Blake’s POV10 minutes before Hope screams in her sleep.I look down at sleeping beauty in my arms. Her eyelids flutter and she mumbles something in her sleep. But it is no fairy tale dream she is having. Her brows furrow and I frown, resting myself on my elbow and leaning nearer to study her face.Beads of sweat have formed on her forehead and her breathing is fast starting to become laboured. I can smell her fear. She is having a nightmare.I am about to call out her name when suddenly, I smell another scent. Fear.But it is not from Hope. It is from Barry. Or Harry, or Larry, whatever his name is. We have intruders.I contemplate waking Hope up but Barry’s fear stifles the air, so much so that it is suffocating. Gently, I slide my arm out from under Hope’s petite frame and spring to my feet. A quick glance tells me that the brows on her forehead are no longer creased. Maybe the nightmare has passed.I sprint back towards the mouth of the cave. Because of my heightened senses, I est
Hope’s POV“Mom!” I scream.My eyes snap wide open only to be greeted by darkness. Still caught in the web of my nightmare, I spring to my feet and up from the ground.“Mom…” my scream trails to a whisper when I realize that it was a dream. My chest is drenched with sweat and my heart is pounding. The dream…it felt so real.I hug myself and realize that I am trembling, I have to make a conscious effort to stop this silliness. It’s just a dream.Or is it? A voice inside of my head asks. I shoo it away and narrow my eyes to adjust to the darkened vision. Except for a faint glow of light and shadows coming from the winding curve of the cave, everything else is dark.I close my eyes and take slow deep breaths. My ribs feel tight and my muscles tense. I wiggle a toe, it cracks loudly and my toes touch my blouse that lays on the ground. Instantly, memories of what happened earlier sprout up like mushrooms and flood my mind.Blake. His kiss, his touch and most of all, him, all of him inside
Hope’s POVI stare at him, I stare at Blake but for some reason, I feel as if I am staring at a stranger.Gone is the warmth in his steel grey eyes and in its place is something foreign and cold. It is as if some alien has taken over Blake’s body.“Blake?” I find myself whispering his name, hesitantly stepping towards him but one word from him and I freeze in my spot.“Stop,” he says. Behind him, lightning flashes across the sky and a low rumble fills the air. The rain starts to fall again.I blink, confused. “Who is this?” I ask. “There are dead bodies in the cave, Larry says she killed them.” I point to the woman.She is hooded with a cloak and all I can see is her thick red lips. I frown. Who the hell has time to put on lipstick in the games? Did she have them tattoed on or something?Or is it blood? A nagging thought forms in the back of my head. I shrug it off.The woman smiles and pulls Blake closer towards her, her breasts practically touching his arm through that skin-tight bo
Hope’s POVI do not know how long I stay kneeling in the rain but I think it is a long time. It is funny how you lose track of time or your senses when your heart breaks, everything else just does not seem to matter anymore.“HOPE!”Someone is calling my name.“HOPE! GET UP!”Someone has grabbed my shoulders and is shaking the bejeezus out of me.“We’re sitting ducks out here! Get into the cave!”That someone groans and grabs my face, forcing me to look up. It is Larry.“Were you crying?” he asks, bewildered. His wet brown hair is plastered over his furrowed brows and rainwater drips from his downturned lip. Above him, the heavens crack and flash.“C’mon, get up, Hope!”Larry pulls me up, or rather, he tries to before falling on the mud himself. I look back in the direction where Blake left and let out a quivering breath. Larry is right, we are vulnerable out here, an open prey to everyone and anyone who wants to kill us.I wipe the tears and snot from my face and nose, then shaking m
Hope’s POVThe night is pitch-black and the rain is unforgiving, drumming down mercilessly, transforming the path into a treacherous mudslide. I forge ahead, senses on high alert, while Larry struggles behind me.“I hate this,” he mumbles and slips again, landing with a squelch on his backside."You okay, Larry?" I turn back and offer him a hand to pull him up but boy is this guy heavy, He may be thin but he weighs like a bull."Just peachy," he grumbles, wiping mud from his face with exaggerated care before accepting my hand.We continue trudging through the downpour, both now silent in our own train of thoughts as we follow that jerk’s trail. That traitor’s trail is unfortunately our lone beacon of hope and like it or not, we have to follow it.Suddenly, I freeze, catching a rustling sound from the nearby trees. It is loud, even with the downpour, I can hear it.I motion for Larry to stop."Someone's watching us," I whisper.Larry's eyes widen in mock horror. "Oh, really? Couldn't b
HOPE's POV“Loser!” A water balloon smashes right at the back of my head and explodes. The crowd bursts into laughter and I? I have become a walking goo of slimy green and red. “Hey, Omega! Clean up the mess will ya?” “Don’t dirty the school hall with your ugly footprints!” More snickers ensue. Another balloon comes at me. It gets me in my back this time and my white cottony shirt is now a slimy blue. Great. I swallow the lump in my throat and bend down to pick up my textbooks. They had fallen out of my hands at the assault of the first balloon. My biology book gets picked first, then chemistry and finally, poetry. They’re all covered in slime, it’ll take time to clean them all. And just as I reach out for the last item, my sketchbook, a neon pink sneaker appears and stomps on my hand, unleashing a crushing pain on me.“Argh!” I scream when the owner presses down, the soles of the sneaker grinds against my skin and bones. “Oh…if it isn’t little Miss Goodie Two Shoes herself,”
HOPE’s POVBlake Parker, the future alpha of Crescent Manes looms at the door. His tall physique blocks the entire door and though his face is cast in shadows, I can tell that he is not pleased. My breath hitches and instinctively, I shout out, “Help me!” Blake ignores me, choosing instead to focus his attention on both Chad and Mike. The hands that bind me quickly leave my side. Frantically, I pull up my pants and search for my blouse. I don’t know what’s wrong with me but my hands are shaking and without my glasses, I can’t seem to find my blouse at all. Ashamed, I cover my chest with my hands, silently thanking the Moon Goddess that my bra is still intact. “What is the meaning of this?” Blake’s voice thunders across the room and both Chad and Mike fall to their knees. “Blake! We were just fooling around, man!” Mike rubs his palms together in succession. Even in the dark, I feel fear emanating from him. “We mean no harm…” Chad squeaks, “We were just playing around with the Ome
HOPE’s POVIt took me an hour, but I am finally pedalling my bicycle towards the residence of the Parker family manor. The ride back was a long one. I was chased by a bulldog and almost fell into the drain, no thanks to my missing glasses. Add that to the sudden heavy downpour.Mom’s going to kill me when she finds out that I need to buy another pair of glasses. It's the third time this year. The first two were crushed and broken, courtesy of Sara Carter. Maybe I should just bill the new pair of glasses to her. Right.What a joke. If I ever dare to even look her in the eye, Sara Carter will hang me upside down from the school gymnasium and use me as a pinata or a punching bag.I shake the thought off and quickly ride towards the garage, grateful that no one is seeing me in such an embarrassing state. Especially mom.Getting off my bike, I lean it gently against the wall, careful not to dirty the pristine clean walls of the garage with my wet and peeling bicycle. Then, picking up my