Allen looked uncomfortable with the line of questioning and he left soon after.“Candido, are they…”He took another bite of bread and lifted his own bowl of soup into his hands.“Eat, little one. You need your strength.”If that wasn’t a signal that he wasn’t going to talk about it, I didn’t know what was. So, I ate without complaining. I scooted closer to him and made him feed me bits of cake. Maybe I was pretending a little about being too tired, but Candido didn’t seem to mind. If anything, he seemed to love the idea of caring for me.I smiled and basked in his attention, knowing that he was never like this with Sibyl or anyone else. This affectionate and soft side of him was just for me.Candido hardly left my side while I was recovering. He’d cuddle me close and read to me until I fell asleep. He stayed up and helped me get through the homework I was missing and the lecture notes. His constant attention meant that I couldn’t sneak a check-in with Moon Shadow, but I found that I
I woke up early, got dressed and packed. With about twenty minutes to spare before I needed to be heading out, I logged into my Moon Shadow laptop to check on the investigation of the murders. Armageddon had added several files to my research folder including a few other attacks that had resulted in deaths with the same pattern as the others and the case file of Bella’s orchestrated attack. My heart lurched. Did Armageddon know it was me? I had only been offline for a week. That wasn’t unusual. I opened the note attached. Unidentified substance used to incapacitate the victim. Tracing origins. Sent to lab under ID# HCAKP-144538966. I relaxed a bit. It wasn’t that I hadn’t thought that it was probably connected. I was glad that Armageddon was seemingly getting involved in this. The lab hadn’t completed its analysis, but the preliminary notes suggested that it was related to the substance found in the blood on other scenes. I swallowed thickly. Had Bella known that it was proba
The first round ended quickly. They were fast, but they weren’t anticipating how clever Claire and I were on the field together. It was a great start for us. When we stepped off the field, we walked around the stadium before heading back to the hotel room for a team strategy meeting and dinner.Candido texted me just as we were finishing dinner.Congratulations on your first win. I smiled and replied. Would have been better if you were here.Who says I wasn’t?I pouted and cast my gaze around, and frowned. Why didn’t you come say hi to me? And where is my present?Don’t pout, princess. I’m here. I frowned and looked up, trying to use my instincts to find him.“Hedy? You okay?” Claire asked.I turned around and nodded. “I’m good. I just…”A sense of awareness pricked the back of my neck. I turned again until my gaze fell on someone who was dressed in a plain back suit, half-hidden behind a support beam.I walked towards the figure, my stomach churning with excitement as I grew nearer
He knew better than I did that I couldn’t answer that. Aside from him definitely been healthier, bigger, stronger, and older, there was the matter of our secret identities. We’ve worked together for the past four years, but we couldn’t blow that all now. Not when everything was so dangerous and unsure.Still, the way his hands skimmed over my hips made it hard not to give in. Heat and pleasure pooled between my legs. I wanted more of his hands on me, whomever he was. It was insane because I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted more. I thought back to my dreams of Candido, and the feeling of need and desire started to grow.A pang of fear went through me. Was this what people talked about when they mentioned the draw of a mate? But what about Candido? I love him. I couldn’t even imagine giving my body and heart to anyone else.“We’re… here about—”“I know what we’re here about,” he ground out, forcing his face into the crook of my shoulder. “You smell delicious. I could devour you
The cry for allegiance was resounding, but Candido was already gone. I was sure that he could hear it echoing through the stadium. After a little while longer, we checked out of the hotel and headed back to campus. I carried the trophy onto the bus and everyone cheered for me.“Cheers to Hedy and Claire!” The captain said.“Cheers!”I looked up at the familiar voice. It was Francium boarding the bus to head back with us, grinning alongside the president of rugby’s administration. His eyes were bright and happy. There was something in his posture that gave me pause. He seemed healthier than the last time I saw him.“Francium?” Claire asked. “What are you doing here?”“Surprise!” He said. “I’m the new vice president. We finished up just in time to see the last game.”His eyes drifted over to Claire and grew intense as he looked at her. “You were great, Claire.”Claire’s face turned bright red. “Th-Thanks…”He grinned. “We’re hosting a party for the win, and you two back on campus. The w
“Pandora, are you there?”“Yes,” I replied.“I am in route to the site. I need your eyes through the surveillance of the area. It’ll be flooded with the alpha king’s guards.”“I’m on it,” I said, opening the channels carefully. One of them was in Team Gamma’s truck. My heart lurched.Candido was heading there. Did he and Armageddon know each other?I opened the map of the werewolf territory and activated all the tracking beacons I could manage. I had one on each of the major security details of every alpha of the big three. Norton was heading there, as was Devon, Francium’s father. I peered into the car and found it interesting that he was taking two of his sons. I didn’t recognize either of them.“I can be there—”“No,” Armageddon said stiffly. “I need you on surveillance, not risking your life or distracting me.”I huffed. “We have a mission.”“And you’re too inexperienced to know how to suppress your wolf. You’d be a distraction. Stay where you are.”I set my teeth. It was just as
I had never considered there being anything beneath the academy. Was every academy like that? My heart pounded in my chest.“Miss Hedy, it’s time to….” He frowned and turned, likely hearing what I was hearing. Something rumbled nearby. I darted back towards the table.He came closer to me, and I snuck forward, following the sound beneath us. I heard something rumble and the soft sound of stone sliding against stone. I peered through a stack of books as the large portrait covered most of the back wall of the library slid aside slowly, revealing a large gaping hole.“Miss Hedy, we should go.”I ignored him, watching the entrance for something. The sound from below us grew louder, coming out of the entrance. My heart raced. I felt something coming out from below. He grabbed my arm, then the air went cold. A gut of wind swept out of the darkness. The lights flickered and went off.Then, a large hulking beast lumbered out of the darkness. I thought back to the large creature that had been
This was the first time I was returning home, knowing that Candido was upset with me. It was also the first time that I had ever been so upset with him. Maybe I had gotten annoyed with him sometimes, but not like this. He had never hung up on me before. Did that mean he didn’t want to talk and he wouldn’t give the book back, or that he would do one or the other? There was no telling, but no matter what his intention was, I couldn’t back down. I was in the right.He couldn’t keep treating me like a child and not listening. He also couldn’t think that I would just sit by and let him run all over me. I had been in the dark enough. I was Pandora of Moon Shadow. If he knew something about the book, about the space under the school, or anything else that could help us against the vampires, I needed to know it too.There was no other way around it, no matter what he thought.As we pulled up, the door flew open, and Candido stood looming in the doorway, furious and glaring. I stepped out of t