登入~Amber’s POV~I didn’t know what I expected but it wasn’t an answer. Probably something along the lines of him telling me to keep quiet until we reached wherever it was we were going, that it was none of my business, that I should stay out of family matters.But he did answer.“Yes.” He paused, then added more quietly, almost like he was talking to himself. “I do not hate her. I just… I couldn’t deal with her anymore. So I pay doctors and those women so I don’t have to.”So that was what the flock of women around her was about. They weren’t her friends. They were paid buffers between him and his sister.Maybe this was pushing it, but I said it anyway. “You know it’s not her fault, right?”“Of course I know that.” He snapped, but it didn’t sound like his anger was directed at me this time. It sounded like something older, deeper, aimed at himself or the situation or the world in general.Then the words started pouring out like a dam had broken.“I was thirteen years old when I carried
~Amber’s POV~Unfortunately… he was right.But more specifically, he was right because I looked worse than a beast. My hair was tangled into what could only be described as a bird’s nest on top of my head, mascara smudged under my eyes, and was that… dried spit at the corner of my mouth?I didn’t need anyone to tell me.I threw the sheet off, grateful beyond measure that nine minutes later I had been able to coax my hair back into its curls as I stared at myself in the mirror, looking almost human again after that really weird moment of almost-civility between us.With a sigh and a stronger promise to myself that I was going to be nothing but calm, I walked out of the bathroom. Kept walking through the beautiful white room, down the hallway, until I reached outside.That was when I felt it.A shift in the energy outside, something wrong and urgent, before my eyes even found him just as he was turning away from Cleopatra’s friends, his entire body radiating tension.Without even think
~Axel’s POV~‘Come on, Axel, it’s one in the afternoon the next day.’‘I am well aware of that,’ I answered simply into the psychic link between Zane and me.His groan followed, as expected.‘I have apologized over and over even though none of this was my fault. I did try to stop you before you marked—’‘Before you let Cassandra stab you with silver for calling what happened a mistake which it was, by the way and then lock you in that position,’ I corrected, fighting back the amusement that threatened to break through the seriousness I was trying to hold. ‘That’s not how it happened!’The need to laugh from him still being that position and was the exact reason I was in such a good mood that I had even let Sofia Bennett live after ensuring she would never see the light of day again halted abruptly when Amber turned around so fast at my words that the sheet slipped past her chest.She caught it immediately.But I had caught a glimpse of her breast and the image decided to stick, lodgi
~Amber’s POV~There wasn’t an ounce of recognition.He didn’t know I was his mate.I didn’t understand why and that exact perplexity was exactly how Roxanne felt. It was the only thing that registered as I made my way back to my room, found my things where I had left them, pulled them into the space, fished out the spare phone I had gotten because maybe I already knew that somehow in this process I would end up losing my phone again.Then I collapsed on the bed that carried his scent and dialed one of the two numbers programmed into it.The sound of it ringing was the last thing I remembered before exhaustion fully hit and sleep pulled me under like a wave I had no strength to fight.And it was the same sound that filled the space of the room when my eyes finally blinked open again.My hands in their state of drowsiness moved around blindly so I could find it and toss it away and get it to stop. By some miracle, I found it, clicked a button. By another miracle, it stopped.Now I could
~Axel’s POV~“I hate you!”The words filled the space of the room and it didn’t matter how young my voice was, it sent a wave of what I knew was shock through everyone present.But I didn’t care about anything other than the anger swelling in my chest, hot and violent and consuming that I knew without a doubt that no boy my age should be able to feel.“I wish you had just died the day I was born because there is absolutely no difference with you being alive.”My mother’s eyes widened at that. I saw the shift from acceptance, her knowing that I hated her to genuine pain cutting across her face.But still, didn’t make a move to react or even say anything and then I was pulled back suddenly.“That’s enough, Axel. Let’s go.”I blinked and the only person in this whole world that I actually liked came into view but I hated the fact that she was staring at me with pity.It made me angrier because pity was the exact reason I had just been on the receiving end of my father’s cruelty, the exa
~Axel’s POV~Pause.The entirety of my world had gone into it then it felt like someone had pressed the opposite button without giving me a chance to feel the in-between, thrusting me back into motion.Right back with a jolt of confusion at the lips pressed against mine.For a moment I just stayed frozen, my brain struggling to catch up with what was happening because the world felt blurred, hazy, like I was looking at everything through frosted glass even as I forced my eyes open.Amber’s face. So close I could count her eyelashes. Her eyes closed. Her lips soft against mine.I yanked myself away, practically shoving her back. “What the hell are you doing?”She blinked and her eyes widened with the same confusion I felt, then shifted to what looked like panic, then finally settled on something that resembled relief before she answered. “The spell actually worked. You snapped out of it.”Snapped out of what?I looked around, taking in the abandoned service area with its crumbling wall







