Between Two Moons: The Scent of a Stranger のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 11 - チャプター 20

Ivy POV“Are you kidding me?” I said, horrified. “You killed a… I just ate a…”“You eat chicken, don’t you?” Milo asked, entirely too reasonable for someone discussing pigeon consumption at a dinner party. He looked genuinely confused by my reaction, as if this was the most natural conversation in the world.“I do. This is different.” I tried to keep my voice level, but my brain couldn’t quite get past the image of tiny city pigeons and now one of them was apparently inside me.“No, it’s not,” he said. “It’s a bird. It tastes nice, it’s a delicacy, and you liked it. Now you know. Want some more? I’ll order it.”“No,” I said, pressing my lips together. Why hadn’t Alex just told me? Did anyone in this place eat anything normal? The idea of more ‘delicacies’ made my stomach twist in protest.“Uhm.” Alex cleared his throat, with a mixture of anxiety and annoyance. “Care to dance?”“Dance?”“Yeah.” His eyes flicked toward the exit for half a second. “You know that thing people do where the

Ivy POVI was up way too early, but I knew my class started at nine, and I still needed to get to Alex’s before he left for practice.I was grabbing my things and throwing them into my backpack when my gaze fell on the emerald dress, hanging outside my crappy, damp closet. I’d been too scared to put it away inside afraid it would get damaged in there, swallowed up by the mildew smell that no amount of febreze ever fully got rid of. It hung there, too beautiful, too rich, too distinctly out of place, like a piece of someone else’s life that had wandered in and gotten lost in mine.My hand instinctively reached out to touch it. It was now the most expensive item I owned, a little treasure sitting in my small, dull world, completely out of place among my three pairs of jeans and one decent blazer I kept for library shifts. The fabric was impossibly soft, the color deep and alive even in the gray morning light. It made me feel both special and like a fraud.“There’s nothing dull in your w

Alex POVGoddess, how does she do it? How the hell did she even find us? I’d made damn sure of all people that she wouldn’t be able to track us down. I’d put up every roadblock, every layer of misdirection I could, and still, here she was, smiling like she owned the place and burrowing herself deeper into a life I was barely holding together. It was like some sixth sense led her straight to every crack in my defenses.“It’s just bowling,” Milo said, like that was supposed to be reassuring.“Just bowling?” I repeated. “Do you have any idea what she’s capable of? What she’ll try?” My voice came out sharper than I intended, but Milo just shrugged, unruffled. He’d always been infuriatingly calm about these things, as if Nina’s brand of chaos was just another challenge to be outmaneuvered.“Look at the bright side,” he said. “At least you’ll have an excuse to keep an eye on Ivy all night.” He flashed a quick grin, but I wasn’t in the mood for jokes. I wanted to punch something, preferably

Alex POV“Get her out of there,” I mind-linked Milo from the ice, catching the faint, unmistakable trace of rogue scent threading through the crowd noise and popcorn grease. My senses sharpened, every muscle tight. I scanned the stands, searching for anything out of place, heart hammering in my chest.It wasn’t unheard of for rogues to wander into a public rink like this, they were mostly harmless and passing through, but with Nina somewhere in the building, I didn’t trust anything or anyone getting near Ivy tonight. I couldn’t afford to take the risk, not when the stakes had never been higher.“On it, Alpha,” Milo replied, entirely too pleased with himself for someone about to cause a scene.I watched from the ice as he called out to her. She resisted at first, arms crossed, clearly annoyed at being managed and then, for some reason, she looked up. Her eyes found mine across the rink, and she froze for half a second, something passing between us even from this distance. That unspoken

Ivy POVI didn’t get the chance to say anything else to Nina before Alex swayed on his feet beside me, one hand shooting out to brace against the wall.“Alex?” Milo was at his side in an instant, gripping his arm.“I’m fine,” Alex muttered, except his eyes weren’t quite focusing on anything, and the color had drained clean out of his face.“You are not fine,” I said, panic flaring fresh all over again. “You just cracked your skull open twenty minutes ago and then sprinted through a building—”“I said I’m—”His knees buckled before he finished the sentence, and only Milo’s grip kept him from hitting the floor.“Alex!” I lunged forward, catching his other side on instinct, though at his size I was more decoration than actual support.“He needs the ER,” Milo said, carrying most of Alex’s weight against his own shoulder. “Not the locker room. Now!”“I’ll bring my car around to the main entrance,” Nina said immediately, digging her keys out of her bag, and already moving. “It’s closer than