“What?” I say. Axel’s words are like a bucket of water trying to call my anger. “I said let’s go get him.” He says again, reaching out and placing his hand on my shoulder.“But I thought you were trying to avoid a war…”“Jacob said they attacked you first.”“Yes, but they assumed I was a rogue, and I didn’t announce I was a part of a pack. When they found out, they backed off. Plus, it’s an alpha’s word against mine.”“If they attacked your mate, and he is your second chance mate, then they are knowingly killing one of my pack members.” “But you said that…” I try to follow his meaning, but I fall short, too drained for my brain to work appropriately.“I know what I said, Adriana. But no one knows your unique second chance mate situation, but a small group of people.”I frown at him and cross my arms over my chest. He drops his arm and sighs heavily. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I couldn’t until you brought it up.”I roll my eyes. “But you could tell Liam?”“Liam is your othe

By the time we arrive at our destination, be that the rogue camp or my old pack is yet to be seen. Literally, since I’m still sitting blind. They pressed my back against rocks and my silver chained hands dangle above my head. Blood slowly drips down the back of my neck from the sores along my wrist where the silver is burning through my skin. It’s been silent for a few hours. Not even the sound of shuffling has hit my ear. Until right now. A soft rustling comes from my left, and I brace myself for the person who is coming. When Adriana and Axel had been held and tortured for weeks, I didn’t even want to think about how it had been. Adriana, still a partially paralyzed human with severe dependence on pain meds to survive her injury, cold and hungry and hurt because of me. Fate must have a twisted sense of humor for me to find myself in a way similar to hers nearly a year ago.The only difference between her kidnapping and torture is that it was directly correlated with me. They took h

~Adriana POV~ “On a scale of one to ten, how pissed do you think Axel will be when he realizes–” Maggie says before being cut off. “That my mate snuck off into the woods to leave ahead of me and the rest of our warriors?” Axel’s voice asks from the cover of the trees to our right. Maggie stops walking and closes her eyes tightly, uttering a curse word. He stalks closer, his hands in his pocket, his face a wall of unreadable stone. “Uh…” I say, looking at the two of them as Axel stops right in front of Maggie, looking down at her. “I’d say Axel is about a ten out of ten. Wouldn’t you agree, Adriana?” He refers to himself as the third person and Maggie’s body sags in defeat. I choose to ignore Axel’s question and check out the treetops. “You wouldn’t let me come.” She reminds him. “Someone needs to stay with Penny.” “And it needs to be me?” Maggie scoffs. “I would prefer it to be, yes.” Axel’s hands come out and he softly strokes his fingers through her blonde curly locks. She sm

Marc drags me for a short period, forcing me up what feels like wooden stairs before he knocks on a door. It creaks open and someone grunts before my chains are pulled taut again and I’m forced to amble forward. I glance off the doorjamb with a pained grunt before being roughly solved down onto the cool surface of a metal chair. “Have you been feeding him?” A female voice asks as she pokes at me with what I assume is her finger. “It’s only been two days, Uma,” Marc says, not even bothering to hide how annoyed he is. “Two days of no food is two days of slow healing, Alpha.”“Just shut up and fix him.”“I’m going to need to recoup the two days I lost with you not feeding him.” She snaps.“You have one. Focus on his eyes. They are really the only thing I care about.” He mutters and the door slams behind him. I can hear Uma sigh at my ear as her hands cup my face, tilting my chin this way and that way. She mutters to herself and walks away. The sound of clanging pots and pans echo thr

Billy’s eyes keep flicking over to Abe, who is sleeping next to the fire, refusing to let any of us look at his injury. Bea hovers close. Her fingernails are the current victim of her nerves. After almost losing her mom last year in the very fight that freed me and Axel, she struggles with the stress of people being injured.It’s one of the many reasons Axel placed her and Billy on recruitment duty finding wandering species who may need a home to bring back to the Freakshow. She can’t seem to calm herself when people are injured. “Bea, look at me,” Billy calls to her with a soothing voice. Her teary eyes find him and he sighs heavily. “I’m okay.”Bea walks over to where Billy and I are as I finish cleaning up the cut across his stomach. In the shifter community it’s uncommon to use human medicine on injuries but Sari, being a human doctor before Axel changed her, has implemented some things such as stitches, to help speed the healing process. Billy and I both were taught the stitchi