The morning started with someone banging on the door to the guest room.Lola turned and pressed her face into the pillow, trying to hide from the sun that streamed in through the curtain-less window.Yesterday was just a big ball of weird crap that she still wasn’t sure happened. She turned on her back and stared at the ceiling. Maybe it was all just a dream. Maybe she fell again, and that was why she was here with a throbbing headache and a million questions.Just to make sure, she looked up and scanned the room. Yup, still at the Blackwoods’ mansion.“What?” Lola yelled when the knocking sounded louder and louder.The door opened up. She gasped and flew out of bed.“Melissa!” Lola pulled her in for a hug and closed the door behind her.“What are you doing here?” she asked when she pulled back. Melissa’s eyes were red, with deep dark circles covering them.A small frown pressed down on her forehead, and her eyes narrowed.“Do you see this?” She pointed to her eyes. “Have I ever looke
They walked into school like it were any other day. However, in the back of Lola’s mind, she had yesterday’s events painfully pressuring her.Students stopped in the corridors and eyed them. At first, Lola couldn’t figure out why they were staring so openly, but then she saw how their eyes fell over Jax as he stopped next to her. Persephone, who had classes with Melissa, walked over with a smile.“Hi!” They started talking about the upcoming test while Lola stood stiff like a pole, wanting to disappear from everyone’s judging eyes. She shrunk into the floor but didn’t disappear. In her head, she had run, but her feet wouldn’t move.Jax was looking around, a deep scowl on his face, and his shoulders slowly raised.Anytime their gazes met him, they looked away, understandably so. He looked murderous.However, he wasn’t looking at them, his eyes were fixated on something else.“You’re staring,” Lola said and nudged his arm.Jax turned his head, but his eyes still scoured the halls.Inste
Lola ran around the apartment. She pulled open the few drawers that were left untouched. Her slim fingers wrapped around the knob of a drawer, and she pulled it, but it wouldn’t budge. She couldn’t remember what was in the drawer. Was it clothes? Books? She had no clue, and apparently, she wouldn’t find out. Lola stepped back. The duffel bag was next to her feet on the floor with one book and a pair of shoes inside. She stood staring at the drawer, wondering not only what was in it but also realizing it was the last of her personal effects.A whipping sound echoed past her, and a large hand grabbed the knob and broke the drawer by pulling it open. He held the board in his hand and looked at Lola’s shocked face. She slowly turned her head, her eyes following swiftly but unable to take in the view. His face was covered in blood splatter. Drops fell from his mouth, and his teeth were stained crimson.“Jax?”His eyes fell down her body to her feet. He looked at the bag that lay open, and
Lola stared at her best friend, the one person in the world she cared about. She wanted to tell her everything, but how could she explain something that didn’t make any sense?“Lola?” Melissa’s voice rang out softly, and her eyes pleaded for an explanation.“I—”“It’s our fault, really,” Ash said, getting in front of Lola. “The bodies outside, the wrecked apartment, the door — Well, that’s more my fault,” he joked, but no one was laughing.“The bodies are your fault?” Melissa’s eyes flickered between Ash and Lola as she took a small step back out into the stairwell.“They are, but the good thing is that you won’t tell anyone.” Ash grinned. Melissa gasped when Ash was in front of her just as she blinked.He cupped her cheek and leaned her head back. “I’m not?” she whispered.Ash flicked his tongue and shook his head. “No, you’re not because you wouldn’t want your mom to meet the same faith, would you now?” Melissa shook her head. Her eyes widened and glistened in fear.“Ash!” Lola scol
Jax closed the door to the bedroom, throwing one last glance at Lola sleeping on the bed. He clenched his fingers around the key and stared at the keyhole. He bit down and pressed the key in, turning it and locking the door. It’s for everyone’s good, he told himself.“We’re locking her up?” Landon, Jax’s wolf, said, his voice dripping with judgment.“It’s for her own good.”“For her own good or your own peace of mind? I mean, it is easier for you to handle her when she’s locked up, no?” Even though they were one, it didn’t mean their thoughts were the same or their actions always coincided with what the other felt was right.“I can’t have her run away. Ash is right.&rd
Lola stood by the window, trying to break it open. The chair she had thrown against the glass was lying on the floor, and her knuckles were red from beating against the impenetrable glass.Her hair lay messy, and her cheeks stained crimson from the blood on her hands when she dragged them over her face in despair.Her foggy mind was still trying to comprehend everything from the last hours, but only bits and pieces were forming in her memory.She remembered her apartment and Jax. Ash was there too, but then what had happened? She pulled her hair and clenched her jaw in frustration as the flight in her erupted but without the ability to act on it. The door was locked shut, and the thickness of the door made it impossible for Lola to kick down. Her mind reeled to the possibility of the guy’s ability to break it down, given the fact that they
Lola sat on the chair in the kitchen, surrounded by Jax’s family members and the scary man from the hallway.He was eyeing her with a monotone expression. It seemed that he could catch any secret she held.Lola was thinking of ways to get out, but none seemed likely to work. She wondered at that moment who these people were and what they wanted from her. Many knew about the Blackwood family and their history in this town, but Lola was not one of them. She barely knew the town she lived in, let alone the families that had been here for generations.One thought that crossed her mind more than others was Jax said that they were werewolves. Did that include his parents? Was she surrounded by supernatural beings?There was no use in pretending that they didn’t exist. She had been attacked twice now by
The sun was starting to set. Lola stood by the window in the living room as everyone else had headed out after the contracts were signed. She looked at the houses down the road with the lights on. The mansion was on top of a hill, and the view of the town was mesmerizing.“Hi, you.”She turned around in shock when she heard Ash’s voice.“Hi,” she said coldly and glared as he walked in.“How are you feeling?”It was odd, she thought, that Ash was the first to ask her that.“Like I just signed my life away,” Lola answered and crossed her arms over her chest.Ash raised his shoulder and smirked. “You did,” he answered without any sugarcoa