My editing app is struggling to work currently! So I will be coming back to make sure it gets fixed!
~Enzo POV~Ivy stares at me with pure confusion, her head trying to decipher whether I feel guilty about the crime accused or if I am guilty. I can read it on her face. The sorrow and then the flicker of anger, then the same confusion wins over and her shoulders slump. Ivy has never asked me what happened, why I wasn’t with Caleb like I was supposed to be. And I have never been forthright in admitting openly that I left him for dead so I could save her.Because even when I was sworn to duty, Ivy meant more to me than even my best friend and my position in the pack. I know how that sounds. It sounds fucked up and cruel, but it wasn’t a decision I made lightly. Caleb and I had an unspoken language, one that was made up of looks we could understand and have full conversations with.When the pack warriors alerted us to the attack, Caleb saw me lurch toward the door. I remember glancing over my shoulder and seeing Caleb give me the look. The ‘Go save her’ look. Because that was his baby s
~Ivy POV~James kisses my lips and then tucks me into his chest, holding me tight. He doesn’t ask what’s wrong, he just holds me. After what feels like an eternity, he sighs deeply and his hold on me loosens, signifying the end of our hug. I break my vice grip on him and step back, shyly tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Are you okay?” he asks with a small frown as he searches my face. “I will be. Just missing the way things used to be.” I whisper, trying to placate him. The last time he saw me I was in his home with Sarah and now hours into the night he is stumbling upon me, crying on the trail. “I needed a run,” I offer with a smile. “Your circumstances are going to change soon, Ivy. You won’t have to miss the life before being a slave for much longer.” he gives me a soft smile, but there is a sadness in his eyes that I can’t place.I give him a weak smile, hating that this life he is mapping out for us more than likely won’t come to fruition while also dreaming of a
By the time I arrive back in my room, my nerves are fried and the only thing I can think about is how to make it seem like Sarah is still just sick and not missing. I shower and change my clothes to clear my head, then I plop down in a chair in the corner of my room and try to process everything.After everything that has happened tonight, I need to force everything out of my head and focus on the present. Then things I can do here and now to move forward and protect the people I care about. Even if I barely know Sarah, she deserves a life of peace away from the sick hands of alpha Jonathon and his fucked up men. I creep down to her room and push the door open, finding her scent different from normal. It’s hard to tell if someone has been in here or if Sarah had just panicked and cleaned the place with all sorts of pine-scented chemicals. I mean, we have those kinds of sprays and bleaches, so it wouldn’t be terribly unlikely. As I look around, I realize Sarah’s room is much nicer tha
“What are you doing here?” his voice is a soft whisper in my ear as he pulls me close, locking me in his arms like he will never let me go. When his hands smooth my hair and the gentle up and down of his chest moves in time with mine, I know I made the right choice.“Everything fucking hurts,” I say on a sharp inhale.“I’m so sorry I hurt you, Mea Causea.” Enzo says, his special nickname sending a warm tingling through my body. He adjusts his arms around me, somehow making us closer than we had been before.“I killed that guy in the woods,” I tell him, my voice growing distant and cold.“You what?” Enzo freezes. “What guy? Who did you kill in the woods?” “Henley’s partner.” Enzo breaks our embrace and looks down at me with guarded eyes. He is trying to understand.“He found me in the woods after I ran into Alpha James. He said some things. I was tired of playing meek slave girl and he didn’t like my attitude.”“You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Ivy,” Enzo says with a small fr
I stare at Enzo. There is nothing else for me to do but stare. The nickname he has had for me since they assigned him as my guardian means ‘my reason’. He wasn’t being dramatic or making shit up when he said he loved me. Enzo wasn’t lying when he said it’s been since the beginning. He has spent years pining for me while I could only feel anger and spite. He found in me a reason to live while I sought a reason to die while honoring my family. “Don’t” he warns me and my eyes focus on him. “Don’t do that” But his warning falls on deaf ears. How can I not blame myself for my stupidity? “I’ve been so blind…” I start and He sighs heavily. “You have had other things to deal with, Ivy,” he says looking conflicted. “Five years, Enzo. Five years.” I exhale angrily. For someone trained in the art of meticulous observation, I have been incredibly blind. “And I would have waited for five more.” He runs a hand through his hair and drops his head back on the bed frame. “Ivy… You don’t have to
~Enzo POV~The second Ivy takes off, I move in the opposite direction. After discovering Henley was still loyal to our original pack, it was easy to convince him to help in any way necessary. I needed him to help get Sarah over the border, since learning their patrol schedule was damn near impossible with Otis on my back. Thankfully, with my premature departure date, Otis has been around less. For a hot minute, I thought he might have improved his sleuthing skills, but then I passed him in the park off the main street with who I assume is his mate. They care less about what I do with my time now that my leaving is imminent. And I plan to use that to my advantage. I don’t trust James. I wish I could have spent more time following his ass around, but as much as Ivy’s concern has been revenge for her, keeping her alive and safe has been my primary goal. And finding out that she killed a guy in the woods because I left her with her supposed mate who abandoned her on the trail pisses me
I make my way up a tree as Henley continues to sprint toward the wide camouflage complex. There is a wall of trees surrounding the dark green-colored building and ivy that crawls up its side, inching closer to the roof. It makes it seem like the building has been here for centuries. The only clue that it hasn’t is the trees. The trees surrounding the building are all younger, and shorter than the massive tall trees the forest usually produces. Where the trees around the complex are small and smooth, the old trees are wide and rough. The more I stare, the more out of place it seems to appear as though someone was trying to create a camouflage look, but somehow overdid it. Yet, I still never saw it. There had only been one area I hadn’t explored in the pack, and I was certain that was the area Henley would lead me to. He had started to at one point. But then he turned. So instead I tailed him to an area I had checked many times but still missed this. Had I allowed my mind to be preoc
~Ivy POV~ I can’t help but turn the music on as I move around the house, cleaning each room just as Sarah would have done. It’s strange, feeling lighter and happier even when terrible things have happened or new truths come to light. After running with what I and telling myself was Caleb’s ghost, I can’t seem to shake this undeniably happy mood. This light airy feeling that even though all the things we are doing are hard, it will be okay. Caleb is watching out for me. Even from his grave he is being the protective big brother and finding his way to my soul to touch it, let it know that it’s ok to be free and enjoy the things life brings us. Like runs in the woods, or the embrace of someone you love. For so long, I have buried my head in the sand and refused to acknowledge that the sun rises. It was easy down there, in the silence of my head. No one bothered me because they weren’t allowed in. Maybe that is why I feel all these things? These conflicting emotions or feelings toward