He didn’t respond after that and he looked perplexed. I watched as his Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed before running a hand at the nape of my neck.   “I know that this is abrupt, but I badly need you to be honest with me.” I held his arm as I noticed his jaw clenched.   “Portia, I killed Val—“   I cut him off saying, “Did you?” But I got no response and he just avoided my gaze. “Be honest with me, Tobias. Did you kill her?”   “I . . .” he stammered and at that point, I already knew the answer.  

I had no idea what I should do now. The weight in my chest was becoming unbearable and the only way I could get rid of it was to talk it out with someone. But right now, I have no one. I felt alone. I kept sulking over what happened to Aunt, to Valerie, and now Tobias. Every single one of the people I could lean on every time I felt like this—broken—was just gone. And not telling the truth to the only person I expected to empathize with me at this moment made me feel bad about myself. I knew I should probably stop being sorry for myself because it was the least I needed right now, but sometimes I couldn’t help it. They were too overwhelming: the loss, the truth about who I was, the truth about Valerie’s death, and being accused of murder. Then this organization would hunt us all if we didn’t stop them from attacking the bayou beforehand. They were just too much. I sometimes wondered how Giofré felt about all of these unfortunate circumstances. I was c

As I fluttered my eyes open and tried to get up from the bed, my body didn’t budge. I tried to move my hands, my toes, even my head, but I couldn’t feel my body. I felt paralyzed. Like I laid flat on the bed with my eyes open, staring at the ceiling while I couldn’t move anything, even my lips.  When my eyes caught a glimpse of someone shifting beside me, despite my numb state, I forced my eyes to stare at it. I saw a man and as he moved closer to me, I started to recognize his face. He was the man who stabbed me in the bar. He sat at the edge of the bed, a mischievous smirk creeping across his face, as he stared at me. I wanted to scream—to call someone for help but I couldn’t. My whimpers were suppressed and I couldn’t say anything.  I looked away from him with tears daring to escape from my eyes, fear devouring me, as I anti

As much as I wanted to run for Giofré and, somehow, give him emotional support, I had to give him some space to sort his feelings out. This time, I couldn’t blame myself for blurting out the truth about Valerie’s death; he had a right to know. This would be tough for him—knowing that he was the one who killed her. But, at the same time, he knew nothing about the consequences. Werewolves had been forbidden to mate with humans and that’s all he was aware of. Surely, there could be something that would prevent this from happening, but it was too late; we couldn’t do anything about it. And I hope by the time he went back into the bayou, whatever waves of emotions that flooded through him after I admitted the truth, he would somehow manage to recollect himself and move on.  I went back to the village, seeing everyone scattered around as they did their responsibilitie

The pack gathered around Giofré who was standing in the middle of the village. He discussed our situation with Tobias and assigned some of the betas to guard the bayou while we were gone. I stood a few feet away from them with Agatha beside me, babbling with Beatrice who was telling her about how the werewolves work. As I focused my attention on Giofré and his pack, I saw Lucas walking beside me at the side of my eye and crossed his arms above his chest. “So since when did you become part of the pack?” he asked me which, in all honesty, I didn’t anticipate.  “Giofré asked me to stay here. I know that my presence bothers you all but, as much as I wanted to stay away, my life’s in danger out there,” I explained and he just shrugged. “They’re coming after you now, huh.”