by Emilia Rose
Kylo stared at her, brows furrowed, waiting for her to respond. His reaction to her answer would be all I needed to know that this wasn’t all some big act from him, that whatever was between them was true and not something he had told her to attract her.
Isabella parted her lips and then closed them.
I grasped her jaw a bit harder and nodded my head. “How would you feel, my dear Isabella? Truthfully?”
She closed her eyes for the briefest moment and then opened them back up. “My wolf would be heartbroken. She would be weak. She would hate me for pushing him away from her. She loves him.”
“I didn’t ask how your wolf would feel. I asked how you would.”
She furrowed her brows again and frowned. “I would feel broken too.”
Chapter 20
Isabella
Broken. I would feel broken and incomplete without Kylo, and I hated it so much.
Roman gently grasped my face, brushing his thumbs across my cheeks. His eyes shifted between a hundred different shades of gold until they eventually settled on their rich hazel color. And all I could see within them was that same look of failure and sorrow I had seen in them when I told him I had to leave for the Lycans.
When he parted his lips, I braced myself for the harshest rejection that I would ever face. We were mates. He had marked me. I had marked him. We wore each other’s mate’s necklaces like they were a second skin. And I knew that he would tell me that he couldn’t be with someone who would leave him for another man.
If he did that, I wouldn’t even fight him about it. I deserved it. I was selfish for needing two mates.
“This is my worst fear,” Roman finally said, looking at me and then Kylo. “My own mate being taken away from me and putting herself into so much danger that I could lose her as she tries to save the world.”
Kylo stepped forward. “I won’t hurt her.”
“Kylo, please,” I whispered.
I didn’t want anyone to start a fight. If Roman was going to reject me, I wanted him to just get it over with now. I couldn’t handle all the damn anticipation of it.
Roman walked over to the bushes of moonflowers, brushing his fingers against the petals. “What did the Moon Goddess say to you about saving the world?” he asked instead of rejecting me straightaway. “What is coming?”
“It’s not coming,” Kylo said, clearing his throat. “Corruption is already here.”
I gazed at Kylo, my heart pounding at the thought of a darkness plaguing our people. “There’s a darkness in this world that is spreading among werewolves fairly quickly. His name is Dolus. He corrupts the minds of his victims, corrupts them to control them to enter the darkness. The Moon Goddess is currently holding him back, but once his corruption spreads to at least thirty percent of the population, he will truly be unleashed.”
“Ryker?” he asked.
“Ryker was one of the corrupted.”
After rocking back on his heels with his arms crossed over his chest, he turned away from me. “Who is at risk?”
I frowned at him and looked at my feet. At this particular moment, he could be someone at risk because he was hurting and weak. He could be corrupted because of my connection to Kylo.
When I didn’t say anything, he grasped my wrist. “Me? I’m someone at risk, aren’t I?”
I grasped his face and drew my thumbs against his cheekbones. “Your mind is strong, Roman. You’re strong. So strong. Yes, there is a chance that you could be corrupted … but I won’t let him hurt you—ever.”
Kylo stepped forward and stared Roman directly in the eyes. “Neither will I.”
Roman clenched his jaw and then unclenched it. He looked back at me and clutched my hand harder. A breeze blew some strands of his light-brown hair across his forehead. “What do you have to do?” he asked.
“The Moon Goddess told me that I will need to use the Lycans and Kylo needs to use the Wolf’s Flower to defeat the darkness. I’m expecting that it will be a difficult journey because Dolus is a god, a deceptive one.”
“So, we’re going to war?” Roman asked.
“We’re going to war,” I confirmed.
Roman looked back at Kylo. “Isabella, I need to talk to Kylo privately.”
“Wait, you want me to leave?” I asked, gazing between the two men and trying to figure out if they would kill each other if I left.
While Roman was hyped up on adrenaline, he seemed relatively calm—too calm.
