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Jaded Wolf 26
“If you need me, I’ll be at the Pavilion seeing to the investigations. We’ll find out who did this, Derek.”I crossed my arms over my chest. I felt the guilt and shame come over me as Vivienne left me there to brood alone. I couldn’t think of anyone who could be capable of doing this to Sofia other than Lucas. But I had no proof and even if I did, I wasn’t sure that I could do anything about it. Lucas was my brother and no matter how important Sofia had become to me, blood runs thicker than water. SOFIACorrine took her time with me. She tried to make me comfortable, giving me a drink of water, which I truly appreciated, considering how the taste of Derek’s blood was still fresh on my mouth.She took great care in making sure that I wanted to do what she was asking me to do – never pushing or ordering or commanding, which I was certain was exactly what Derek would’ve done had I been left under his care.She gave me a fresh set of clothes to wear. I was so relieved to see that she ha
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DEREKI rose to my feet the moment the door swung open. I breathed out a sigh of relief when Sofia’s lovely form stepped out of the room, a tentative smile forming on her face at the sight of me. If only out of sheer relief, I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her right then and there, but I fought the urge to do it in fear of scaring her. So I held back and allowed her to set the pace. I doubt she was aware of the effect she had on me when she walked toward me, grabbed my hand, her thin, dainty fingers intertwining with mine before she lifted my hand and placed a soft kiss over the back of it.I didn’t fully understand why she did it, but I took it as assurance that she still felt safe around me, that she was choosing to trust me.I was both humbled and pressured by the gesture. I stared at her for a moment, taking in the sight of the splash of freckles on her cheeks and the natural red blush on her cheekbones.I let my eyes feast on the delicateness of her facial features, ad
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SOFIAThe moment our eyes met, he looked away, almost as if he were embarrassed over something. It was actually… cute – a word I never thought I’d use to describe Derek Novak.As we walked back to the Pavilion, he remained silent, deep in thought, never even looking my way.“You said that you wanted to teach me how to defend myself…” I eventually said, breaking the silence, detesting the wall that seemed to be building up between us.“Yes,” he nodded. He then paused as if to catch himself. “But if you don’t want to…”I frowned. Since when does he care what I want? I decided not to make a fuss over it.“I want to.”The heaviness in our conversation was weighing on me. I wanted to go back to how comfortable and light and casual our interactions were before things took a turn for the worse. Before Lucas happened. I was still shaken, still afraid of what Lucas was capable of, but dwelling on woes really wasn’t one of my strong suits. It was one of Ben’s major influences on me. He never
Jaded Wolf 1
PROLOGUEInever once imagined that my life would play out the way that it did. To be fair, I guess I could say that life never really unfolds the way we expect it to.I know my father’s didn’t, but I doubt there’s a teenager in the world who could expect her life to play out like mine.I’d just turned seventeen when my life changed completely and irreversibly. It was only one night before that I was thinking of the future, of my dreams and aspirations.I wanted to become a social worker or even a lawyer in hopes of helping others like me who were abandoned by their families. It was my birthday, and at my age, it felt like I had my whole life ahead of me.Granted, I wasn’t so sure that it would be much of a great life, but at least I was certain that I was going to have a life.That following evening, I wasn’t so sure any more. How could I have been when, within the span of twenty four hours, I’d gone from high school senior and certified wallflower to captive of the prince of the larg
Jaded Wolf 2
My gaze settled on his face.I realized that he was inspecting me just as closely as I was him. His eyes on me suddenly made me feel uncomfortably vulnerable.I gave my father’s advice a second thought, but quickly canceled out all notions of heeding to his counsel when I reminded myself that he stopped caring a long time ago.I straightened to my full height and mustered all the courage I had to keep myself from running away from this stranger.Big mistake.The confident smirk didn’t leave his face for even a moment. “Like what you see?”I frowned, annoyed by his audacity. “A bit full of yourself, aren’t you?”He stepped forward, closer to me, and leaned his head toward mine. “Don’t I have the right to be?”He knew he looked good and wasn’t about to act like he didn’t.“Whatever,” was my oh-so-brilliant comeback.My shoulders sagged with defeat as I took a step back, overwhelmed by how close he was. I rolled my eyes and did a one-eighty, not quite in the mood to play whatever game th
Jaded Wolf 3
I could barely even raise my arms without requiring a considerable amount of effort. I tried to pull against my chains. They were fastened to the wall. I felt straw beneath my bare feet. I ran my hands over my body and felt the soft linen fabric of the white cover-up I pulled over my swimsuit before my untimely walk earlier that evening.I had intended to go for a swim.Yet another one of your brilliant ideas, Sofia. Now you’re locked up in some sort of dungeon wearing your swimsuit and a cover-up that’s nowhere near enough to fend off the biting cold. Genius. Just genius.I gritted my teeth, loathing myself for being so careless about my own safety. I caught myself before I could turn myself into my own personal villain. The severity of the situation hit me full force and I was unable to suppress a shudder. What have I gotten myself into?I’m in a dungeon. The word alone caused alternating images of stories I read about places like the London Tower and the kinds of torture prisoners
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His answers sent chills down my spine. “You.”Before I could even let that fully register, fangs protruded from his mouth. He pushed my head to the side, giving him easy access to my neck.It felt like I was in a dream but, as much as I tried to pinch myself awake, there was no escaping it.I was convinced that my greatest fear had come to pass. I’d already gone insane, because at that moment, I was a hundred percent sure that I was about to be eaten alive by a vampire.“Lucas!”I could already feel the sharp edge of his fangs on my skin when a shrill female voice brought me an unexpected reprieve.He growled with frustration and roughly pushed me away, causing my head to jerk back and bump against the concrete wall.I glared every sort of sharp blade imaginable at my captor. So your name is Lucas.He seemed to be reading my mind, because an ugly frown marred his handsome features.“Yes. The name’s Lucas, my sweet innocent. Not that knowing that will do you any good.”“What do you thi
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If I thought Lucas could be beautiful, Vivienne was even more stunning to behold. She was a couple of inches shorter than her brother, but had the same dark hair and pale complexion. Her eyes, however, were different. Against the light in the room, her eyes almost looked violet, with hints of deep purple.She was eyeing me warily, as if I was a heavy burden that she had to bear.“Thank you,” I told her, genuinely meaning it even though I had no idea what she had in store for me.There was a deadpan expression on her face as she looked at me.“Understand, girl, that you are nothing here. You’re nothing but a pawn, a piece used to make the board move. Your best chance at survival and proving your significance is to win Derek’s affections. Considering everything I know about my brother, I’m not sure that’s even possible.”Her words dealt my hope a final crushing blow. She made it perfectly clear that wherever this place called the Blood Shade was, I had no allies. No friends. I had only
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