Eliana POV“What the hell,” Cassie exclaimed, staring after Luca. “What on earth got into him?”I looked at Enzo who had a slight smile on his face as he held a hand to his quickly swelling jaw. He didn’t seem offended by his brother’s actions at all. In fact, he seemed to have been expecting them. “I may have goaded him into hitting me,” he revealed, tapping his finger on his temple. “He mindlinked Luca,” Ayla revealed with a huff, not impressed by the macho display. Cassie looked from me to Enzo and then back again before she grabbed my arm and dragged me toward her room, turning back to Enzo just to say, “The bedroom to the right is empty, and put some ice on that before your jaw swells any more.”I heard him grunt in response before the bedroom door opened and shut behind him. Within the confines of the room Cassie had claimed, she breathed out a shakey breath and fell onto her bed. “Okay, what on earth happened to you today. You disappeared for hours and when Luca and Vasilio

Eliana POVAfter watching the car drive away with Laryssa inside it, Cassie and I went back to her room. There was a light shining out from under Georgio’s door, so he had to have known that Laryssa had left. “Maybe she had a family emergency,” Cassie speculated as we climbed into her bed and ate the midnight snack we had made, careful not to mess crumbs on the linen. “Yeah, must be something like that,” I agreed. It was only the next morning that we discovered that Laryssa had broken off the relationship with Georgio, saying that she could not come between Cassie and her father. Georgio looked unaffected when he revealed the news to Cassie and I while we ate breakfast, but the closer I watched him the more I began to believe that he was actually taking the break up rather badly. “Laryssa left you girls gifts,” he said, his voice rough as he passed us two boxes tied with ribbons. I saw Cassie’s gaze linger on her father as he got up and walked away from the table, barely touching

Eliana POV The car pulled up outside a whitewashed building on the edge of the town, the back of the building pressed against a dense thicket of trees - probably to allow the werewolves to come and go through the trees without the fear of tourists spotting them. Enzo had made it clear that the tourists were only welcomed on the outskirts of the island and that the inner portion was designated to the locals. It wasn't as if they had a giant “No Tourists” sign up, but the private roads with security guarding the entrances seemed to deter the tourists well enough. Nina was waiting outside the clinic, her back pressed against the wall as she picked at her finger nails. Her flowing navy and white dress made her look casually chic, but her hair was pulled back into a severe bun and her lipstick was a shade of red a touch too bright for the casual dress. “Took you long enough,” she muttered as we climbed out of the car and joined her. She looked over my jeans and loose t-shirt and sniffe

Eliana POV I'm not sure what I'd expected of Luca’s family and home, but it certainly wasn't this. The kitchen was loud, filled with Valenti and her six sisters - whose names I would never be able to get straight - all talking at the same time, yet somehow understanding each other in the ruckus. “You get used to it,” one of Luca's aunts smiled at me, squeezing my hand. They were all preparing a massive spread of food, enough to definitely feed half of the island. In some way, the chaos actually made sense and slowly I could tell the dishes coming together. While I was peeling potatoes - my assigned task - Luca and Enzo entered, causing another flurry of activity as each aunt went to greet them and make one or another comment. I smiled at the interaction, my eyes meeting with Luca's as he hugged one of his aunts. I quickly looked away, not wanting him to think I had been watching him - only to meet the gaze of his mother, a slight smile tugging up one corner of her mouth. Luca q

Eliana POVI didn't see Luca at dinner. Enzo said he hadn't returned from his run, but that there was no need to worry.“He's probably just checking out everything on the island. He hasn't been around for a few weeks so he needs to make sure I haven't run the pack into the ground.”He said it as if it were a joke, but I could tell by the edge in his voice that he was dead serious. Dinner was loud and an absolute sensory overload. I was actually grateful when I was able to slink back to my room, telling everyone that I had a headache so couldn't stick around for the after dinner entertainment. Yet, even as I closed the bedroom door behind me, I could hear the opera performance coming from the lower floor. “Looks like that headache is about to become a reality,” Ayla muttered as the performer missed the note and screeched her way through the last chords. “It would have been worse if we'd stuck around,” I replied, burying my head under the pillow. I must have fallen asleep, startling