“Okay. I’ll go over to Vanessa’s for tonight.” I gnawed on the inside of my lips. “Can … can I have a kiss good night?”
Roman grabbed my hips and drew me closer to him, placing his lips on mine. It wasn’t for long, just a few moments, but it was filled with as much passion as the kiss he had given me in bed earlier. “I’ll text you when we’re finished.”
After hesitantly nodding, I gathered some essentials from our bedroom and left for Vanessa’s. I wanted to stay behind, to see what they were talking about, but I had to trust them not to tear each other apart. They needed to get along—or at least act as if they did—because the world was going to shit, and I didn’t know if we’d all survive it.
Chapter 21
Kylo
Roman popped the caps off two beers and handed me one. “Let’s get one thing straight,” he said, walking toward the blazing bonfire in his backyard. “We’re not friends.”
I sat on a damp log across from him and sipped the drink. “We don’t have to be friends.”
With his hand clasped hard around the bottle, he leaned forward toward the fire. “I don’t accept this. I don’t like this. I fucking hate this thing going on between you and my mate,” he said, orange flames reflecting in his bitter gold eyes.
After taking another swing, I nodded. “I know you do.”
“I fucked shit up too much and tried so hard to get Isabella back. I don’t plan on losing her again.” He tipped his drink back. “I will not lose her again.”
Not knowing what the hell he wanted me to say, I decided on the truth. “Well, I like her.”
There had been far too many lies barked between our younger selves. We were both men now. Roman might’ve had to mature faster, but he had a long way to go to really understand what love was and what love wasn’t, how he should act in a relationship with his mate and how he shouldn’t act.
“You love her,” Roman corrected, like he had been thinking about those words for so long that they turned sour on his tongue. “You love what is mine, just like I loved what was yours.”
The fire crackled.
I kicked my boot up on the log he sat on, dirt blowing in the slight breeze, and leaned forward. “Except you never loved Scarlett. You can tell Isabella that you did, but you never saw the real side of her. You wouldn’t have loved the way that she screamed and cried and begged for me to love her when you found your mate. You wouldn’t have loved the way she left you late at night to go off on her own adventures, deep into the woods with the rogues. You wouldn’t have loved the way she told you that you were the most amazing person in the entire world and then left you crying in bed every night and wondering if you were enough. You wouldn’t have loved the emotional damage that she would’ve caused you if you’d stayed with her long enough.”
It had been difficult to see at the time, but Scarlette and I had both been abusive toward each other. Maybe that was why I had refused to be with anyone since her. I was scared that I would hurt another woman and that she would hurt me too.
Roman sipped his beer and sighed. “You’re right. I probably wouldn’t have.”
In the past four years, that was the first bit of understanding we’d ever had.
“I really love Isabella,” I said after another gulp.
She had faults. Everyone did. But she was better to me than Scarlett ever had been. She was strong, confident, stoic almost. And something about her always made me smile.
“The way the moon bounces off her skin. The way her laugh echoes through the fores
t late at night.”
“Her smile … her fucking breathtaking smile.” Roman stared into the fire, the corner of his lip curling up. “And her eyes filled with so much passion for the people and the things she loves the most.”
“Her grace.”
“Her willpower.”
“Her dominance. Goddess, I love her dominance.”
Roman chuckled. “You wouldn’t like it in the bedroom.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a woman being dominant in the bedroom.”
“Isabella isn’t dominant in the bedroom. She’ll get on your very last nerve.” Roman smirked as he stared into the fire, looking as if he was lost in his own little world. “In the most fucked up, irresistible way possible.” He paused, suddenly tense, and looked me directly in the eye. “When you were at the party, did you and she …”
“No,” I said honestly. “We didn’t.”
He covered his face with his hands and exhaled, shoulders slumping forward.
While I didn’t know what to say, I knew that I had to apologize and clear the air between us—to get through this and to help him realize that Isabella needed me just as much as she needed him. We had once been best friends, and now, we were bitter enemies. It couldn’t be like that anymore, no matter how much each of us wanted it.
