***Ezekiel’s POV*** I brought the two wooden swords down against Morgan’s block. The sound reverberated in the backyard only to be overshadowed by the waves crashing against the rocks. My body was covered in sweat and I already had discarded my drenched shirt a while ago. Morgan, however, looked completely unperturbed. His button up shirt was just rolled up to his elbows and not even a hair was out of place. Growling, I spun into a kick and then followed up with two strikes, trying to overpower him. Of course though, he blocked my kick with his arm, his one sword blocking both of my hits. Jumping back, I straightened and took a deep breath. “You’re doing much better.” Morgan nodded to me and reached over, throwing me one of the water bottles on the table. Cracking it open, I downed half of it. “I still can’t even get a hit in.” “Don’t worry. It took Auri a long time to even get close. You’re starting to build back up the muscle you lost. You can’t expect to be better right away.

I opened up the door quick enough to grab the flying glass turtle out of the air. Sighing, I put my hand on my hip and looked at Vale. His eyes were wide as he gaped at me and then a sheepish, apologetic look flashed across his face.“This the third time, Vale. The third time. I fixed him the other two times but one of these days I won’t be able to repair the damage you have done.”“I’m sorry, Zeke. He’s just here and so easy to lob.”I growled. “I’ll make you find your own desk if I catch you doing it again. He does not deserve that kind of treatment.” Holding the glass turtle out, I waved it in front of him.Vale tried and failed to keep the smirk off of his face. “Come here and I will give you a proper apology.”Refusing to give Vale the satisfaction of my smile, I walked over to him and gently set down my paperweight on the desk. Vale had taken over the desk and there were papers thrown everywhere. It was a mess and I had to look away before my instincts to organize it kicked in.

“The BloodHunter Coven, being reduced to ash and every single one of their members removed from this planet by the Luna Queen and Alpha King, the BloodHunter Coven had no way of rebuilding a Nova 2.0 as they do not exist anymore.” Dr. J followed up. “As far as we know, the BloodHunter Coven has been completely dismantled, correct. The removal of the previous High Council members also insured that no sympathizers or members were amongst their numbers.” “Which wouldn’t make any sense as Nova 2.0 is now being distributed out there.” Ophilla turned to the camera. “However, there is one link to every single one of these drug busts and that is…the High Council.” My eyes widened. They couldn’t be. There was no way. I looked at Vale but he didn’t seem to catch on yet, his brow still furrowed like everyone else as their eyes were glued to the TV. Jax looked at me for a moment and seemed to understand as well but I looked back over at Bryan. He only gave me a curt nod. “The High Council ori

***Auri’s POV*** There is something about feeling your mind slip. Letting go of the fight and just falling into the void. Feeling nothing and not caring. They couldn’t reach you, couldn’t make you do things, not in the void. You were disassociated from your body. It was a feeling I was all too familiar with. One I was glad Ezekiel had yet to reach.There was still light in his eyes. Still a fight, a hope, and I was glad I wasn’t too late to save him. Vale deserved better than to have his mate ripped from him. He deserved better than the experience Logan and I had gone through.Logan was already lost to me. The connection between us one sided. So much so that even my side of our bond started to wither but now, I was glad. He wouldn’t need to feel this pain again. Not that he could. The amount of silver that was holding me up was more than Micah had ever used. But at the time, he didn’t know who I was. I wondered, though, if they knew I couldn’t feel pain. If they realized every time t

***Trigger Warning: There are some scenes depicting a little more indepth of rape so I wanted to add a quick trigger warning for some.*** I breathed quietly, trying not to stir him. I knew he had passed out at some point but I didn’t know when the last time he had slept. Peeling my lids back, I blinked a few times, trying to clear my vision. It had been so long since I could see, it was disconcerting. Not that there was much to see in this grey concrete box.My eyes fell on Hector. He wasn’t chained to the wall but rather the floor. His ankles and wrists were locked and I dug my teeth into my bottom lip. That must hurt him so much. The silver was already making its marks on his skin. He was laying on the floor, his face turned to me with his eyes closed. I wanted to brush the hair out of his face.The last time I had seen Hector was when he stood in my doorway before I left for the blue scroll mission from the High Council all those years ago. He had both changed and not changed at a