Elyssa froze in his arms, her eyes fluttering as she held his unyielding gaze. It was not surprising that he wanted to know that, but she hadn’t expected that it would come up here. Meanwhile, the rain was also drowning her, and now Lucian intended to finish her off. Everything was wrong. From her glimpse into Lucian’s memories, he had nothing to do with the fire that took her family. Who was it then? Another Callisto brother or their mother? That Luna, Victoria, had shown herself to be capable of anything, and based on what she had seen from Serene’s memories, she was responsible for sending her kind here. Added to that, there was this witch who was hunting her for her gift, one she had hated since it manifested after her first shift. In the aftermath of the fire, she was left to deal with everything alone. Although Lucian had no memory of it, that did not mean his pack wasn’t responsible. “That’s for me to know.” Elyssa took another attempt to break

“What do you want?” Elyssa clenched her teeth against the pounding in her chest. The witch would not get the pleasure of watching her squirm in fear. “Your heart might explode if you don’t calm yourself, azure.” “Better that than getting what you want from me,” Elyssa shot. In a split second, the witch was standing right in front of Elyssa, and she almost jumped out of her skin. “Now, azure, I’ve gone five decades without the gift of an azure. I don’t intend to waste another second battling words with my dinner.” Then she gripped Elyssa’s throat, and she lifted her up with ease. As she choked, Elyssa grabbed onto her arm for support, and inadvertently channelled her gift. She shrieked at the contact and  flung Elyssa away, leaping back from Elyssa’s touch. Elyssa bounced off the wall, rolling into the black dirt on the ground with a grunt. After groaning against the pain in her midriff for a minute, she struggled to get up

Lucian’s POV He watched Rita from where he sat on the rock beside her, waiting for her to wake, and his patience was wearing thin. It took him some time to get her to shift back, so he could examine her injuries, and the gash on her stomach was nasty and wasn't healing. He had ripped a shard of her dress off to stop the bleeding, and now he was worried that he was wasting time just sitting there. It was either he took Rita back to the Ewing pack, or found his way back to El; but they both needed him. It was nearly dawn, and he had to find his way back to Elyssa before sunrise. Standing with his hands on his waist, he tried to figure out why the labyrinth led him away from his mate and to Rita. Shouldn't his mate be his priority? He hadn’t considered that his relationship with Rita somehow linked them. With a weak groan she stirred, and Lucian turned to her. Damn it! Getting her home would cut into his time in

“This way!” Zuker yelled as he spun her off the path, and pinned her against the wall. They waited with bated breath for the creatures closing in from behind the wall. She looked at the sky; it was nearly morning, and they hadn't crossed paths with Lucian or Antonio. Wouldn’t escaping the labyrinth with Zuker make them mates according to the mating ritual? At that moment, her gaze fixed on him, watching the contours of his face as he pressed up against her. “Zuker, if we escape from the labyrinth together, wouldn't that make us mates?” Zuker’s gaze turned to her while he contemplated, his eyes darted back and forth quickly. It hadn’t occurred to him either, and that look of sheer joy on his face gave her the answer she was after. “I would suggest we hang back and search for your mate, but this place wants us to leave,” Zuker replied. He turned back to the wall they were leaning against, bending to peek at the creatures. The chamber was not clo

In spite of the steam in the bathroom, Elyssa found her way to the mirror after getting out of the shower. She would be happy if the water was able to wash away everything that had transpired yesterday and just moments ago. Drying herself off, she entered her bedroom that hadn’t been cleared out; everything was just as she had left it. She slowly dressed, wondering about Zuker as she pulled on her jeans and shirt. It was obvious he still had a grudge against her, since he hadn’t shown up yet to check on her. It wasn’t really fair for her to blame him. He was right about everything. Her miserable self was moping about Lucian, the mate she didn’t want, being in love with Rita, when she should be with Zuker and Rita. After taking a towel to her hair, she donned a pair of black ankle boots that went really well with her deep blue jeans and red top before stepping outside her bedroom. When she was done checking on Rita, she would head back into town to check on Taylor and