جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 100

"I ought to drag you through this fancy courtyard by yer ear!" Gabe snapped as he gathered me into his arms in a bear hug I didn't know the man was capable of without his wolf. "You go runnin' off into the forest without word for your mother and me! And we have to hear it from Dammitall Leon?! Who tells us you've gone to sacrifice yourself for the pack?!"Jerica swatted my back, teary-eyed and incapable of forming clear words through her barely contained sobs."Do you have any idea how worried we were?!!" Gabe continued, squeezing me until my ribs creaked under the force. I tried to speak, but all I could do was tap out. He was going to break me before I could explain. And then what would Killian do? Or worse... what would Damon Snow do?My frantic taps on his back finally got through to him, and he released me to the ground with more muttered grumbles. But his hands never left my shoulders, a strategic placement he used to shake me like a rag doll. "We thought we'd never see you again

Three Months Later...Present DayIt's been three months since Leon and Killian both went on the hunt for Evangeline, Andromeda, and the organization responsible for backing, supplying, and hiding them. The updates from both of them come at odd intervals. One after the other, each revealing a different side to the puzzle. Each carries snippets of information that should form a whole picture, but they don't.I sit behind my desk, glaring a hole through the paper in my hand: a letter, the latest from Killian.Hello, my wildfire. Do you miss me, my love? I miss you with every breath. Everything reminds me of you out here. The night sky of your hair. The sunlight filtering through the leaves of your eyes. The cool touch of a crisp breeze, invigorating like your smile. He goes on for a few lines like this, waxing poetically. I never thought the fearsome Lycan Prince was a poet, but here I sit, proven wrong. Worse? I'm blushing like an idiot reading his sweet ramblings about how beautiful

"My father is not the forgiving type, no," I chuckle bitterly. "And you figure I'm the same kind of leader. The kind that would abuse and disillusion their lessers because they are weak or have wronged me."Delta Hester's chin remains lifted defiantly. But no amount of faux confidence can mask the quiver of her lip or the tension in her shoulders and brows. She's afraid. Worse. She's lying."You don't believe that." I retreat a step, calming myself with a deep breath as I study the anomaly shivering before me. "What are you doing?"Hester's head tilts to the side, her lips clenching tighter as if that could stop the truth. "I don't know what you mean-""You're acting like this on purpose. Trying to rile me up, make me believe the worst of you and myself... why?"To the heart of it. I don't want any more of this drama she's been producing from the moment she stepped into my office. The game is done; her shoulders slump, and the creases on her forehead deepen."It's the only way," she m

Gabe leads us out of my father's office down to the infirmary. I never noticed how removed the medical wing of the pack house is. It's a long trek of awkward silence and tension. The one time I need Gabe to be his usual, chatty self, he's stone quiet.Hands clenched at his side, he marches ahead of us, stiff and coiled as if ready to strike. He strong-arms the door open and gestures for us to file in ahead of him. "Pardon the mess. But that doctor practically destroyed this place before they ran off into the sunset."He isn't lying.The infirmary is chaos incarnate. Cots overturned, bed pans scattered, supplies thrown everywhere. There must have been a struggle of some kind. Or, Andromeda knew that we were getting closer to the truth. Maybe she was trying to destroy evidence, cover her tracks."What the hell happened in here?" Damon growls, stepping over a box of spilled, sterilized needles. "Gabe?""Yeah, I know. I cleaned up the worst of the mess already," the old man grunts, followi

"I've missed you, Killian," I confess against my better judgment. "But you weren't miserable without me." Killian pouts, hoisting me into his arms, my feet dangling inches above the floor as he carries me across my office to a plush, pink sofa beneath the window. Gently, he sits me on the couch before taking his spot beside me and laying his head on my lap. "Don't move. This is your punishment for not mourning my absence appropriately.""Killian, what-""And I want you to stroke my hair and tell me about everything else that preoccupied your mind instead of me. I'm making a list of things to break," he grumbles, eyes drifting closed and a stubborn set to his jaw. But the act is flimsy. Exhaustion creases his forehead and circles his eyes. The road's been rough on my mate. I stroke his silk, black hair, the thick strands wrapping around my fingers as if begging them to stay close. "I've been helping Wayfinder acclimate to Snow Pointe. Schools, the infirmary, garden shift rotations,