“Listen, Roman.” I placed my beer on the ground, rested my forearms on my knees, and leaned forward. “I’m sorry for not being here for you when your parents were killed. I could’ve tried to stop it, but I didn’t. I handled the Scarlett situation in an immature way, and I truly apologize for everything that I have done and everything that my father did to you and your family.”
Roman gazed up at me, grimacing slightly, and nodded. “I don’t blame you for it.” He paused. “I shouldn’t have taken Scarlett from you. It was a shitty thing to do, especially to one of my best friends. I was angry and upset after finding out what happened to my mom.”
“Scarlett is gone now.” I shook my head. “We’re both better off without her.”
Another awkward silence fell upon us until Roman finally spoke up. “Isabella loves you,” he said. “I can see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice.” He looked at me. “And I need your word that you’re going to do every-fucking-thing you can do to protect her, that you’re willing to give your life to protect my Isabella as much as I am.”
I looked him right in the eye. “I would die for her, Roman.”
Chapter 22
Isabella
Lying on Vanessa’s living room floor in one of her plush pink robes, I grabbed a strawberry from the bowl between us and stared up at the ceiling fan spinning in circles. All I could think about since the moment I’d arrived was Roman and Kylo, alone, at the pack house.
“So,” Vanessa said, pouring herself some more white wine. Dressed in a silky black robe, she lay back down next to me and rested her head on my shoulder. “What’s a secret that you’ve never told anyone, even Roman?”
The wine hit me hard, making me just a bit woozy. “I don’t have many secrets.”
She rolled onto her stomach. “Oh, come on. I’m sure that you have something.”
“There’s nothing.” I rolled onto my tummy, too, and sipped my wine. “Noth-ing.”
Vanessa curled a finger around a strand of my brown hair and released it, watching it bounce. “Nothing?” she asked, kicking her legs back and forth. “I don’t believe it.”
“Okay, fine. But you can’t tell anyone.”
With wide eyes, she leaned forward. “Tell me!”
“I remember when Roman started dating Scarlett. He was thirteen, fourteen maybe. And I hated her, absolutely hated her—more than I hated you at the time. I hated her so much that I made Derek steal her purse and fart in it.”
She burst out in laughter, tears streaming down her face. “Oh Goddess, you did not.”
I clutched my stomach, bursting out in laughter at the memory. “She opened it up to get some of her cherry lip gloss and … and … oh my Goddess …” All I could remember was the pure look of terror on her face. “Derek and I watched from the trees and could smell it from there.”
After wiping some tears from cheeks, she giggled some more. “Oh damn. I don’t think I have anything that could beat that.”
Taking another sip of my wine, I nudged her. “It doesn’t have to be funny, just a secret.”
“I …” she said, taking a deep breath. “I have a secret that I haven’t told anyone really.”
“Not even Jane?”
“Not even Jane.”
“Well, go on. What is it?” I asked, kicking my legs back and forth in the air.
She parted her lips, brows furrowed. “I like …” She bit her red lip. “I like … I like buying knockoff brands instead of designer.”
Oh. That wasn’t what I’d expected, but knowing that she had designer everything, it was surprising.
She gave me a big grin that didn’t reach her eyes, and then she turned onto her back and blew out a deep breath.
“Thank you, Vanessa,” I said after a few moments. “I really needed this.”
She rested her head against my shoulder and inhaled. “Anytime.”
Roman: Pack House. Noon. Lunch with Kylo.
I raised a brow at Roman’s text message and sank into my seat at The Night Raider’s Café to chat with Raj. It was hard for me to believe that they could be civil and act as if they didn’t want to rip each other to pieces. Part of me low-key expected to find Roman sitting on one of the kitchen chairs with a platter holding Kylo’s head for lunch.
