BLAISE My voice. I can’t speak. I’m back inside the damned birdcage, my chilled hands clasped tightly around the gold-tinted bars. My lips are chapped than they had ever been. And my voice is in complete ruination. He had made me sing for hours. From dusk to dawn. He hadn’t allowed me to stop even when my voice had started to crack and fade, splitting at the ends of each note. And now my voice is gone. When I speak, the words that had used to come out like the softest silk is now rough and ugly. I still hadn’t seen Noel. It had been two days, and I wasn’t even sure if he was dead or alive. I could only do my best. But who knew if that psychopath was as good of a liar as he looked? Noel could be dead, his body buried in the snow. And I wouldn’t even know if he really was. Frustrated tears flow out of my reddened eyes. Then I pull a fist back, slamming my closed hand around the bars. The cage shakes on its hinges. And soon, my body is shaking with silenced sobs. Why. Why wa
BLAISE If not for you, then for me, angel. Christian’s voice echoes in my mind as I touch the Pendant around my throat. Nightfall is descending. Soon he’d be here, any minute now. And I didn’t have neither courage nor the voice to face him. I couldn’t stall any longer. There was no way how. I didn’t know any way how. I squeeze my eyes shut, both hands closing around the Alpha’s signet. My entire body shakes with the anticipation. And I force myself to think back to his voice. Blaise. Love. Will you forgive me? I have used my Dominance on you when I have promised not to. Forgive me, sweet love. A breath thunders through my chest. Sweat beads on the side of my face, as I grip the signet tighter and tighter. My heart crashes against my throat, blood roaring in my ears. In the corner of my mind, I see him. I see his pained eyes, those eyes. Always shining with such brilliance. So gold. Deeper and more serene than any lake that I had ever seen. Blaise. Will you ever l
It’s as if time itself stops. Heat pools on my cheek, turning into a thick, wet rivulet of blood that drips down the side of my face. The blood reaches the sheets and soaks it the shade of dark red. Pain soon blooms from the heat, but I don’t feel it. He’s completely frozen above me. His crimson eyes fix on the scar that must run in an ugly, red line across my face. He looks so stunned— as if I had done the last thing that he had ever expected me to do. I barely resist the urge to flash a smile in his direction. Now what will you do? Psychopathic bastard. The lust has dissipated from his eyes. And such a long time passes, before he speaks again. He speaks in a voice that’s deathly quiet, full of a fury that’s about to explode into shrapnels. “What the fuck did you do?” I look up at him. And I know I’ve guessed right. He only goes after those that are pristine. He doesn’t spare a second glance for those that are already— Then he laughs. “You foolish Omega.” He rips Ch
NOEL I did it. The chains slip free and hit the floor with a dull, metallic clang. The skin of my wrists underneath are raw and tender. But that’s the last thing that I need to think about, right now. Blaise. I slowly shift up from the chair that I was sure that I had been chained to for at least three days. Or maybe it had already been a week. I had no way of telling— there wasn’t a single window in the room to tell day and night apart. Time had just blended into nothingness while I was here. Damian Rouge had only been here once. And I pray, as I softly rest a trembling hand against the doorknob. It slides open smoothly when I twist. He’d underestimated me. The door swings open, so quietly. It opens to a dark hall. My amber eyes flicker, already too adjusted with the darkness. It’s night. I can tell, with the familiar darkness that had descended all over wherever this place was. I needed to find Blaise and get the hell out of here. But where? And at first, I exp
BLAISE Forget it. The snow is cold and pristine to the touch as I run, my paws brushing up a quiet track next to Noel’s slightly larger ones. Snow starts to fall, in a light flurry. The air is sharp, deeply seasoned by winter. It hurts to run. Noel notices and slows down for my sake. He doesn’t stray an inch further from my side, his amber eyes warm and gentle on me. When I accidentally trip over a thick tree root that had been covered by the snow, he quickly latches onto my scruff and pulls me back up to my feet. “Just a little more, Blaise.” He licks the scar on my face affectionately. And the warmth makes my legs nearly give out from underneath me. A part of me had still believed that I was back in that birdcage, my throat raw from singing and completely exposed to a pair of vivid scarlet eyes. “Just a little further.” The snowfall turns heavier. And we run. Neither of us know where we are going, but we just continue. Even when the trees get thicker and that there i
BLAISE It hits home. I feel the crunch of bone underneath my blow. It is the strongest blow that I have ever dealt anyone in my entire life, and I’m certain that I’ve done it. That the plan I’d thought would have zero chances of working had actually worked. The Rouge Alpha goes slack. He collapses heavily onto the cave floor, and Noel looks up at me with a surprised look in his amber eyes. The rock slips from my fingertips and lands with a heavy thud on the ground. I see the blood wetting his fur. “Noel!” “I’m fine.” He laughs, as I kneel over his wolven form. He licks my cheek, pretending like I hadn’t seen the way his expression had squeezed together with the pain when he had tried to get himself up. I throw both arms around him, burying my face into his chestnut fur. He coughs. “Are you sure—Are you sure he’s dead?” I look back. Damian Rouge is a cold, motionless figure on the ground. Blood slowly pools around where his head is. I wait a few heartstopping seconds, but
BLAISE “Shh.” He eases my hands back away from the collar of my shirt. But I’m so conscious of the marks that has been etched into my skin, for life. Where Damian Rouge had ravaged me and had left nothing behind. They are so horribly ugly, a flaw that I’d carry forever. I wouldn’t be a single bit surprised if he never wanted to look at me again, with that permanent reminder branded onto my throat and collarbone. Yet he can’t keep himself an inch away from me. He lifts me onto his lap. The warmth that surrounds me is so gentle that I feel the corners of my eyes sting with tears. A part of me still doesn’t believe that I’m safely back here again, away from the Rouge Alpha and his violence. “Sh.” He murmurs when I open my lips. “Don’t say a word, love.” “Your voice is still recovering.” Then he kisses a line down the scar on my face, his fingertips clasped around my chin. His lips press against mine then break. He shifts downwards, and I can barely hold down the wince when I
NOEL Save your breath. We’ll talk once we’re back at Shadow. His words revolve in my mind in an unending film. He’d told me to come to his room the moment that the Pack Healer had finished with me. Now I’m trudging down the halls, my steps even heavier than my heart slowly sinking down my chest. He had sounded mad. No, furious. He hadn’t said a single word to me the entire time he had brought me back to Shadow. I quickly touch my throat, wincing at the white bandages that climbed high up to my chin and covered the entire mass of my right shoulder underneath the loose folds of my shirt. I looked like I was trying to camouflage myself into the snow. I breathe, then come to a stop in front of a window. His room would be just around the corner. Taking a deep breath, I turn to the window and give myself a sharp scan. The glass reflects a weak, malnourished wolf, limbs a bit too lanky and amber eyes glowing hauntingly against pale cheeks. I quickly give my cheeks a couple of