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“I’m sorry,” she mumbles, attempting to wipe her tears away with bloody fingertips. “I should have done more. I should have stopped…”
“He would have killed you,” I reply firmly, squeezing her hard against me. In all the time I suffered under the alpha’s rage, it never occurred to me that what I endured also hurt those around me.
The crowd is silent, loathing and guilt working in equal measures through all who stand in attendance. Even the twins have a green tinge to their usually brown complexion.
“I never thought he’d hurt you,” my mother speaks, breaking the pregnant silence, her voice dripping with devastation. This time, she wisely stays put, her wolves tightly surrounding her. “You were his strongest son, even when you were a child. If I thought for a moment he would hurt you, I never would have left you with him.”
“And he would have hunted you down, killed you, and dragged me back,” I answer calmly, the numbness I was looking for finally taking over my tired body. “I don’t blame you for running.”
“It was never supposed to be forever,” she insists, her lips pressed tightly together and her low, arching brows bunching with anguish. “I… I needed to become strong enough to stop him. I had to be turned.”
My gaze sweeps over her to the wolves who stand defensively around her. They wear the fierce expressions of someone defending something precious. Her mate is the fiercest of them all, but he doesn’t lead them. The deference he gives my mother can mean only one thing.
“You’re an alpha,” I whisper, shocked that my small, human mother spent the past ten years not only looking for an alpha to turn her but became one herself and has all the power that comes with it.
She nods with a pained smile. “And I did it all for you.”
Chapter 1
Nolan
One month later…
The evening grows cold as the sun slips below the tops of the trees surrounding the property. I should go inside, but I can’t seem to make myself leave the small balcony that juts out from the second story of my suite. Instead, I sigh and lean my forearms against the metal railing, watching the sunset. There’s nothing particularly special about it, just another day slipping away into night. I have so few of them left, but it’s hard for me to care. Wariness settles around my shoulders, dragging me down without resistance from me. Every time I close my eyes, part of me wishes they would never open again.
It’s only in these quiet moments where I’m allowed to indulge in my current circumstances. At all other times, I wear a brave face. It’s a hollow promise that everything will be okay, that I believe I’ll be cured. The truth is, I’m feeding from one of the most magically powerful beings on the planet, but her blood that used to fuel me for over a month only staves off my hunger for a day at most. On top of needing to feed constantly, my mood swings have grown even more erratic, and each day, I feel myself growing weaker. When I’m not falling prey to my own exhaustion, bitterness tends to creep into my thoughts. I was ready to die on my own terms and take my bitch of an ex with me. Now, I’m left to waste into nothingness each day while the person who did this to me still lives.
Thinking of Gina sparks a low ember of anger within me, and I reach for it, wanting to feel something and burn away some of this tired emptiness.
I could try again, I muse, my hands squeezing into fists as I imagine them wrapped around her neck. She’s in a coma. It’d be so easy.
Images run through my mind of Donovan’s furious expression when he found me the night I tried to murder Gina, the look of disappointment on Connor’s face, the wounded tears that filled Callie’s eyes, and the shock and disapproval from Kaleb and Felix the next day. My fists release, and I sigh again. It was awful going through that the first time, knowing how much I hurt them. I don’t have it in me to do it a second time.
“You have that look again,” Callie states, startling me out of my thoughts. Dressed in a thin, long-sleeved, baby pink shirt, she rubs her upper arms for warmth as she joins me out on the balcony.
Slapping on a pleasant smile, I look over at her and, in a cheerful tone, reply, “I don’t know what look you’re talking about. I’m out here enjoying the sunset.”
“You don’t have to lie to me,” she says gently, her sweet face soft with understanding. “It’s okay to be upset.”
Despite fighting it with all I had, I’ve fallen so deeply in love with this girl that it hurts if I think too hard about it. She is a beautiful, bright light in the midst of all my darkness, and every moment with her somehow makes the rest bearable. I open my arms, and she quickly walks into them, wrapping herself tightly around me. Breathing in her fruity floral scent eases some of the blanketing melancholy, but not all of it. My time with her is as limited as my sunsets, and it’s only now, with her in my arms, that I manage to give a damn.
I cup the side of her face, encouraging her to look up at me, and as if the words demand to be said, I murmur, “I love you, Callie Volkov, more than I have any right to. I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner,” against her lips.
Her lips part, but I swallow her reply, kissing her with the passion of all the feelings buried within me. Borrowing energy I don’t really have to give, I slip my hand into her long, blonde hair to hold the back of her head while I plunder the depths of her mouth.
She moans softly as our tongues tangle together, and her hands fist the back of my gray hoodie. Lifting to the tips of her toes, she kisses me back with the same ferocity, meeting my demands with her own.
It feels like a battle, ripping away my pleasant veneer to dance with my darkness. She’s fearless, fueling me with her light while delighting in her own desire. I’m no longer the one in control, and this is no longer a simple expression of my love for her. It’s surrendering to her truth, her love, and her determination to fight for our life together.
Callie bites my bottom lip. The shock of pain is like a bright spark through my brain, burning away everything that isn’t this moment. I press her against the balcony railing, one hand still cupping the back of her head while the other slides up her side, seeking the warmth of her skin under her shirt. She feels scorchingly hot under my icy fingers.
Feasting on her lips, I fall into a wondrous madness that doesn’t understand the concept of anything outside us. There is no beginning or ending, just the delicious taste of her mouth, the softness of her body against mine, and this fire building between us. Hunger of all types consumes me, and it isn’t long before my fangs slide out over my incisors, and the copper taste of blood fills my mouth.
“Shit,” I hiss breathlessly, pulling back to look at her face. “Are you okay?”
She blinks up at me while licking her lip, the pearl of blood disappearing into her mouth. Her cheeks are flushed a pretty pink, and her pupils are blown wide with only a hint of silver surrounding them. With a smile pulling at the edges of her mouth, she slides her hands up my chest and wraps her arms around my neck. “I’m perfect, and it’s only fair since I bit you first.”
I retract my fangs before kissing the tip of her nose. “Yeah, but I liked it.”