Vanessa strolled up to our table in a small white tank top and tight black jeans with an iced coffee. “So, should we expect that everyone who has been in contact with Ryker and the rogues might be infected by the darkness or might be influenced by the darkness in some type of way more so than a wolf who hasn’t been in contact?” she asked, sitting beside Raj.
“I’m not sure, and I don’t think the Moon Goddess even knows.” Bouncing my knee up and down, I gazed over at Raj. “But that’s a lot of people—every single one of the Lycans, everyone in Roman’s pack.”
Raj swallowed hard. “Jane.”
“How is Jane?” I asked, breaking a coffee-cake muffin into two pieces. “I haven’t seen her.”
Vanessa frowned. “Neither have I.”
“She’s been acting off lately. She’s been having some nightmares about the rogues capturing me and her and taking us back to their hideout; she wakes up in a cold sweat every morning,” Raj said, rubbing a hand across his face. “She told me that she’s had bad dreams ever since her parents died though.”
Vanessa wrapped her red lips around her straw and sipped. “She never had nightmares before, as far as I knew, not even after her parents died.”
“Roman has nightmares sometimes,” I admitted. “Sometimes, when he’s awake, he stares at nothingness and starts hyperventilating. I’ve only seen it once, but he’s told me that it happens more often than I think.”
Raj shook his head. “These nightmares aren’t normal. They’re fucking terrifying, even for me. Last night, she was screaming at the top of her lungs and then muttering utter nonsense for nearly an hour. When she woke up, she had no recollection of any of it.”
Vanessa strummed her fingers against her blue coffee cup. “I want to go see her, but she’s always busy.”
I opened my phone’s Notes app and typed Jane’s name. “She could be corrupted.”
“Who else?” Vanessa asked.
“Has anyone seen Derek?” I asked.
Since I had gotten back from my weekend away, I hadn’t had the chance to check up on him. We had been drifting apart ever since I became leader of the Lycans, and it broke my heart, not having my best friend around.
Vanessa shook her head. “He didn’t show up for practice yesterday morning. And … he’s been acting more aggressive, if you ask me. He was all up in my business the other night.” She scrunched up her nose and looked at me. “Like, sexually.�
��
I raised my brows. “Did you have sex with him?”
“Oh, no! Gross. He’s not even my type and …” She lowered her voice and looked away. “Ugh, men.”
Sighing deeply through my nose, I typed Derek’s name and frowned at the thought of my best friend being corrupted by Dolus. “How can we contain this?” I whispered more to myself than to them.
“We need to contact every single pack and ask them about each of their pack members.”
“That could take weeks,” Vanessa said.
And we didn’t have that kind of time.
“It has to be done sooner. We can’t allow corruption to spread,” I said.
The Lycans were strong, but we alone weren’t strong enough against this enemy. We fought rogues, not gods, not corruption this divine. We needed people who couldn’t be corrupted so easily, warriors who could possibly withstand these kinds of attacks against the werewolf species and our goddess.
“We need humans,” I said. “Ones who are strong and can help us.”
“What exactly would a human alliance do for us in this war?” Vanessa asked.
“The Moon Goddess only mentioned werewolves being corrupted, not humans. If we can find some who will help us, we might just have a chance, if the time comes, to get close to Dolus and kill him.” I furrowed my brows and sighed, knowing that using humans might not even work. “I’m just spitballing ideas here.”
Raj stole a piece of my muffin. “I know someone. She knows about the werewolves species and has been training alongside Alpha Ming’s pack in the south. If we get her the right training—both physical and mental—she could be as strong as a Lycan.”
“Who is she?” I asked.
“Her name is Naomi.”
Raj glanced down at his phone as a message from Jane popped up on the screen. “Ming leads practice every morning at ten a.m. If we run there now, we could get there to watch her practice and talk to her.”
It would take about an hour to run to his pack and an hour to run back, which would be cutting it close to lunch with Roman and Kylo. But I had more pressing matters on my hands right now than lunch. I needed to gather as many humans and every strong wolf as possible to join the Lycans before corruption spread like wildfire.