Enzo’s POVI couldn’t believe it. I hesitated in the doorway for a moment, staring at her, connecting the dots between the Scarlett I remembered and the girl stood before me. The room and the man in it were nothing to me, utterly and entirely irrelevant in that moment. In every moment. Because she was there.“Scarlett,” I breathed, taking a tiny, timid step into the room. Where did we stand now? Did she still think of me, like me, want me? It had been so long. Did she think I’d abandoned her? I’d made so many choices in the past few months, and suddenly every single one of them seemed wrong. Damn it all, I should’ve been here – And why was she blonde?Suddenly that mattered more than anything else. Her beautiful, long auburn hair was still beautiful – she could become a frog and I’d still find her more appealing than any other – but it wasn’t the hair I knew her to have. I wanted to get to know this version of her, to unpick everything that had happened between October and now. Then

Enzo’s POV“Scar?” Panic. That was all I felt. It didn’t matter that seconds ago I’d been on the verge of tears, having realised that my Scarlett, my mate, had moved on from me, had made a life for herself here and left me behind. As her eyes rolled back and her whole body sagged, it only mattered that I had to protect her. I had to keep her safe. I couldn’t break my vow so immediately.I caught her, swinging her up into my arms bridal style. “Scar? Can you hear me?”Her head lolled backwards. Carefully, I tucked it up against my shoulder and held her close. My heart thundered in my chest at the feel of her. I closed my eyes against the fresh onslaught of tears. It had been so long.I’d missed her every day. Every damn day. And she’d been here, going to bloody night classes and working a job? I clenched my jaw. Even if she didn’t want me anymore, I couldn’t just leave her here on the street. I’d get her safe, be it just for tonight or until the Ryker threat was neutralised. If there

Enzo’s POVWe boarded the earliest flight we could. I’d asked Scarlett if she wanted to say goodbye to her roommate and co-workers – and what a headfuck asking that had been – but her eyes had clouded with tears, like fog rolling in over the ocean, and she’d shaken her head, unable to voice the no that had surely been coming.This was all wrong. It was like doing a paint by numbers in unorthodox colours, making a mountain purple and the lake orange. It was the complete opposite of being black and white; nothing made sense, nothing was drawn out plainly to see, and there were no reasonable conclusions I could draw.Scarlett was asleep beside me, her head tipped back, her lips parted. With her eyes closed, at a quick glance she could have been anyone. Her nose ring glinted in the low light. The weirdest part was that I really liked the changes to her appearance – she looked badass – but I didn’t like that I didn’t know how or when they’d happened. The hair made sense if she was on the r

Enzo’s POVShe didn’t have to tell me twice.I cradled her, a beautiful, precious thing, and felt the earth shatter around us as I pressed my lips to hers. Her shaky breaths warmed my face as I leant in, such a delicate part of her to be shared only with me. The gaping wound of my heart began to stitch itself back together at last as she wound her hands into my hair, tugged lightly, and swept her tongue into my mouth.Groaning, I nudged her back until she was flush with the fridge. Nails scraped over my scalp, making me shiver. “Scar,” I moaned, my throat thick with lust. “Enzo.” My name on her lips? She may as well have shot ecstasy straight into my veins. My dick twitched, growing hard against her hip. She sucked my lip into her mouth and bit down. “Fuck,” I whimpered, squeezing my eyes shut. “You’re perfect.”“So are you.” Her breaths were coming shorter and faster. Her trembling fingers trailed downwards, curving around the edge of my ear and tugging at my earlobe before going f

Enzo’s POVI tapped my foot. I chewed the inside of my cheek. I sighed.Waiting, I decided, was its own special brand of torture. I’d told Scar two things: that I trusted her, and that I didn’t trust Samael. The problem was, even though Scar could now hold her own, her powers were largely unknown and entirely unpredictable. If she needed to use them, would she be able to?I started to pace, the warm tones of the hallway and the wintry light spilling in through the windows contrasting starkly. I checked my watch. Tick, tock. I scratched at my stubble. How long had she been in there? Five minutes, ten, twenty?I should’ve checked the time when she’d gone in. I could still feel where she’d squeezed my hand, my palm tingling from the long-gone contact. She’d slipped back into my heart effortlessly, but I knew removing her from it now would be impossible. Even if the mate bond didn’t exist, I knew that I would have found her and loved her. Scarlett was woven into my very soul. A jolt of s