LOGINChapter 57ANTONIOMarcus survived.I still haven't fully made peace with that fact. I never resented it but it sat strangely in my chest, like something that should have brought me relief and somehow doesn't. He walked out of that hospital under his own power.I watched him from the steps as his bags were loaded into the car Silverpine sent. He moved carefully like a man who had learned firsthand, that the body is a more fragile thing than he'd ever believed. He hadn't spoken much since he woke up. The Marcus who arrived here ten days ago was quieter than the one I remembered. Then again, near-death left marks that no physician can treat.I wouldn’t say we were close. We were two men who loved the same woman in entirely different ways. Grief had a way of bonding people together and over the past weeks that connection was enough. Neither of us blamed the other but we blamed ourselve. Neither of us said it aloud, because saying it would have
Chapter 56Christiana POVI wasn’t confined to the dungeons but my room which was comfortable and quite luxurious by any standards. As far as prisons go, it was the best deal anybody could ever hope for. The meals were grand and exquisite; they still arrived in time, the guards treated me with respect and I still moved around the premises.The only thing was I always had a guard who shadowed me as I moved round the compound.The only thing was I always had a guard who shadowed me as I moved round the compound. The guard was the physical manifestation of Antonio’s broken trust in me. The doors that gently shut in my face during an ongoing conversation felt like whip on my back. I was shunned and that was the real punishment burir didn’t sting like the thought that filled my head every minute since my ‘incarceration’. Antonio chose Annabelle over me.It was a crue
Chapter 55Antonio POVI was in the office, leaning back in my seat as I rubbed my forehead. I slugged down another cup of coffee. At this rate, I would probably create a record by afternoon if one didn’t already exist.The door opened and Raine walked in. There was a flash of surprise on his face but he quickly hid it. He looked me over and that same sympathetic glimmer flashed across his eyes.“Good morning boss. Must be a long day if you are here already.”I appreciated the fact he didn’t bring it up.He continued, “I guess, you would like the update on yesterday’s mission?”“Let’s get on with it.”He turned up the screen on the wall and there was a flurry of images. It was a scene of carnage, beautiful and deadly.“We were about to drive them back. Barely just.” There was a little silence for the dead. “I have begun planni
Chapter 54Antonio POVI sat down in the office thinking about nothing else but Annabelle. She was alive. I had no evidence but I was sure of it.Raine came knocked and entered my office. The look on his face told me something was amiss. What was it this time around? It seemed like I had opened Pandora box unknowingly; it’s been from catastrophe to another without a damn break in between.“Are you going to spit out or should I pry it out of you?” I growled at him.“There is an unknown pack at the southern end of our border and they aren’t friendly.”“Do we know this for certain?” My jaw flexed in anticipation.“Yes. The border patrol head was sent back in a box.”“Splendid.”“Alpha?”I didn’t respond to Raine. My wolf stirred at the prospect of violence. WarFinally, a good excuse to blow off steam. I stood up, “summ
Chapter 53 Damon POVThe gathering had gotten to that time of the night when nobody was quite ready to leave but nobody had anything new to say either. Music drifted from somewhere near the porch. People drifted with it.I was aware of the women across the room the way I was aware of rain starting outside, or a change in the wind or a car some meters behind me. I took note of it and moved on. There was nothing in it that asked for more attention than that.I'd been coming to Sleepy Hollow for years. Sometimes, I stayed but never long enough for anyone to expect it of me. I'd show up, fix whatever needed fixing, settle whatever needed settling, and leave before anyone thought to ask when I'd be back. It was never about being thanked for it. I didn't think anyone here even kept count of all the small things I'd quietly held together over the years.Arrive. Work. Leave. That was the deal and I liked it that way.And in every single one of those visits, I
Chapter 52Annabelle POVI was in the living room, buried in one of the books I took from the shelf, with a cup of coffee by my side. Damien was at the back, mending some part of the fence nature had slowly but consistently damaged.Earlier this morning, I was at the back of the house for no other reason than curiosity. I realized when I woke up, I hadn’t toured that part of the house. I came out of my room and went there. Prepared. That was the word that came to mind not empty. It looked the area had been cleared for something.Damon didn’t look like the gardening type but then again what did I really know about the man. I looked at the clearing again, could it be some sort of meditation place? Or a place he could work out. Suddenly, a couple of deer stampeded into the compounded through a gaping hole in the fence.A scream escaped my mouth and they ran off. Almost immediately, I heard feet moving quickly through the house. Dam







