Stephen’s POVIt was hard, to begin with, pretending to Rhiannon that I didn’t know she’d cheated on me. It was hard, but it was worth it – because, as the days blurred into weeks, we found our feet again. Things weren’t quite the same between us as they’d been before, of course, but I’d managed to set aside the scandal, for the most part, and move past it.Some days were harder than others. Some days, all I could hear was the remembered sound of Rhiannon groaning Alpha Caleb’s name.Then there were the days that were even worse than that. Those days had nothing to do with Rhiannon, though, and everything to do with her twin sister.I never told a soul, but I ached for Hyacinth. I tried to shove it aside, to focus on Rhi, but it was like knowing that she’d cheated had given me an out. It made my feelings for Cin grow stronger and stronger – not that I’d ever tell anyone that. On the inside, I was a scrambled-up mess of feelings. On the outside, however, I was Rhiannon’s doting mate.I
Stephen’s POVMy hands grasped at nothing but air as I stared after Hyacinth. I felt thrown by the whole thing. What had just happened?‘What just happened, young man,’ huffed Brian, ‘was that you let yourself forget you’re a committed man! Back in my day, you would have been thrown in the stocks until you learnt your lesson!’‘Back in your day?’ I rolled my eyes at my weirdo wolf, eager to cling to that slice of normality. Everything else felt so strange that his particular brand of oddity felt comparatively safe. ‘Do not try to pull the wool over my eyes! Do not attempt to push aside your fiddle-dee-deeing and put the blame on me!’‘My what?’ I muttered, squinting at nothing. ‘My fiddle-dee-deeing?’‘A-ha! Precisely!’‘Brian.’ I sighed. ‘Look–’‘No, Stephen, you look.’ He sounded more serious than usual and I froze, still stood in the doorway where I’d kissed Cin. ‘I understand how you feel. I feel it, too. It makes my old heart trip over itself and my eyes turn to hearts whenever
Stephen’s POVShe let go of my mouth for me to talk. “I, I, I…” I couldn’t conjure up a lie quickly enough to save my skin. A second ago I hadn’t thought it possible, but Marcella’s face paled further. “You know,” she breathed.“Know what?” I frowned at her. She narrowed her eyes right back. “Tell me why you were following me.”I gulped. “I, uh – look, I thought you seemed suspicious, all right? The basket, the hood… but to be honest, Marcella, it had nothing to do with you. I’ve got a lot going on right now and I wanted a distraction.” I went to hold my hands up but she held them firm. “I swear, that’s all. I don’t know anything.”“I don’t believe you,” she whispered, her voice quaking. “Then… what?” I liked the girl, but she sure couldn’t do anything about her disbelief. We were both Omegas, but I trained harder and was stronger. “I can’t let you go. I’m sorry.”Before I could respond, she held a cloth up to my nose and mouth. I inhaled in my shock – and breathed in a lungful of
Rhiannon’s POVWhen I heard that mindlink, telling me that Alpha Caleb had been poisoned, I went through something similar to the five stages of grief.The first wasn’t denial, though. It was a weird-ass sense that justice had been served. I felt vindicated, glad that the man who’d been such a bastard to me had met his comeuppance. Then came anger – anger that I hadn’t been the one to do it. It seemed Tiger felt the same. ‘If anyone was going to kill that arrogant ass, it should’ve been me.’‘We would have done it fairly, too,’ I agreed, letting her rage merge with mine, twin flames growing and burning bright. ‘Not taken the coward’s way out and poisoned him.’And, instead of bargaining, next came guilt. I felt guilty for my initial reaction and knew it was all a way for me to cover up the truth of how I felt. I felt guilty for not being there for him, for not foreseeing this. Though it had weighed on everyone’s mind, the return of the Eternal Winter had taken front and centre in th
Rhiannon’s POVWith our cloaks on and our hoods up, covering our faces and my distinctive hair, we snuck out of the Omega Quarters to over to the pack house. The closer we got, the more my heart started to thump. It wasn’t pulling me to Stephen, though. It was pulling me to Caleb. My eyes darted around, suspicious of every rustle in the bushes, wary of every bt of wind rattling the trees. It was overcast, the sky thick and heavy with the burden of snow clouds; everything was cast in a dull, grey light that hung, oppressive, over everything, like a veil draped atop the gnarled branches and dead lawns.Hyacinth and I spoke in mindlinks as we moved.‘I’ve tried to talk to him, too, and he hasn’t replied,’ I told her. ‘How did he sound?’Anxiety was gnawing at me from both ends. My soul yearned for Caleb, but my mind knew that Stephen had to be in danger. Weirdly, though, I couldn’t feel anything of him through the mate bond. There were no emotions at all, least of all the pungent fear
Rhiannon’s POVMy hands were bound roughly behind me with rope.“Hey,” I snarled. “Is that really necessary?”“I can’t take any risks.” Alvin shrugged, then yanked the rope even tighter. “You can’t seriously think I’m behind this.” I wriggled my wrists around, trying to create a bit more space in my bonds. “It doesn’t matter what I think. It matters what the Gamma thinks.”Alvin dragged me into the pack house. I met the gaze of every Warrior Wolf that stared at me, keeping my expression cold, almost bored, as I was pulled along. He took me down the main corridor before turning off into a room I’d never been in before. Hell, I hadn’t even ever noticed it before.The doorway led to a stairwell, which took us down what felt like half a floor. The lighting grew dimmer as we descended, the stairs coiling around before opening up into a large, grey room.I understood why I’d never seen the inside of the room before the second I was forced inside it. It was tucked away from the hubbub of t
Rhiannon’s POVNova sent for Beth at once. Then she sat back down opposite me, a frown creasing her face, and she apologised.“I can’t let you go. I know the Alpha has vouched for you, but his mind is not his own at present. With the poison in his system, I can’t be sure that his word is fact as I usually would. I am sorry, Rhiannon.”“I understand,” I said reluctantly. I did get it, but it didn’t make it any easier to bear. She went quiet a moment later, and stayed that way for a minute or two. I guessed that she was mindlinking with someone. The seconds dragged by, but eventually she looked up at me, blinked as though she was just coming back to herself, and offered me a tight smile. “I’ve been informed that Beth is waiting for me upstairs. I won’t be long.”Then she grabbed her notes hastily and, clutching them to her chest, she scurried out of the room.I moved into action the second I heard the door at the top of the stairs close. It wasn’t like Nova to make a mistake like leavi
Rhiannon’s POVI woke up slow and groggy, my mouth gummy, my eyelids practically stuck together. I went to scrub at them and found that my hands were tied together behind my back.Huh, I thought, a sliver of amusement curling through my chest, this is becoming something of a habit. The air smelled musty, and from the dim light turning the insides of my eyelids red I figured I was inside somewhere with a window. I couldn’t be outside; I was cold not but sat-out-in-the-snow cold. I knew, from the mate bond, that Stephen was beside me. Thank the goddess for that. I’d found him – but at what cost?At last I managed to peel my eyelids open. Fuck, what I wouldn’t give for some makeup remover. I blinked, feeling crusty mascara crumble onto my cheekbones, and wrinkled my nose. Disturbingly, that wasn’t the worst thing I felt.I pressed my dry tongue to the back of my teeth. It stuck to the roof of my mouth and wouldn’t budge. Worse again was the soft, repetitive pounding in my head, the cras