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I can't tell if anyone is following. But a thumbs up, a vote...it will definitely make me know that you are here and that I'm not alone doing my thing. š„²š„² Please leave as many thumbs as you like. š š Thank you šššScarletās POVThe vault was dead quiet except for Damienās muffled sobs into Kaelerās blanket.I stood right behind him, my hand hovering over his broad, shaking back. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck, pull him against my chest, and tell him the nightmare was over. But every time I moved, the silver mark on my collarbone pulsed hot, reminding me that the nightmare hadn't endedāit had just changed shape.Damien slowly lifted his head from the crib. He gently pulled his finger free from Kaelerās tiny grip, tucking the wool blanket tight around the boy's chest before glancing over at Kaelor and Kaelia. His dark eyes were red-rimmed, wet with tears, but the wild, crazed look he had carried since walking through the courtyard gates was gone.He pushed himself up to his feet, groaning as his ribs protested. He wiped his face with the back of his dirty forearm, smearing soot into his beard, and turned around to face me."Scarlet," he said, his voice quiet, thick with emotion."Damien
Scarletās POV"Damien, no!" I screamed, lunging to pull him away.I thought his rage had won. I thought he had completely lost his mind and was ripping Joel's throat out while the man lay helpless on the straw.Before my fingers could even touch his shoulders, Damien's massive hand shot up, shoving me backward. I stumbled, hitting my hip against the wooden edge of the cradle, crying out as the blunt pain flared through my lower body."Stay back, Scarlet!" Damien growled through clenched teeth, his mouth still buried deep in the rotting meat of Joel's shoulder.Joelās body violently seized. His back arched off the floorboards, a strangled, wet scream tearing out of his gray lips as Damienās fangs dug deeper. His fists clenched into the bloody straw, veins bulging on his pale forehead until they looked ready to burst.Damien wasn't tearing. He was drinking.He sucked the black, foul-smelling witch poison straight out of the wound, his throat bobbing in hard, rhythmic gulps. The sickly p
Scarletās POVThe stone floor split right down the middle with a loud crash. I watched my blood sink deep into the ground. Dust flew everywhere, thick and black, stinging my eyes and making me cough. Sasha screamed from inside the nursery, holding the crying babies tight against her chest. I threw the witch hard against the wall. She slid down to the ground, holding her neck, gasping for air while her burned clothes smoked.I didn't care about her anymore. I turned and stared at the dark hole in the floor.A huge, bloody hand shot out of the rubble, grabbing the broken edge of the stone.The fingernails were gone, replaced by thick, black wolf claws covered in dried dirt and fresh blood. Then another hand reached up, pulling hard. The rock groaned under the weight.A man hauled himself up into the dim light of the vault.It was Damien. My blood must have done something I know nothing about. But right now, I feel so weak. He looked like he had just climbed out of a grave. His bare ch
Scarletās POVThe purple lightning split the damp vault air, moving so fast it smelled of burnt copper before it even hit.My Instinct took over. My wolf was still too exhausted to lend me her strength, but the dark witch magic boiling in my veins did not need a beast.I dropped low, skidding across the wet limestone floor. The lightning slammed into the stone wall right behind my head, blowing out a shower of sharp granite fragments that stung my bare shoulders.Before the first warlock could conjure a second volley, I surged upward.The heat from my daggers radiated against my knuckles, the blue flames going wild. I didn't fight like an elegant court lady, and I didn't fight like a trained swordsman. I fought like a feral mother protecing her kids.I rammed the right dagger straight up through the opening beneath the warlockās steel gorget.The white-hot silver sliced through flesh and gristle like warm lard. The blue fire followed the blade, sinking deep into his throat, boiling hi
Scarletās POVThe stone floor felt like ice beneath my knees, but the heat coming off Joelās skin was hot enough to scorch wood."Stay with me," I ordered, my voice trembling as I hauled his good arm over my shoulder, dragging his dead weight toward the dry straw pallet. "Joel! Look at me! Don't you dare close your eyes!"He choked out a wet cough, spattering dark, foul-smelling blood over the front of my silk gown. The wound running from his ear down into his shoulder wasn't a clean sword cut; it was rotting from the inside out. Black veins crawled across his neck like spiderwebs, pulsing with the sickly purple glow of something that was similar to witch-craft."The abyss..." Joel murmured, his eyelids fluttering, his body shivering violently against mine. "The ground split like dry wood, Scarlet. He went down swinging his broadsword... taking three of their high lords with him. He was screaming your name until the rock closed shut.""Be quiet," I hissed, tears spilling fast down my
Scarletās POVThe courtyard turned into a madhouse the second the scout choked out his last breath.Wolves were screaming, dropping training daggers, and rushing toward the inner keep. The elders, who had been sitting comfortably watching Joel and Damien tear each other apart, were now stumbling over their own long robes, squealing like stuck pigs as they scrambled for the iron cellar gates."The children," I whispered. My stomach dropped through the floorboards.I turned on my heel, ready to bolt toward the nursery, but a large, blood-smeared hand clamped around my wrist.Damien.His chest was still heaving, bloody froth dripping from his split lip, but the murderous haze in his eyes had snapped shut. The Alpha in himāthe warrior who had kept this pack alive through two border warsāwas back."They won't touch the keep," Damien growled, his voice rough as gravel. He looked past me, his gaze locking directly onto Joel, who was wiping blood from his chin with the back of his bruised arm
Damienās POVIt had been days since she left, and still, Iād heard nothing.Not another letter. Not even a reassurance that she was going to really come backāIām left with just memories of her. My head spun as I wrestled with what to do next. That was when the guardsā voices boomed from the palace
Scarletās POV āDamien, what are you doing?ā I gasped, fear laced in my voice. My breath hitched, as my chest rose and fell with sharp urgency. But⦠damn it. Why do I feel so wet beneath? Whatās wrong with me? Iāve never been this close to a man. Never felt this exposedā¦this fragile. I placed
Damienās POVI donāt know if it was instinct, but something deep inside me whispered that something was wrong.Even though she tried so hard to conceal it, everything was brought to light tonight. All through the night, as I took Scarlet again and again, she kept calling my nameāand another.A nam
Scarletās POVI blinked, forcing myself back into the moment, steadying my breath as I looked up at Damien.He was still watching me, the soldiers standing rigidly behind him, guiding us forward.None of it was real.None of it had ever been real.I had only been standing thereāwatching Joel being







