Hyacinth’s POV‘Cin, sweetheart?’ murmured Dolly.I hadn’t moved. Alpha Caleb had a hand on the door and was looking at me expectantly.It was so unfair. Now I’d let myself consider it, this great truth that had been lurking over my shoulder this whole time, it had shattered me. I couldn’t dismiss it; it made too much sense for me to do that.But I didn’t have time to let it break me, either. If I wanted to see Stephen, to tell him, maybe, I had to find him – and fast. I straightened my shoulders and nodded at the Alpha. “Let’s go.”The door swung inwards before we could leave. Alpha Caleb staggered backwards, reaching out to grab anything to steady him. All the blood rushed from his face and fear gripped me. He looked like he was a breath away from death.“Alpha?” I murmured.A middle-aged woman swept into the room before he could speak, though he did jerk upwards and attempt to make himself look a bit less like he was on the brink of collapse. It was oddly endearing, seeing our ever
Hyacinth’s POVI ran straight into a Warrior Wolf. He grabbed me by the shoulders to steady me. “Woah there, little Omega,” he said fondly. “Take it easy.”I blushed and ducked my head. “I can’t. I have to find them.”“We’re on the case.” He flexed his bicep and grinned at me, shaking his head slightly to ruffle his shock of blonde hair. This man was a himbo and, usually, I would have been here for it. I vaguely recognised him from training sessions – I was pretty sure this guy was the one who played pranks on his buddies and got told off for not focusing enough. He was all kinds of cute, but he didn’t exactly fill me with confidence.“I want to keep looking,” I said, channelling Rhiannon’s defiant streak and pushing my chest out. He shrugged. “Makes no odds to me, sweet thing.” His gaze drifted down to my boobs. I pulled my chest back in quickly. It wasn’t like he could see anything, what with the hundred layers of knitwear I had on, but still… ew.‘Do you feel dirty?’ Dolly shudde
Stephen’s POVI’d been able to do nothing but wait. I was tied too tightly and was far too woozy from whatever Marcella had given me to be able to help Rhiannon. I’d had to watch as she’d collapsed, as Marcella had re-tied her hands until the bloodied skin there had been rubbed even more raw, as she’d stiffened and told me she’d be back and not to do anything stupid, and as she’d held up another cloth infused with heady herbs to my nose and forced me to breathe it in.I’d never felt so helpless or so useless before. I was stuck.And then Hyacinth had come for me.My heart had screamed out for her, so loudly it had woken me up. I’d come out of my daze and seen her, her eyes brimming with tears, her lips bitten and red. She looked more beautiful to me than she ever had before.It was only my terror for Rhiannon that had kept me from losing my head entirely. All I wanted was to kiss her, the sweetest sort of heaven after an eternity in this hell, but I had a duty to my mate.Rhiannon loo
Caleb’s POVThere was darkness, but it was not empty.I walked through it. The earth formed wherever my feet touched the ground. That was how it all was, here: things came into existence as I passed through them. I couldn’t see the trees growing around me or disappearing behind me, but I was acutely aware that they were there.An owl flew overheard, a lantern dangling from its talons. Its warm, orange glow bobbed above me, but it didn’t light my way. It lit up its own, small circle, which followed it into the distance before it, too, disappeared.“Where am I?” I called out into the darkness. Nobody answered.Driven by instinct, I shifted out. Knight’s huge form split my skin; his soul was quiet, though, leaving me alone as I padded on his paws through the dark. Up ahead, a star flickered into existence. It burned brighter and brighter the closer I got. When I finally reached it, it seemed as small as it always had. Its silver was like molten metal, shimmering softly in a light of its
Rhiannon’s POV“You have all done this so very wrong,” sighed a voice that I at once both knew and did not. “At every given opportunity, you have made the wrong choices. I am only trying to help, but my help is restricted. You are fortunate, Rhiannon. Your sister is the only one making the right choices. Today, her brave and foolish choice benefitted you.”The voice faded away. I tried to work out where I was; sluggishly, I felt my limbs returning to me. I felt cold still, and it was too much effort to move, but I thought I might, just maybe, be alive.I remembered Marcella. I remembered the drug. I remembered lying face-down on the floor, hearing Stephen coughing beside me. I remembered wondering if that cough might be the last noise I ever heard him make.Then there was nothing. And now? Now I was lying somewhere with my eyes closed, my body fucked, and that voice still ringing in my ears. Who was talking to me? I could hear other people, too, but none so clearly as that voice.“Rhi
Rhiannon’s POVCaleb was sat with me in silence, just holding my hand up to his heart, when it happened.Finally, finally, I managed to peel my groggy eyelids back. And his bloody eyes were shut, so he couldn’t even see the monumental feat I’d just performed. Pssh, I thought. Clearly his love doesn’t mean all that much if he isn’t even looking when I–“Fuck off,” he whispered, staring down at me. “Rhi?”I tried to talk but no sound came out. I just kept staring up at him, tracing every perfect line of his perfect face. I’d started to think I’d never see it again.His dark hair was mussed, like he’d been running his hands through it. I wanted to smooth it out, to wrap the waves around my fingers teasingly before sliding my whole hand in, gripping it at the roots and tugging his head down until his lips met mine.Tired eyes widened as he comprehended the fact that I really was looking back at him. I worked my jaw, trying to talk, but she shushed me.“I’ll get a Medic. Easy, easy.”I tr
Rhiannon’s POV“It could mean what?” I snapped. I didn’t let her answer. “No, there’s no way. I’m a werewolf. I can’t just lose my wolf-side. It's impossible. There is no such thing as a wolfless werewolf!"“And I’m sure you haven’t lost her,” Medic Beth said, about as placatingly as an alligator opening its jaws wide to swallow me whole.‘Tiger?’ I said. ‘Tiger, you’d better answer me right goddess-damned now!’Nothing. The words rattled around inside my empty skull.I threw off the covers and marched over to my wardrobe. I yanked out the first clothes my hands touched, didn’t spare myself a glance in the mirror, and stormed off outside.Tiger was going to shift out, whether she liked it or not.“Rhiannon!” Medic Beth jogged after me. “I must insist that you come back to bed. You need your rest!”“I’ve been in bed for a month,” I snarled. “What I need is my wolf!”I brushed past the awkward crowd of Cin, Caleb, and Stephen downstairs without looking back. I wobbled on unsteady legs b
Hyacinth’s POVI stared down at Rhiannon and tried to hold back a fresh wave of sobs. I should’ve cried my eyes dry by this point, surely, but there always seemed to be more to fall.‘Don’t feel bad about it, girly!’ said Dolly. ‘These are sad times indeed. Your poor sister. And poor you! It’s always okay to cry, Cinnie, even when you feel like you’ve cried a river and a lake and an ocean’s worth of tears already.’‘But it’s her who should be crying, not me,’ I whimpered. The tears started to fall. I couldn’t help it.Rhiannon was too still. She looked smaller, too, her duvet tucked up almost to her chin. There was just a gap for Foxy Spangle’s cute little nose to poke out. He’d barely left her side since she’d been poisoned.It had been almost a month since everything had happened with Marcella. That meant it had been almost a month since I’d last spoken to my sister. And that meant it had almost been a month since I’d realised the obvious: that Stephen, my sister’s chosen mate, was