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

 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

 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

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

 LilyMorvand’s cold, bony fingers locked around Lily’s arm. He yanked her down the path to the cells without a word, his brows pinched and his mind lost in thought. Lily took it as a small blessing; his words were either condescending or cruel, and she had no time for either such conversations. Her own brain was spinning with half-baked plots and plans to free not only herself, but Eryne as well. She was a victim of Red Ripper just as she was, and Lily had no intention of leaving her, quite literally, to the wolves. If she wouldn’t allow her to staunch her bleeding or check her injuries, then Lily would set to work creating a plan to rip her from Red Ripper’s greedy grip.Lily was so distracted that she almost didn’t feel the way her heart started to beat faster. She was so distracted that she almost missed the blooming sensation in her chest, the second heartbeat echoing hers ricocheting against her ribs.