My head was pounding. The world was spinning. I felt exhausted, but the one thing I could note I wasn’t in a bed. I wasn’t in a warm room full of familiar scents and comforts. The floor was hard and cold beneath me. I smell stale water and stone much like the cell I had been held in. Was I back there?My eyes burned. Had I gone through all of that with nothing to show for it?Then, a familiar scent hit my nose: warm, a little musky and bright with just a tinge of the scent of whiskey.It was Candido. Was he here?I craned my head left and then right, hoping to see him, but I couldn’t focus. The world kept going in and out like my eyes couldn’t adjust to the light. I turned again, but all I saw were two wooden chairs that looked like they were better off as firewood, a cold fireplace, and a few other random things. This looked more like a storage room than a bedroom or a holding cell.I lifted my head. Had Ian just moved me to torture me some more?“You’re awake.”Candido’s voice was r
There was nothing but anger in his eyes. I was struck silent and frozen in place. Never had I imagined that Candido would really look at me like that. I thought back to Raven’s warning and shuddered. She’d been right about how he would react, but maybe… Maybe if I’d told him when I found out, he wouldn’t be so angry with me.He still smelled so good. I still wanted to… I still wanted to bit him, to drink from him and—I shuddered and turned away from him, closing my eyes and trying to resist, but it was so hard.“I… I wanted to tell you—”“But you didn’t,” Candido said. “Were you ever going to tell me? Hm? Before we were mated? Or was I just going to find out when you caved and bit me one day?”I shook my head and met his gaze. “I… Raven—”“Who the hell is that?”“My sister.”He scoffed. “Is there anything I know about you that’s true?”“Of course, there is!” I cried. “I only found out recently, and so much has happened, I just—I just didn’t want you to hate me. I love you, isn’t that
I couldn’t remember much. I felt hot thought, like my blood had turned to fire while I was unconscious and I was adrift in an ocean of fire. I turned reaching out, trying to get my bearings but I couldn’t.Candido.Where was Candido?I didn’t know.I remembered that I had seen him recently.An image of him bound and glaring at me flashed through my mind, but I couldn’t hold onto it.Slowly, the world seemed to come back to me. I smelled stone, but the air was warmer. I could smell Candido near me. Someone’s hand was on my head, stroking my head softly.I grunted, trying to speak, but all I heard was a low growl. The hand stopped briefly and pressed firmly before I could try to lift my head.“Sleep,” Candido said, his voice soft and low. “You’re too weak to try to get up right now.”I tried to speak, but all I heard was a low whine. An animal whine. Then I realiz
I growled, but I couldn’t do much else. Candido grunted, putting the shirt on, and standing. He wrapped me up in a blanket and lifted me. His arms trembled. I could see the sweat breaking out on his forehead.The man laughed. “Pride before the fall, I guess. Don’t fall down the stairs. I’m not saving you.”Candido grunted. I whined, wanting him to do something. To get rid of this man. I knew he had the power to do it. Why wasn’t he doing anything? He hadn’t even looked like he cared that Troy had hit me.Candido carried me downstairs slowly. By the time we reached the bottom, the man looked irritated.“Would have been faster to make her walk, honestly.” He rolled his eyes and pushed the heavy door open. I expected the darkness of the caves and the cold, but there was none of that.The light of the silver moon made the sky glow like it was day time. In the distance, there was a dark sky that looked like a regular night. In the other direction, the sky melted into the familiar blue of t
“Artemis, wait—”“Go to hell,” she hissed. Gilgamesh lunged for her. Three members of New Moon surged to block him off.Members of Moon Shadow seemed to back Gilgamesh up.Then, the door opened.“As useful as it would be for you to all die in a fight, I would hate to waste my people’s time by having them clean up the carnage,” Ian’s voice cut through the hall. “But do go on and quicken yourself to your deaths.”Vanessa turned, glaring at him. “And what the hell does that mean?”“Moon Shadow and New Moon, while in opposition, are after the same thing,” he said. “And you’re doomed to fail.”Francia gasped as she turned to look at Ian. I turned as Ian swept through the room. He glanced at me and rolled his eyes.“What a waste of time,” he said and flicked his hand in my direction. A burst of light shot towards me.Candido turned sharply but he didn’t move fast enough. The light hit me and tossed me off the table. I shrieked, tumbling through the air and landing in my perfectly human form
He paused and looked back at me. His gaze was as cold as it always was.He blinked.“Well?” I hissed. “Aren’t you going to answer me?”“I hope your current vagueness is not an attempt at effecting some sense of mystery...” He cocked an eyebrow.“What--?”“Precisely,” he said. “What are you talking about?”I growled at him. “In the forest! You attacked me.”He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “Hardly.”“You made me drink something. What was it?” I glared at him. “Did you turn me? Did you—”“I would not have wasted the effort,” he said. “Nor would I have needed to. It doesn’t matter what I gave you, only that it saved your life and stopped Damian from taking your power.”The fact that he wouldn’t answer made me even more suspicious. It did matter. Whatever he’d given me had changed me somehow. It was probably the reason why I couldn’t feel Candido any longer, the reason that I felt so different.“What does that even mean?” I shrieked. “I’m so sick of you not telling me anything and acting l
He looked back at me then to Candido before shaking his head. “I’ll come with you.”Claire went still. “But Francium, you heard—”“She is my mother, Claire,” Francium said, meeting her gaze. “There are very few people I can still trust and she is at the top of the list… Not trusting her got me into all of this mess in the first place.”Claire said nothing. She turned away from him stiffly. He took her hand gently and turned her back towards him, cupping her cheek.“We’ll talk more later.” He pressed a kiss to her lips and turned to leave, following Francia.The sight of them made my heart clench with longing. I looked up at Candido wanting him to kiss me too, but he didn’t even look at me. He steered me back to the table and pushed me down onto the bench before making me a plate. He leaned against the table with a shudder as I ate. Claire sat across from us; her eyes focused on the phone she had been given. Candido was typing on his screen and the entire hall was silent.I ate, but ev
We parted at the door of my room. I heard him walking away and looked over at the white dress Raven had left me. I dug through the room and found a bag full of the things that I had been carried when I’d been taken from the compound. I crossed the room and found the closet full of clothes. They were mostly white or light colors, and a little bigger than me.I held up the dress Raven had given me in the mess hall. It would be big on me, but not too big. A belt would be enough to make it look okay.There were new boots in the closet, cute boots, and a little bag with gold coins in it and the compact mirror that Raven had given me.I thought back to the look on her face in the mess hall. Why would she look like that? I set my jaw and scowled. What difference did it make? She was on Ian’s side. Even if we were sisters, we were never going to have much of a relationship, if any. My place was with Candido. I was a werewolf. She was a vampire. There was no way that we could ever really get a