"What? Why would he do that?" I asked. "He wanted to prove to you that he was the better choice. He thinks if he kills Cedric, you'll love him.""No, we have to go after him! Cedric will kill him." I turned around. "Penn, we have to go now!"I ran to Posy's room and banged on the door. She answered, tightening a robe around her. "What's wrong now?""Hunter went after Cedric.""Oh shit! Um, give me a moment, I must get dressed." She closed the door quickly and locked it.Posy never locks the door.As we waited for her, Zeke joined us. She exited a few moments later and closed her door again. 

"Oz?" Hunter whispered."Am I still useless, brother?" Oz grinned. "Do you see my worth now?""Oz, how could you?" Penn asked. "I would think you of all people would understand, Beta Penn. Hunter is a terrible Alpha. He is mean and he is cruel and he is incompetent! He treats us like shit!""But to betray your entire pack-""Was necessary, Empress." Oz cut me off. "No one ever treated me with respect. They all thought I was worthless!""The Aleni want to destroy our world!" Posy said. "How can you agree to that?""I'm tired of being the weak one. So if a new world is created where I'm at the top of the pack then I'll take that. U

Three Years EarlierSometimes I wondered if Cedric loved me the way I loved him.Sure he was insane about me and was always kissing and touching me and making love to me. But I worried about the other parts of our relationship.Like the fact that he knew pretty much everything about me and I felt like I only knew half of the important thi

“Should we say something?” Penn whispered. “No.” I smiled. “She’s about to leave the guy she loves on the most dangerous journey there is. We should let them have peace. Not everyone gets to bring their boyfriend.”Penn kissed me, pulling me deeper into the dark hall. One of his hands hooked behind my neck while the other firmly gripped my waist. He pressed his body against mine. I hated that our clothes were in the way of our chests touching. That I couldn’t feel his skin against mine. “I love you, Zelda.” Penn murmured in my ear.It was almost like a secret that only I was allowed to know, although everyone knew it at this point.“I love you.” I moaned as his lips went to my neck and his fingers tangled in my hair. My hands desperately moved to tug down his pants. I needed him now more than ever. I didn’t want to think aboutthe Tria

I didn’t like the way Cedric was staring at me. Neither did Penn.Penn’s grip on my hand was tighter than ever and he insisted on having me as far away from Cedric as possible.The others seemed uneasy about the fact that we absolutely had to do this journey with the Aleni. “Zel next time you have to choose someone for a journey, please don’t choose me.” Zeke drawled. “I’ve never been in a situation so awkward.”“Not even when you walked in on me and Zelda fucking that one time?” Cedric asked. “You seemed shocked with how far back her leg bend-”“Shut the fuck up Cedric!” I snapped. “Or what? Gonna punish me like you used to? You know I like pain.”“You’re vile!” Penn snapped. “Stop speaking to Zelda or I’ll make you!”“Oh did the little Beta forget?” Cedric taunted. “