VALERIELucas shut his eyes. A laugh bobbed at his throat in the darkness. âThis is ridiculous,â he said. âYou have no idea what this means.â His dark eyes stared down at me from the shadows of his lashes. âAnd once you cross that line, you wonât have the chance to regret it.âHe steadied himself, sitting up painfully on one arm to look at me. And when a beat of silence passed, and I didnât take back my offer, that sharp edge to his stare softened with weak temptation.His fingers wrapped around my bleeding arm and I saw the flash of darkness seep over his eyes.I wouldnât take it back.Not if it meant heâd die like this.But I wasnât expecting the ferocity with which Lucas sunk his teeth into my flesh.The pain was piercing and hot, like tiny barbs of fire sinking into my skin. I felt his tongue graze the wound and my body gave an odd shiver at the feeling. And thenâthe pain was gone.It had been so fast, Iâd hardly felt it, but for the fire driving up my veins. Where agonizing disco
VALERIEI searched the deserted post while Brigid used torn pieces of her skirt to stanch Lucasâs wound.It was empty of nearly everything, but a single closet with spare clothes, and a first aid kit. Luckily, there was a working bathroom with running waterâthough no light source besides an old lantern with only a drop or two of oil inside.I washed the blood from my body, leaving thick, tinted puddles on the floor, and dressed into the spare clothing. They were much too big on me, but I found them manageable once I rolled the sleeves up and tied a belt around my waist.When I stepped outside again, Brigid had managed to light the lantern. She had managed to get Lucas up atop a large wooden table, and she was peering down at his wound.âThe bullet didnât reach his heart,â she said. âBut itâs lodged deep inside his flesh. The silver will agitate his wound and make it impossible to heal. Which means the bleeding wonât stop until we remove it.â She frowned and looked up at me, the glow o
VALERIEFor the first time, I found myself truly grateful for Diyaâfor the fact that I had been blessed with the unbridled power of a wolf.I had never felt anything as thrilling as this. As the freedom of feeling her run, faster than Iâd ever thought I could go.Diya was fast and steadyâher body wrapping my soul like a second skin. She was the one moving, but I could feel myself guiding her like wind through her sails.She was happyâso happy to finally feel the billowing air on her face again. To feel it curl through her fur. To feel her muscles burn and her tail whip with each sharp turn.We dashed through the palace courtyard, where vampires gasped, aghast at the sight of us.Is this really necessary? Diya gnarled. We look foolish. Despite her lifted mood, Diya was terribly unsettled by the fact that a vampire of all things rode on her back.She glanced over her shoulder at Brigid, who clutched on tightly to the fur of her back. âThis way,â she said, tugging at her right.Diya fol
VALERIEâAkard had collected substantial data regarding humankindâs physical potential,â Brigid explained. âThey had all the biological resources in the world when it came to humansâeverything, from blood samples, to vast library of individual DNA samples. Above all else, they had thousands of journals, studying hundreds of mutations and previous gene-altering experiments. It was convenient to Caesar. He had all of the potential and resources he needed for his own experiments. Akard gave him everything he would require to create human weapons.âShe pondered to herself, long nails tapping against her chin. âThinking about it, I suppose itâs possible that Caesar killed his Beta, Noah, because he wanted to cover the truth. The truth being that he didnât destroy Akard, he inherited it.âThe problem was that some key data was missing when Caesar seized the organization. Because of that, his experiments didnât go well. No one knew what happened to the data, but he suspected it had vanished
LUCASThe entire thing had been a trap.The realization came too late. Smoke choked my lungs, and I could feel the heat of the manor seeping up through the walls. I had to leaveâbut a stampede of footsteps was making their way up the foyer steps.Guards were coming.âImpostor!â they were shouting. There is an impostor within the castle!â I looked around for another means of escape, but the sitting room was complete void of any other doors. I curled an elbow around my face and charged at the only exit in sight: a window, overlooking the yard below.The glass shattered on impact and I flung myself out with a rainfall of sharp, glittering shards. The cold night air wrapped me like chilly silk, and my boots hit the ground with a jarring impact.Glass shards rained down around meâone or two nicking me in the back. One stung at my ear and I swatted the feeling away. But as I gathered myself, I looked up to find my efforts at escape were fruitless.A group of guards encircled me well before
LUCASI crouched behind the shadows of a large trunk as the front gates of Benjaminâs manor opened. Benjamin was just outside of them, speaking with a vampire in the dark cloak of night.I could not piece apart the identity of the second vampire. They appeared to be clad entirely in black, and the moonâsheathed in cloudsâwas of little help at all.I groused to myself, feeling a steam leave my chest. Nicasa was wrong after all. Benjamin wasnât supposed to be at his manor tonight. He was meant to be gone while bustles of workers rushed in and out through his manor doors. It should have meant easy access to his entire estate.It should have meant an easy task at hand for yours truly.Then again, nothing was ever easy in this cursed place. Perhaps it was an unplanned meeting. Perhaps Benjaminâs plans had gone awry. From the look on Benjaminâs face, he seemed terribly inconvenienced by the stranger.I waited until Benjamin and his mysterious guest turned to enter the buildingâthen I moved.