Ryan stares at me with a bewildered expression on his face. Almost comically he points to himself and asks,“Me?”I feel my anger flare up immediately because yes him.Yes, him.He’s the one who started all this. He’s the one who asked them to come into his home.He’s the one who’s now exposed me to them. All because he couldn’t get what he wanted in the first place.The more I think of it the more my anger rises until I can feel my face hot and red with the force of my repressed emotions. This IS all because of him.Because of his inability to do the simplest thing and keep me safe!“Am I doing something, or did I do something?”Ryan sounds confused and that only sets me rolling.“I hate you, Ryan Earl.” The words feel like venom as they coat my tongue but I feel a trickle of joy at the expression that crosses Ryan’s face. I go on undeterred.“I hate you.I hate this house. I hate everything and everyone you are related to.From your horrible father, to this horrible house, to those

Ryan's pov.“She has a fever that should break soon, and she looks malnourished. Has the lady been eating anything lately, Mr Ryan?”I take a glance at the doctor before looking away again and shaking my head.“No, she hasn’t.”The doctor nods and there’s a dead silence that reigns in the room again.Layla passed out shortly after she came out of the room and into my arms….MThere’s a strangeness to that, and there’s a strangeness to her. Why would she say she'd been waiting for me when she has her mates right outside her door?“She seemed really disoriented and hot when she came out of her room this morning. Is there any reason for that?”I don’t know why the question pops into my head, it just does. But I follow it. I follow it and I wait for the doctor’s response. His reply is simple.“Is her mate around by any chance?”I incline my head lightly to glance at the two men resting against the wall by the far corner of the room. I asked them not to come near because of Layla. They loo

I do not give Ryan a direct answer and he does not press me for one.He tells me he can wait. He WIll wait, until I decide to let the truth of it come out.He leaves and so do Damien and Alek. I am left with myself, and my thoughts, and the worst thing is that I find myself thinking of a lot of things. Things that for once are not related to plans of escape, or ending it all.I think of what Ryan has just said now and what that could mean for me. He says they’ve changed.But how true can that be? How can they have changed? And why now? Why at this moment?Alek’s statement about the moon goddess having her reasons for reopening our mate bond comes back to me and I scoff at it because where was she when all the horrible things were happening?Where was she when I was here, suffering horrors more than I could say, more than I could bear.?Where was she?A blaring silence is my only response.I can’t hear anything else except for the silence. Even Fey keeps quiet.Lunch and dinner ar

Layla’s pov.Alek stands as he’s always stood, always by the side, never fully involving himself in any of these things, while I stand with a bewildered expression, wondering how this could have happened.Or why it could have happened, because wasn’t I just with Ryan half an hour ago?Didn’t we just speak?Both of them are glaring at each other, wounds already healing rapidly. There are little cuts on their faces though, some bruises here and there, and with each look I take I know that they are not going to clean themselves up.They’re just going to leave the blood on their faces and glare at each other all day. “How did this even happen?”I want to slap myself mentally because I said I wouldn't ask this question. I promised myself I wouldn't get myself involved, but I can't wrap my head around it so I have to ask.Both of them dart brave glances at each other, and then those glances become full-on stares, and in a split second they’re glaring at each other, low growls emanating fro

Alek is chortling as he looks at Damien’s face. Damien looks softer with the band-aids on him. It’s a new look on him, and I can't say that band-aids are a fashion statement, not that I know of, but Damien looks like he can pull it off.“You look tame, brother.”Alek smiles wide, showing his teeth and I have to look away from him too because his smile, it’s something.Then there’s Ryan, who I want to avoid looking at, because just like Damien he’s covered in a number of band-aids, but his are not solely on his face. They’re on the side of his arms too, and while he looks like he’s okay and doesn’t care about them, I'm sure they hurt and he’s not taking too well to them.Damien looks tame.Ryan looks wild.And Alek looks like he’s having the time of his life.“I’ll be out in the gardens if anyone needs me.” I get up and make my exit as briskly as I can because sitting in the same room as all three of them does something to me I don’t think I can wrap my head around right now. There’s