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SIXTY | BROKEN AND BETRAYED
Lily
Without her mother’s garnet ring adorning her finger, Lily’s hands felt oddly empty. The urge to twist the ring surged through her, and she found herself picking at her cuticles as she stared unblinkingly at her father.“I–“ she began, only to cut herself off. Lily shook her head.
“No, Lily.” Her father took an uncertain step towards her.
She closed the last of the distance between them and pulled him into a hug. “Dad,” she murmured, pressing her face into his neck. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too.” He patted her back awkwardly. “I failed you.”
“I failed you,” she said, words morphing and twisting around a sob. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “I had to leave, but I should never have left wi
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The Broken Alpha SIXTY-ONE | DAMSEL
Lily Lily was jerked awake by the groan of the cell door opening. Still exhausted, she moved on fear alone as she pulled herself upright and combed her fingers through her knotted hair. Morvand stood in the doorway, glistening in the ethereal purple light of the veil that hung there. His long, bony nose looked particularly crow-like with the way the unusual light hit it. Lily recoiled at the sight of him. For his part, Efaffion – who had taken the form of her father again before falling asleep – just grumbled something unintelligible and shifted in his sleep. Lily envied his poise, his utter disregard for the Red Ripper pack. Now she knew him better, she supposed she understood. He had got himself into this situation, after all. He had trailed them, had picked out their weaknesses. To her, they were still very much unknown. “Get up, Princess,” growled Morvand, his eyes sparkling as though h
The Broken Alpha SIXTY-TWO | VOICES
ElijahHalfway through the shifting purple light, a hand gripped Elijah’s bicep.“Alpha,” hissed Conall. “Stop. Listen.”Elijah turned, his frustration evident in his sharp gaze, but then he heard it, too: harsh voices, forced low, winding through the trees. Reluctantly, Elijah pulled free of the magic and stepped back, eyeing it warily.His wolves kept quiet. Even their hushed breaths sounded too loud as they strained to hear. It was two men – Elijah was sure of it. Their voices growled and grumbled through the pine trees, ricocheting back and forth but never quite loud enough to hear.And then a shout broke through the silence, sending slumbering birds soaring into the night sky.“You continue to lack faith in me!”Devyn took a step back. A twig snapped underfoot. Her eyes widened, so large and so white that they shone through the darkness. Her youth an ine
The Broken Alpha SIXTY-THREE | AN UNEASY ALLIANCE
AtticusAtticus was angry at three things.The first was his father, for obvious reasons. He was a big-headed know it all, trumpeting his opinions loudly throughout the forest even though his love life and his decisions were, quite frankly, none of his business. Alvaro practically bristled with contained rage, though his eyes were endlessly sad as he stared at his son. That only made Atticus more angry.The second, though he would not admit it to anyone but himself – and even that was a struggle – was, in fact, himself. He was so close to Lily – so close he could almost feel her, could imagine the press of her soft skin against his, could feel the heat radiating from her body into his, could imagine how small she’d feel in his strong arms – and he was wasting time in allowing this ridiculous argument to continue. It was his fault he had lost her in the first place. He would not make the same mis
The Broken Alpha SIXTY-FOUR | ARMOUR
LilyLily stared at the cell wall without truly seeing it. Her long, wavy hair was matted and sweaty, and it itched all of the time. She no longer had the energy to lift her hand to scratch it.She didn’t know how long she’d been stuck there. For the first few days she had scratched a tally into the wall, but as the little lines had grown in number they’d served to make her more melancholy rather than being a reminder of hope.She also didn’t know where Efaffion had been taken. Apollo had come for him in the middle of the night – not that either of them had been sleeping – and had been all broad smiles and waggling eyebrows as he’d promised to take him somewhere deserving of a man with, “Such good ideas.”It was a lie. Lily knew that, and yet she couldn’t find any sympathy buried anywhere within her for the eleve. Their tenuous friendship, if it could even be describe
The Broken Alpha SIXTY-FIVE | VEILED INTENT
AtticusThe two Alphas strode ahead, brambles and branches catching their sides, their clothing, their hair, as they walked, heads held high, towards the veil. Even though Elijah knew the way, Atticus kept pace with him. Unwillingly to look weak, even in this most fragile of ways, he kept his gaze darting from Elijah’s feet to his legs and to his eyes, catching the most subtle of suggestions about which step he would next take so that Atticus could not only copy it, but pre-empt it.Atticus swore under his breath as yet another thorn twisted into his honeyed hair. Forced to pause, he dug thick fingers into his tangled hair and yanked the thorned vine free.And Elijah – damned arrogant stupid Elijah – stopped dead in his tracks and waited for Atticus to catch up. That only annoyed him more.“Thanks,” Atticus said, his voice pitched high and sickly sweet. If Elijah were going to out-honour him, then
The Broken Alpha SIXTY-SIX | THE WITCH'S CURSE
Lily“No,” someone hissed – a female voice, croaky with disuse, which Lily only vaguely recognised. “I won’t do it.”The words tickled something deep in the far recesses of her mind. She had said those words before, once a month, every month, on the eve of the full moon. She felt a strange, distinct kinship to the woman that had spoken, and a spark of herself drifted down from the stars to land in her lap.Lily looked at the endless rows of boots. She looked out to the sun, ethereal and hazy, and she thought of the world she had come from, and the person she had left behind, a little more of herself leaving with each day she spent in the cells.“Yes,” said Apollo, and Lily could hear the mild, tight amusement in his voice even from here. “You will.”“I can’t,” cried out the woman, and it clicked then – it was the witch, Eryne. “It
The Broken Alpha SIXTY-SEVEN | HEART LINES
Elijah Elijah’s mouth tasted metallic. He’d been in enough fights to know what that meant. It meant that he really, really did not want to wake up. He tried to force himself back into the comfortable darkness that clung to his head like mildew, but the harder he held on the further it slipped away. With a deep, gravelly groan, he peeled his eyes open. The sun hung heavy in the sky, a fat, guileless orb watching over everything with the distance that came with a lack of emotion. Grass tickled Elijah’s nostrils. He snorted it out and sat up, wrinkling his nose at the bolt of pain lacing his ribcage. The world shifted and swayed, but he could make out nothing of interest anyway. Empty fields rolled away from him in all directions, lit too brightly by the noonday sun. It had been night beyond the veil. How long had he been unconscious? But with the sudden flare of vision came the resurgence of memories. Lily. Lily was here. Lily
The Broken Alpha SIXTY-EIGHT | DEAD FLOWERS
AtticusThe weight of the sword in his hand was nice, Atticus thought, swinging it in time with his long strides. A light wind caught his hair. He closed his eyes for a moment, revelling in the feel of sunlight on his face.Even though he’d been walking for what felt like forever, nothing could bring down his mood. How long had he been waiting for this moment? If this walk felt like forever, then he had been waiting an eternity to see his beloved again. Beloved! He snorted at the idea of it, though it settled like a vice around his traitorous heart.Even here, even now, he could not admit the depth of his feelings – not even to himself. He gripped the hilt of the sword tighter, peering into the distance in the hope of seeing some sign of the Red Ripper pack. Or, better still, some sign of Lily.Lily. Her name felt like a caress, fluttering through his body until he was sure his muscles were melting
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