جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 450

I wiped my face as he whirled to face Shannon. Her eyes burned and I could smell her devastation. “How could you?” Her words seem to hit him like physical blows. She turned to me, but I held up my hands. “Don’t look at me like that.” I called to her, and she fumed. “I told him he had to make everything very clear before our mating ceremony.”Brandon spun to face me, anger and something else I couldn’t pinpoint on his face. But it was Shannon’s choking that had him spinning back. “Your mating ceremony?” She looked between us. “You two are holding the ceremony still?” She stumbled back a step before her eyes raged. “Is that true?”Brandon looked back and forth between us, and he settled on me, pleading. “Amy…”I laughed. “I knew it.” I scowled at him. “If you love her, then mate her and keep me out of it.” I snarled as I turned back to the house.“Wait!” Brandon screamed as I slammed the door open.I turned back. “What? What the fuck are you going to say?” Shannon growled. “Don’t talk

My head snapped up. “Holy shit.”My mom furrowed her brows, and Carly turned to me. “You said a bad word.”I winced. “Sorry baby.” I patted her head. “I’m just excited.”She looked at the jumbled letters. “Is this what we were looking for?” She scrunched up her little face and then looked back at me. “I don’t understand it.”I laughed. “It’s a code. I’ll teach it to you.” I pulled out a random paper and flipped it over. I wrote the alphabet in two lines, matching the letters on top of each other. A over N and M over Z. “Then you just swap the letters.”By then, my mom was staring over my shoulder. “That’s it?” She looked down at the code and then back at me. “But that’s child’s play.” She looked at me. “He used that to hide his secret?”I laughed. “Yep. And it is. It’s the way Rick writes secret notes with Abby. I’m assuming he did it this way because he assumed no one would think of a code this simple.” “For something this important?” She looked down at the paper. She looked back at

“You can’t mean that.” I hit her arm, but she shook her head. “You don’t understand. We handled you, but I was terrified you were going to die. Having a heat without a mate was bad enough, but adding your shattered heart on top of it nearly did kill you.” Her face was a mask of rage. “There were a few days were you refused to eat or drink. You whittled down to nothing.” She looked down at her hands. “We you came to, your wolves were fighting for your life, so you didn’t see much of a difference. But at the height of your heat, your heart stopped beating.” Toya met my eyes. "But even after all of that. I knew Rowan was doing it because he cared for you and didn’t want to ruin you." She nodded as she sighed. “It took a long time for me to realize that.”I nodded. “Yeah. Me too.” I sat back against the sofa. “It took almost a year for me to stop hating him. For the heat, for pulling away. And then the graduation happened, and I was flung back to the pain and anger I felt.” I rubbed my f

Amy, I haven’t heard from you in a week. I hope you read my letter. I know it is stupid for me to think you will forgive me instantly, but I hope you will give me a minute to explain it to you. I’ve spent this last week getting updates every day from Sterling. I don’t know if I ever told you he is my cousin. He told me you have been stuck in your apartment. I can’t help but worry about what you’re going through. Has your heat ended? Have you been looking for me? Have you called? I know the answer to the last one, it’s not, but I wish it was yes. I check my phone endlessly all day waiting for your message. I even look for an email, anything to let me know what is going on. I was too stupid to get Wendy’s or Toya’s number as I ran like a coward from your place. But your scent, goddess, your scent, was driving me crazy. It’s wrong and still it was the most delicious scent I had ever smelled in my life. I can’t sleep without dreaming of you. I know you struggled with your heat, and

I stared at my mom for a moment before she pushed past me. She settled the tray at the end of the bed and poured two glasses. She spun around and handed me one before she climbed into my bed. “Come on, baby girl.”I felt the resolve I had crumble under the weight of having my mom next to me. I shut the bedroom door and walked around the other side of the bed, sliding into it. I took a long sip from my glass before I placed it down on the bedside table. “You don’t have to be here.” I turned to look at her and she just smiled. “I know.” She pulled the blanket over her legs and then pulled the tray onto her lap. “I know.” She grabbed a cracker from the tray and tossed it into her mouth. She took a minute to chew and then took a long sip from her glass before she looked at me again. “But I’m not going to sit out there while you cry in here.” She looked down at the pile of letters in the middle of the bed. “Is this what’s making you cry?” She grabbed one of the open ones and read it. I w