scared, then I heard the screams. I don’t want to admit it, but I only came out because I was worried for him, worried he had been attacked by a wild animal, but now, it is obvious that I was deeply mistaken.He is covered in blood, so much blood.The scent hits me hard, metallic, heavy and suffocating. It coats the back of my throat, settles on my tongue until I can almost taste it. My stomach turns, but nothing comes up this time. There’s nothing left in me, only fear.It spreads through my veins, bones, and settles under my skin.He’s drenched. It drips from his hands, his arms, streaks across his chest, dark and wet under the moonlight. His body is wrong … half-changed, his eyes are glowing in the dark, and his hands, oh God, are not hands, not fully. His hands are clawed, thickened, and wrong. His mouth is covered in blood, and his teeth are fangs.His chest rises and falls slowly. I feel my
CHAPTER THIRTEENSALVATOREThe rogues are kept on a lower level.Most people don't know the lower level exists. That is by design. The compound
CHAPTER ELEVENSALVATORE – POINT OF VIEW“I know this is a shock to you, but you need to try to be more accommodating, or you are going to scare her off.” Slade chastises sharply as we
CHAPTER NINECAROLINE – POINT OF VIEWI look at him, and feel my heart in my throat.“Can you get off me first?” I whisper, trying to brace myself for whatever he is about to reveal.He blinks as if he has forgotten he’s covering my body with his large one. The light catches his eyes, and it glows,
CHAPTER SEVENCAROLINE I blink, realising what he said.“What do you mean by a group of healers? Do you mean Doctors? A medical team?” I ask, following him closely behind.“You are speaking to me. Do not speak to me.” He turns around sharply, and I collide with his solid chest.He knocks me off my







