CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TWELVEZOEYAs soon as the door shut behind me, I dropped to the floor.My knees couldn’t hold me anymore. I folded into myself, arms around my middle, trying to hold it all in, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stay strong and continue to hide the pain anymore.The tears came fast, hot and messy and painful.Everything I’d been holding back since it happened poured out. The fear, the shame, and the helplessness. It clawed at my throat until I was gasping for air between sobs.Even when I found out that Kelvin was cheating on me, I didn’t cry as much. It didn’t hurt me as much as this did. They had touched me, hurt me, overpowered me and I had done nothing. I let them.I tried to be quiet, pressing a hand to my mouth to suppress the cry of pain, but the sound still came out, a broken, trembling whimper that filled the room like a ghost.I hated this feeling. I hated being weak and I hated that Graham saw me like this. That he looked at me like I was fragile.I wasn’t
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENZOEYThe hallways were quiet when I got back. A few guards passed, nodding at me, but fortunately no one looked at me too closely. Maybe it was the hoodie, or maybe they just didn’t care enough to pay close attention to me.My body ached with every step I took, it felt like my knees would give up at any point in time. I could taste blood in the corner of my mouth, the side of my face throbbed badly, and I knew, knew, I looked like hell, but I kept walking with my head up high like everything was okay.I needed to make it to my room. I had just a few more steps left. I’d clean myself up, hide the bruises ans pretend like everything was fine. I’d pretend like they hadn’t touched me and pretend like I hadn’t felt helpless.I turned the corner that led to my room, and froze. Graham was there.He was leaning against the wall outside my door, arms crossed over his chest, like he’d been patiently waiting for me to come.He sensed my presence, his eyes locked on
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND TENZOEYI shouldn’t have left the room.I told myself I just needed air, just a short walk and maybe some space to think, but deep down, I knew I couldn’t stay locked in that room while everyone whispered behind closed doors and they all blamed Graham, for me.He’d stood in front of the council like a wall, taking the heat and shielding me, but I saw the way their eyes burned when they looked at him, and I felt the weight of it now, how everything seemed colder, and sharper.I pulled my hoodie over my head and walked toward the training field. It was quiet this early or so I thought.I had only taken a few steps when I heard voices behind me.“Well, well. Look who thinks she belongs here.” I froze.It was Cassandra, one of Nicole’s minions.She stepped into view, with her arms crossed over her chest and her expression was full of disgust. Two other girls walked up beside her. I knew one of them, Jenna, another one of Nicole’s minions. I wasn’t familiar with th
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTGRAHAMThe council room was empty now.The chairs were pushed back, papers were scattered and the air was still heavy with tension, like the walls were holding their breath.I stood alone, staring at the long table in front of me. My hands were clenched into fists at my sides, my jaw tight. I could still hear them, shouting, blaming, twisting the truth into something ugly.They didn’t care about Lily. They didn’t care about justice. All they cared about was power.“She’s a vampire sympathizer.”“She’s not one of us.”“You’re letting her rewrite the rules.”I slammed my fist down on the table. The sound echoed through the empty room. This was my pack. These were supposed to be my people and they had just tried to silence a person’s pain.“Alpha Graham?”I turned at the sound of a voice. One of the guards stood in the doorway, eyes lowered.“They’re waiting in the East Wing office. Councilman Reid and Marcus.”Nicole’s father. Of course.“Tell them I’ll be
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTZOEYThe house was quiet even though Hannah and Lily were in the living room with me, I could still hear the silence pressing against my ears. It wasn’t peaceful. It was the kind of silence that made your stomach twist. The kind that made your thoughts louder.I sat on the edge of the couch, legs pulled close, arms wrapped tight around myself. I couldn’t sit still and I couldn’t stop thinking.Did I make things worse? Did I just ruin everything?Lily was curled up in the corner chair, her eyes fixed on the fireplace, even though there was no fire. Her arms were crossed tight over her chest, and she hadn’t said much since we left the council hall.She hadn’t even looked at me, and that hurt more than I wanted to admit.Across from me, Hannah was pretending to read a book, but she kept glancing up, watching me like I might break apart at any second.Maybe I would. Maybe I already had.I cleared my throat, my voice small. “Do you think… he’s okay?”Hannah se
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENGRAHAMThe council room was quiet.I had just finished giving out patrol orders for the week. A few warriors stayed behind, asking about training schedules and rogue sightings, but my mind was elsewhere, on Zoey, as always.I hadn’t seen her since this morning. She’d left early, said she needed some time with Lily. I let her go, trusting she’d come back when she was ready. I didn’t expect her to come back like this.The doors slammed open so hard they bounced off the walls. Everyone turned, and there she was.Her eyes were wild. Her hair was slightly windblown. Her chest was rising and falling like she’d run all the way here. But it wasn’t the way she looked that made the room fall silent, it was the anger coming off her in waves.Without a word, she marched straight toward me.“Zoey,” I said slowly, standing. “What happened?”She stopped a few feet from me and crossed her arms. Her voice was steady, but her hands trembled at her sides.“Nicole and her fr