Chapter 2

13 years ago

Romy pov

Her chest was heaving with shallow, erratic breaths. She forced the corners of her mouth up into a rigid, unnatural smile, but her lips were trembling so violently she couldn't hide her terror.

She kept her hand pressed tightly over my mouth, her wide eyes silently pleading with me as she leaned in to whisper.

“This is a new game, Rom.” She forced a smile, but her trembling lips gave her away. “And the first rule is... whoever makes a sound, loses.”

I stared at her, confused. This wasn’t how she usually played.

She stared down at me, her eyes wide and glistening with fear. “Okay?”

I nodded quickly. Only then did she pull her hand away, though her mouth stayed locked in that tight, terrifying smile.

“We’re still playing hide and seek,” she said. The words came out rushed. Uneven. “But you’re not hiding here. You’re going to run.”

Run?

“Through the orchard. Our path. To the road.” Her hands were already moving, dragging my sneakers toward me. “If you see Amy, stay with her.”

Amy was our housekeeper’s daughter. I opened my mouth to ask why, but the look of terror in her eyes stopped me.

“No talking, Rom, or you lose before you even start,” Alina gasped softly, hastily hauling me up from the mattress and forcing my sneakers on. 

“Come on. We’re going through the window. Promise me you will run as fast as you can, and do not look back. Don't worry... I will come find you.”

I had a hundred questions. My mouth opened automatically, but the memory of her rule snapped it shut. 

No talking, or you. I clamped my lips together and nodded.

Alina didn't waste a second. She grabbed my sneakers from the floor and shoved them onto my feet, her hands shaking so badly she barely managed the laces. She dragged me toward the glass—

THUD.

The heavy bedroom door rattled violently in its frame. Someone had just slammed their entire body against the wood. I stared at the brass knob in confusion. Alina had locked it when she came in again.

But why? Who was hitting it so hard? Was Mother angry again?

Alina gasped, instantly yanking me down. We hit the floor, crouching together beneath the window sill. In the dim shadows of the room, I saw the glossy sheen over her eyes. A single tear spilled over her lashes, tracking quickly down her cheek. 

Why was my brave sister crying over a game of hide and seek?

A second, deafening smash rattled the walls. The wood groaned loudly, the frame beginning to splinter under the force of the blow. Whoever was out there was trying to break the door down.

She shot up, wrestling with the window latch until it popped open. The cool night air rushed in.

It smelled like Orchard blossoms and something else… Smoke.

She leaned her head out into the dark, her eyes darting frantically left and right to make sure the coast was clear, then she reached down and grabbed me under the arms.

She hoisted me up and pushed me over the ledge. My shoes hit the soft dirt outside with a quiet thud.

I turned around to look back up at her. The pale, yellow security light from the orchard caught her face. 

There was no hiding it now, she was openly weeping, her expression twisted into a terrified, desperate plea.

“Go,” she choked out, her voice breaking. “Run, now!”

My lips puckered. “But Arian– ”

“Please, Romy,” she begged, leaning out the window. “Run as fast as you can and don't look back. If you look back, you lose. You hate losing, yeah? Now go!”

She didn't wait for my answer. She pulled the window shut between us.

I nodded automatically, my heart was beating too fast.I stood there for half a second longer, and then I began to run.

Branches scraped my arms as I pushed through the orchard path we had carved over the years. The treehouse loomed ahead in shadow. My breath tore in and out of my chest.

Don’t look back.

Don’t look back.

I was almost past the bend when I skidded to a stop, my eyes wide. My doll. I had left her on the bed.

Alina was going to be so mad at me for turning around, but surely she would understand once I explained. 

The doll was my absolute favorite, a gift my mother had given me when I was seven, it was the only thing that reminded me that despite her harshness towards me, she still loved me.

I was already busy cooking up the perfect, charming excuse in my head as I ran back toward the house.

I reached the edge of the tree line, stepping out of the shadows to look toward the front door.

The excuse died in my throat.

A towering, roaring monster of orange and black had swallowed my home. Thick, choking smoke billowed violently into the night sky, and bright flames were already licking out of the shattered downstairs windows. The air was so hot it stung my eyes.

How? My little mind scrambled, trying to make the math work. I had only been gone for a few minutes. 

This isn't possible.

A violent shiver racked my body despite the blistering heat radiating across the yard. My lips began to tremble uncontrollably.

Like a sleepwalker in a nightmare, I took one numb step toward the burning front porch. And then, I stopped dead in my tracks.

The roaring fire illuminated the front yard in a violent, orange glare. My parents lay sprawled across the grass. Silver knives were buried deep in their unmoving bodies, their blood pooling dark and thick into the dirt.

My mind couldn't process the sight. Right in the middle of the lawn, silhouetted against the burning house, knelt Rowan. My sister's mate.

With a sickening, wet slide, he yanked a silver blade free from the figure beneath him.

I stumbled back, all the air leaving my lungs. Alina.

She was crumpled on the ground, surrounded by a dark sea of her own blood. A wet, rattling cough shook her small frame. Slowly, desperately, her trembling hand reached up, clutching the front of his shirt.

Rowan leaned down, his head dipping close to hers for a second.

Then, he stood abruptly. His face was a hardened, terrifying mask in the heat of the fire as he stepped back.

I stood there, my little mind trying to wrap my head around what I’d just seen.

My whole family. Dead.

A jagged scream clawed its way up my throat. But before the sound could tear past my lips, a hand clamped hard over my mouth from behind, yanking me back into the shadows of the trees. Hot tears burned my eyes as I thrashed against the grip.

The shock was too heavy, the edges of my vision rapidly dissolved into black. 

The very last thing I heard before I lost consciousness was Rowan’s voice. "Burn it."

It wasn't human. It was a guttural, monstrous growl, the sound of a wolf pushed to the absolute edge, vibrating through the earth beneath my shoes.

"Burn down the house. To the outside world, this is a terrible fire outbreak that killed everyone.”

And within the blink of an eye, I’d become an orphan, and it was all because of Rowan Ashwing-kael Vexley.