Hyacinth’s POV“Why did you… no, no.” I could hear Stephen’s voice. I latched onto it, grabbing it with both greedy hands, the way I’d taken glasses of raspberry juice as a kid. “Okay, okay, I’ll try again. Why did you – no, I can’t, Brian. It sounds too aggressive. Okay, too abrupt, then. I need to lead into it.”Silence followed. I wondered what Brian was saying. I also wondered why Stephen was speaking aloud, and what he was speaking about.Then came other concerns: where I was, why I couldn’t seem to open my eyes, and how I’d ended up here. The last thing I remembered…I remembered Stephen kissing me. Had it been a dream? It had to have been.‘That was no dream, sweet thing,’ said Dolly. Then she yawned. ‘Gee, I feel like I could sleep forever.’‘Me, too.’ I tried to open my eyes, but I still couldn’t. ‘Do you know what’s going on?’‘I wish I did.’“How about this?” said Stephen. He cleared his throat. “I just want to understand why you did it, Cin. It doesn’t make any sense to me
Hyacinth’s POVMy world collapsed in on itself. He knew? How did he know?And, if he knew, what did he think about it? Why was he bringing it up now? Was he angry? Happy? Sad? Confused?I squinted at his face, trying to pick apart his emotions. It was carefully blank, which told me he was hiding how he felt, but not what was going on underneath that blank canvas.Great.And what should I say? Yes? No? Maybe? Roll again? Was this some sort of trick? Or trap? Was I still dreaming? Gah! I couldn’t see a way forward; the path was blocked by words and options and imagined scenarios playing out, as thick as a thorny hedgerow.‘Try talking to him, doll. Just be honest. He’s asked for a reason. He wants to talk about it with you. Is this not what you wanted?’I squirmed under Dolly’s scrutiny. It was what I’d wanted – but, oh my goddess, it terrified me. I’d tried to leave this behind, but it had followed me regardless.Was that what fate was? Was it the fact that any choices I made would alw
Rhiannon’s POVI yanked my jumper so it was the right way round and laced up my boots before I hit the ice. Then I added a coat and was sprinting – okay, waddling – across the ice, trying to skate on flat feet and just about managing it.My mind was still spinning from the ghostly exchange I’d just had. What would they hold off? What salvation could be found in the truth? Who were they? Why had they spoken to me?And could it really have been the Moon Goddess? Again? If it was, why was she helping me, of all people? Why didn’t she sound the same as she had before? Why was Tigs so certain it was her?She’d already given me my wolf back. That was incredible, more than I could ever have asked for. That was a crazy, once-in-a-lifetime, exception to the rule, huge kind of deal. That sort of shit didn’t happen twice. Did it?‘You aren’t going to find an answer in your own head,’ said Tiger sagely. ‘To any of it. Just focus on your sister. That’s one good, straight-forward thing, at least.’
Rhiannon’s POV“I’m coming to help you look.”Amelia gave me a sideways glance, then nodded, resigned. “Of course. Do you have any idea where we should start?”I raised my eyebrows at her, surprised by the careful respect in her tone. “By my cabin,” I said. “That’s where I last saw him, and that’s where he went to search for the person watching us.”Oh, goddess. I couldn’t believe I’d let him go alone. ‘Regretting it won’t change it,’ said Tiger. ‘And he was acting like a prick. You were upset, rightfully so. All you can do now is try to find him. Besides, this could all be a big drama over nothing. He might be in the woods, like you were.’I chewed on my bottom lip. ‘That’s true,’ I replied, but I didn’t really mean it. My mate bond with Caleb was often unreliable. Because I’d chosen to be mated to Stephen before I’d realised Caleb was my true mate, and had let Stephen mark me, the two were sometimes… muddled. They could both be blocked out or both be running at full power. Sometim
Rhiannon’s POVDespite Tiger telling me that thinking of what ifs and if onlys wouldn’t help anything, I couldn’t help but think of them. My mind heaved and spun as we shifted out and headed towards Moon Chasm.As we neared the border between our packs, almost two days after we’d left Night Wind despite the rapid pace we’d set off at and the lack of breaks we’d taken, Luna Amelia ordered the rest of us – Kieran, Harley, and I – to hide behind her, a good distance away.Kieran replied to her group mindlink. ‘No. No way, Ames. We need to stay close so we can protect you.’She snorted at that. ‘I can protect myself, thanks.’‘We don’t know what their plan is. They could be anywhere. We have to be ready for anything. I just think–’He cut off in the middle of his sentence. The conversation ended as abruptly as that, and I figured that Amelia had started mindlinking just him. After all, there was no point in Harley and I listening to their bickering.But awh – wasn’t it sweet? I tried desp
Amelia’s POVI stared down every wolf lining the border. Bastards, the lot of them. ‘Amelia!’ gasped Maeve. And, sure, I rarely swore – but this situation more than called for it.It was like they wanted to be stuck in a constant cycle of bloodshed. Who wanted to be at war? For the sake of some extra land? Especially land that was currently stuck in winter?I could feel my anger rising, a hot ball lodging itself firmly in my chest and breathing flames up my throat. Needing to keep my cool before this conversation – I could see Mum and Dad marching through the ranks, heading towards me – I glanced back towards where I knew Kieran was. I couldn’t see him, but I could see the bush he was stationed behind.And even just seeing that was a balm to my rage. I smiled at it, sure he could see me even though I couldn’t quite see him, and then turned back, took a deep breath, and prepared for a battle unlike any I’d ever untaken before.This would be a battle of diplomacy, of words. And it woul
Kieran’s POV“It’s always been Kieran,” said Amelia, and I thought my heart might burst. Not only had she said it to herself, and to me, but she was telling her family. Her whole old pack. She had accepted me. She had accepted us.But it was too late.We couldn’t be together. She’d rejected me. The mate bond between us was shattered and painful, the link binding our souls like a livewire that shocked us whenever we got too close.That didn’t matter to me, though, not now. I just crossed my fingers and toes and even my eyes that we made it out of this alive.That she made it out of this alive.My heart thumped every second that Ames faced down her parents. I told myself, and Bo told me, over and over and over again, that they wouldn’t hurt their daughter. I knew her, and I knew them. Not well, but I knew them.They wouldn’t hurt her. Oh, goddess, please say they wouldn’t hurt her.But the scars of the past ran deep, and Amelia had just revealed herself to be a traitor. Kind of. Not to
Rhiannon’s POVLuna Fiona shifted back in an instant, her eyes wide, her chin quivering. Her hand came up to cover her mouth as she fell to her knees beside her daughter.I expected her to cry out, to sob, to wail, as my dad would’ve – but there was a flicker of remorse, a muscle leapt in her jaw, and then she squashed her emotions before the world could witness them.I skidded to halt a second too late. I stared at Amelia, adrenaline pounding through me, not quite able to comprehend what I was seeing.Maeve, her big black wolf, was crumpled on the ground. There was blood hissing from her neck, pooling on the earth beneath her. Her eyes rolled, fluttered, closed.She was dead.And, if I’d been quick enough, that would’ve been me. My heart twisted with remorse. I hadn’t been quick enough.Her dad cried out. He stumbled forward a step. “No,” he rasped, something shattering in his dark eyes. He shuttered them, reeling, and when he opened them again…What I saw in them terrified me. It wa