GLORIA'S POV After shopping with Lena and napping away the afternoon with the pups in the nursery, I find my way to Edwardās rooms. The guards told me he just returned from the refugee camp, but when he opens the door for me heās all smiles. I give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and he welcomes me in. āYou wouldnāt happen to be in the mood for an afternoon snack, would you?ā He inquires knowingly. āBecause personally Iām starving.āIām fairly certain this is a plot to make sure Iām feeding myself well, but my stomach growls loudly as I find a seat on the couch. Still, I try to sound demure as I shrug, āI could eat.āEdward laughs before calling down to the kitchens and ordering a small feast. As we eat he tells me all about his day at the refugee camp and I, in turn, share my frustration with my sudden celebrity and Lenaās news about Roger. He can only shake his head. āThat boy has made some bad choices in his life, but Iāve been very proud of him these last few months. I never t
ALPHA DAMIAN'S POV It had all happened very slowly.I heard the deafening noise, felt the excruciating heat of the blast, but when the explosion struck my body was thrown from the car. I remember sailing through the air, feeling as though I was traveling through water as flames and entropy eviscerated the vehicle where I had just been sitting. I hit the ground hard, my head slamming into the earth and stealing my consciousness.When I woke, I was lying at least ten meters from the blast radius. My head ringing, acid churning in my stomach, I stumbled back towards the burning cars in a daze. I donāt know how much time had passed, but my men were little more than charred husks, and the vehicles nothing more than tangled knots of molten steel.I vomited onto the ground, emptying my stomach and trying not to let the horror consume me. Iād loved my men like brothers, but if I stopped to process their losses, my own life might be forfeit too. I did not know if the danger still lingered ā o
GLORIA'S POV Isabel stares after me with her mouth gaping open in shock, not moving from the bed. I donāt pause to put on appropriate clothing or even don shoes, instead sprinting to my door and pressing my ear to the wood. After a moment Isabel recovers and comes to stand beside me. āWhat are you doing?ā She whispers, her pretty eyes wide.I lead her back from the doorway, pressing my finger to my lips. The feeling of my mate is growing stronger by the second, and his voice calls out again. Gloria!I hear you! I send back through our bond, praying he can hear me. Iām coming, Damian. The baby is fluttering excitedly in my belly, and I have a feeling that when Damian isnāt calling to me, heās calling to our pup. Still, when his voice sounds again he says only my name, Gloria! Through the distance I can sense his exhaustion and worry, the nearly unhinged determination of his wolf. Thereās pain there too, and I know he must be injured. Heās trying to get back to us, but heās too worn do
GLORIA'S POV Four days. Four days since Damianās car was bombed, and four days since I last heard his voice.I refuse to believe heās gone. I know the others have given up hope, but they donāt know my mate like I do, and they donāt have our bond. I donāt know where he is or why we havenāt heard from him, but I know heās out there somewhere. If the doctor would just let me out of this bed Iād go find him myself.Unfortunately heās keeping me under lock and key, and a roster of babysitters have been assigned to watch me. Honestly itās insulting, but I suppose my first few escape attempts might have given him cause to worry. The first time I slipped out past my guards I made it all the way down to the second floor before Philippe caught up with me and hauled me back. The second time, I only made it down the hall, and the third was dead in the water before I could even finish making a rope out of my bed sheets. That was about the time the bossy wolves who seem to think they can tell me w
GLORIA'S POV When I wake Iām in my nest, hooked up to about a dozen machines and wracking my brains for some explanation of how I got here. Of course⦠the moment my memory kicks in, I wish it hadnāt. My wolf howls in my head, but I shut out the tumultuous emotions threatening to consume me. It might not be healthy, but if thereās one thing Iām good at ā itās repressing feelings.I clench my eyes shut. āItās not real, itās not real.ā I insist to the empty room, reflexively tracing the outline of my womb. āAre you alright, little one?ā I squeak, wondering if my pain is about to multiply by a million.The baby flutters and sends feelings of sleepy confusion through our bond, and the tightness in my heart eases a bit. Heās okay. I tell my whining wolf, but we both know sheās not just worried for the babyās sake.Theyāre both okay. My wolf assures me, sounding surprisingly confident for all her nervous whimpering. I donāt care what anyone says. We would feel it if he was gone. I would fee
GLORIA I stare at the black phone screen in shock and confusion, trying not to jump to the wrong conclusion. One moment Damian was there, talking to me as if everything was normal, and the next I heard a terrible boom and saw a blinding light. Then the line disconnected. It didnāt look or sound like a car crash⦠it seemed⦠it seemed like some sort of explosion.Maybe it was just the call getting interrupted, some sort of weird static⦠or a sound on the radio. My wolf suggests, even as I frantically attempt to call him back. The line doesnāt even ring, I simply hear an error tone and a voice telling me the call canāt be completed.I untangle myself from the sleeping pups, waking a few of them but too alarmed to pause and apologize. My heart stops beating, and my lungs stop pumping. This isnāt happening. This canāt be happening. Itās just a problem with the phone. I think desperately, stumbling out of the blanket fort, gasping for air. Lucy looks over when she hears one of the rudely a