[Rosalie’s POV]Clawed hands reach up and grab at me, tearing my skin and pulling me into the floor beneath me. At least, that is how it feels, but I’m not sure if it is my physical body that is being pulled or my very soul.Closing my eyes, I let out another scream before I felt myself tumbling and crashing onto hard earth that cut me as heat pressed against my skin.Goddess, it hurts. It hurts so bad, but it doesn’t stop, and when I finally pry my eyes open, I find myself staring up at a bloody red sky with dark lazily drifting across it. Occasionally, they light up with thunder, but no rain falls.“Are you just going to lay there?”Eyes widening, I turn my gaze in the direction the voice came from and find a woman clad in a black robe that is open at the top, giving the perfect view of her ample breasts. Her long, dark hair cascades around them and surrounds her face, which looks so much like mine except for the glowing red eyes and the pointed teeth.“Surprised?” She giggles. “I’v
[Diego’s POV]I shake the woman in my arms as her body radiates an intense heat and the black marks spread across her skin. She is still unconscious, but her mouth moves as if she is having a conversation with an invisible entity, and when her eyes finally open, they are bleary.“Hana,” she whispers, blinking a few times. “Don’t…”Frowning, I wait as she gets her bearings, and when her gaze comes to rest on me and widens in shock, I open my mouth.“Since you seem to be awake,” I begin, trying to figure out what the fuck happened to make her like this. “What did you do, and why are you out of your cage?”"I..." she begins while her eyes look around the room as if she is searching for something. “You were suffering, so I..."“So you decided to break out of your cage and then collapse in the middle of the floor?” I snap.“No!” She manages. “I helped.”Helped? Who the fuck asked for her help? Feeling my annoyance flare, I remember the phantoms that haunted me in my dreams; they disappeare
[Rosalie’s POV]I stare straight ahead, taking in the woman bent over Diego’s desk as she stares on with both amusement and annoyance. It’s clear that she is challenging me by the way that she is looking at me, but why she is doing so is lost to me.“You’re sister!” Giddeon announces, reminding me of the reason we are here. “Something’s wrong.”At his words, Diego’s eyes grow wide, and anger flashes across them before he is moving. However, before he can reach us, I have to avert my gaze as his still-erect dick stares at me.“Cover up!” I hiss.“It seems she isn’t interested in you,” the woman on his desk laughs. “Look at her, too afraid to even see you half naked.”“Shut the fuck up!” Diego growls before storming past me and Giddeon. while fixing his situation. “Does it look like the fucking time for jokes?”At his words, the woman's expression shifts from amused to hurt, and I almost feel sorry for her. Almost.Turning, I begin to head in the direction that Diego is going while Gidd
[Diego’s POV]I stare down at the packgrounds, trying to find any sign of my sister, but she’s gone. Cursing, I hoist myself onto the window sill and then jump. As my body plummets toward the earth below, I shift into my lycan form so that when I hit the ground, my senses immediately connect with the earth beneath my feet.Closing my eyes, I sniff the air while feeling the vibrations of the earth until I locate her just to the north. She hasn’t gotten too far yet, but one thing she was known for was her speed and agility.Not wanting to waste any time, I snap open my eyes and begin to move, just as a large black wolf with smoke radiating from it lands beside me.Eyes widening, I take it in until I realize that it is the woman.‘Why are you just standing there?’ She growls in my head, taking me by surprise. ‘MOVE!’As the words leave her, she shoots forward, turning into nothing more than a blur of black while she rushes toward the forest beyond.Snapping out of my daze, I begin to fol
[Diego’s POV]I stare into the woman’s eyes as I wonder if there is something more she is trying to get at. When she continues to stare at me unflinchingly, I know that she is truly convinced that the answers we seek will be there.Sighing, I turn to Giddeon as he waits for orders.“Get a team together,” I announce, deciding that it wouldn’t hurt to do what the woman suggested. “In a few days time we will head back to the outer village.”“Yes, sir,” Giddeon says, giving a slight bow. “And what if we don’t find anything?”“We will cross that bridge when we get to it,” I respond, suddenly feeling exhausted.“Who are you to make commands?”Tensing, I slowly shift my gaze from Giddeon to my father, who is watching me with narrowed eyes. Of course, he would have an issue with me doing what I felt was best, especially if he didn’t agree with it.“Hasn’t enough damage been done?” He continues when I don’t speak. “Your sister is now missing, and many members of our pack are already dead. I th
[Rosalie’s POV]“That’s enough.”Diego’s voice rings out as I open my mouth to argue more, and with it, I feel almost as though my throat is being constricted. Shit. Having his mark on my skin was going to prove to be an issue, but this wasn’t the first time that he used his command against me.Shivering, I try not to remember how fucking helpless I felt laying on that floor, fingering myself for his enjoyment. As long as I was more cautious, something like that wouldn’t happen again.“The two of you arguing isn’t going to get us anywhere,” Diego says now as his father fixes his narrowed gaze on him. “We need to act soon.”“Then you and the woman go stay in the village until you can find the source of the plague,” his father announces.“Are you really suggesting that?”“Fine,” I snap, cutting Diego off before he can finish. “We’ll do just that.”At my words, Diego’s disbelieving gaze comes to rest on me. I have to stop myself from smirking at how annoyed he looks, but if he truly wan
[Diego’s POV]I try to ignore the uneasy feeling that is beginning to build in me due to what the hell I just felt erupt between the woman and myself. If that wasn’t bad enough, how Giddeon was acting was pissing me off as well.“Go and prepare,” I snap when he continues to smirk at me. “You’ll be accompanying us along with a few others.”For a moment, Giddeon doesn’t speak as he finally drops his amused attitude, and shock flashes in his eyes.“I’m… what?” He gasps, his face paling. "What did you..."“You heard me,” I smirk, turning and beginning to move. “You’ll be accompanying us on our endeavor to find the source of the plague.”With that, I don’t wait for any more responses before I’m tugging on the woman so that we can begin to pack for our journey.When we arrive at our destination, I release her and head into my closet so that I can begin to rummage through clothes. Once I’ve grabbed the essentials, I head back into my room to find that the woman is standing in the middle of t
[Rosalie’s POV]The ride to the borders of Diego’s pack lands is silent as the heaviness of the situation weighs on all of us. And when we grow closer, the damage from disease and famine due to the darkness becomes evident in the gazes that watch us as we pass. They scream a silent plea to be saved from that which is tormenting them, and it is so damn loud it makes my heart ache.Beside me, I can feel Diego’s aura shift as he too takes in what I’m seeing, and despite his seeming indifferent earlier on, it becomes increasingly clear that he does truly care for these people, even if he doesn’t believe he can save them.When we arrive at our destination, we are greeted by elder Marin and healer Murdoch. Both men look as exhausted as the villagers that stare at us from their homes—at least the ones whose homes weren’t destroyed by the giant snake. Those who were left with nothing huddled together inside tents that lined the streets, making it impossible to travel any further by car.“Welc