ALICE  “As far as anyone knows, neither do I,” Sebastian leaned in and barely brushed his lips over mine, hovering there as he whispered, “we have to be careful, little wolf.” When he stood back up there was a seriousness to him that was usually reserved for outside of this house, “It’s why we can’t travel at night and why I can’t be found out in the daylight.” “But Scar-” “Scar secured his own,” his expressions grew rigid, “there are few and far between witches who are able to complete such a task, and that particular one found her death soon after.” He can’t be serious. Have I mentioned Maddy? Have I mentioned the ring I had secured for Marcy?  Stupid.  Reckless.&n

  ALICE “No, you didn’t say it out loud,” the impassive tone Rian used matched the look on his face and was almost a challenge. I let my guard down here, for them, and he couldn’t do the same thing?  I cocked my head as I closed the distance between us, Amara pushing forwards as she bulked us slightly, sharpened our senses. I had to tip my chin higher because he was so much taller than me that I had no chance of going nose to nose with him, but that didn’t mean I would back down.  Nope.  I’m an Alpha. ‘You can feel his pain,’ Sebastian linked me and Rian’s eyes snapped to him, ‘he can read your mind… just like he can hear us now because he can also read mine.' “That’s

  NIXON Alderics wolf looked like he was preparing to burst through as Terran scolded me in a string of curse words before trying to defuse the Beta, ‘They are both alive-’ ‘Now.’ I cut him off and the poor Beta’s head looked like it was spinning.  ‘I didn’t tell them everything,’ Terran shook his head at me, ‘anything, really, other than that Shadow Forest was attacked and everything was ‘fine’ for a lack of better words when we returned, it wasn’t my place.’ ‘I actually came to speak with Kallan, the council needs to be kept up to date,’ among other reasons to visit your favourite ruthless psychopath. I motioned for Alderic to follow, ‘As long as you can keep secrets, you’re welcome to join.’ ‘If I wasn’t, I’d be lying in

 ALICERian picked me up, throwing me over his shoulder and when I looked up, Sebastian was practically skipping after us with excitement. Fuck… yes. My core was dripping but I had to ignore it, had to think of something else, anything else that wouldn't ruin this. I NEEDED to see him.Rian set me down on my feet, cupping my face with a harsh edge to him before he backed away. Sebastian clung to me from behind, dragging me back a bit from where Rian stood, but the normal excitement between us was being tempered. We stood there, oddly calm, as Rian's eyes locked with my own and the swirling abyss of grey hues that sucked me in turned to golden orbs with slits

  ALICE {Sebastians gone.} My eyes shot open as Amara's word's made my stomach drop and a painful kind of heaviness settled in my chest.   I was wrapped in huge arms, my face pressed up against the warmth of Rian's chest... but it all felt wrong. Sebastian's scent lingered, but it wasn’t as strong as when he was here with us, and even when I tried to push the limits of my hearing, I couldn't hear him. Amara was right, but when was she ever wrong? I didn't want to believe it, but as I scrambled out of bed I was beginning to kick myself for not acting sooner. I wasted time. I let Amara come closer to the surface so that we coul