REYNA
As the bell rang, signaling the end of the school day, I grabbed my bag and headed for the door. Several half-shifted boys bounded down the hallway, nearly trampling me.
Even after being at this werewolf school for a while, I still hadnât gotten fully used to it.
I looked over my shoulder to make sure I was in the clear. I was skipping carnival planning today, whether it was a requirement or not. I had to get out of here.
I couldnât focus on anything todayâ¦not knowing that Jed was still being held for a crime I was sure he hadnât committed.
I had tried to talk to Raphael about the evidence I had found, but he said that some old fur underneath a bed in a room that hadnât been cleaned in months wasnât exactly a smoking gun.
And the worst part was that I still hadnât even seen or spoken to Jed. I just wanted to know that he was alright.
I was almost out the door whenâ¦
âReyna!â Derekâs voice echoed down the hallway as he ran toward me.
I sighed. Ever since the other night when weâd almost had sex, heâd been acting differently.
He was texting me non-stop. He always wanted to know where I was. He was being soâ¦~clingy.~
With everything that was going on with Jed, I just needed a bit of space to process my feelings.
Derek caught up to me and slipped his fingers through mine. âWhere are you going? We have the carnival committee.â
âI⦠I just canât deal with that today. I need to clear my head.â
âOh, no problem. We can skip together. We could hang out today. You know, just the two of us,â he responded enthusiastically.
I knew he wanted to finish what we had started, but now just wasnât the right time.
âLook, Derekâ¦â I pulled my hand out of his. âThereâs a lot going on right now, and Iâmâ¦Iâm emotionally spent. I just need some time to be alone andâ¦â
âYou want to be alone?â he asked, looking like Iâd just slapped him.
âNot like that,â I said, trying to let him down easy. âIâm just worried aboutââ
âAbout Jed,â he said, cutting me off. âYeah, I fucking figured.â His tone had quickly turned irritable.
âWhy are you acting so mad?â I asked, annoyed. âHeâs one of my best friends, and heâs in real trouble.â
âDid you ever think that maybe he actually did what he was accused of?â Derek said, snapping at me.
Now I was pissed. âAre you kidding me? Heâs not a monster!â
âMaybe not, but thereâs plenty of those to go around, and youâre always putting yourself right in the middle of them,â he blurted out. âThat group that you hang out with is bad for you, Reyna.â
Now I understood. This was about more than just Jed. âSomeone has to protect Lumen!â I shouted.
âAnd whoâs going to protect you?â he shouted back. âI canât do that if youâre pushing me away!â
âWho said I needed your protection?â I said angrily. âI can handle myself!â
People in the hallways were stopping to watch our shouting match.
âFine, donât listen to me! Just keep stupidly risking your life, and Iâll go on with mine!â
âGood! Go then!â I screamed. Derek stormed out of the school. Tears spilled down my face.
Anya came up behind me and put her arm around my shoulder.
âSorry, sis. I saw the whole thing. Are you okay?â
I nodded and leaned into her. I wanted to take back what Iâd said. âEverythingâs going to shit,â I said, crying.
I knew Derek was just trying to protect me, but he was being too possessive.
And now I wasnât even sure if we were still together.
âYouâre strong, Reyna. Donât let any boys make you feel otherwise,â Anya said softly.
We may have had our differences, but I was touched that Anya was willing to be there for me even when we didnât always get along.
And she was right. I couldnât let my feelings get the best of me. I needed to be stronger than ever right nowâ¦
For Jedâs sake.
JED
I sat isolated in my cell, wondering how I had gotten to this dark place. One minute I was fighting the bad guys, the next I was accused of being one.
I was completely cut off from everyone that I cared about and didnât even know if anyone on the outside was fighting for me.
My only family was my older sister, Juniper. She was the Spymaster of the Millennium Wolves.
If anyone could find out who was framing me, it would be her. But she was on a covert mission tracking the Hunters with Gabriel.
I had no one to rely onâ¦
I was completely alone.
Raphael had left to have a council with the rest of the Millennium Wolves to decide my fate.
I knew he was under intense pressure as the Alpha of the Millennium to handle this with poise and precision.
Every Alpha from every pack was watching him. By now they had all heard the news of the Delta who was on trial for murder.
Despite my tenuous position, all I could think about was Reyna.
~What must she think of me?~
~Does she believe the rumors?~
~Does she think that Iâd actually be capable of that gruesome murder?~
I knew that my hands were clean, but last time Reyna had seen me, they were literally covered in blood.
The look on her face had been heartbreaking. I just wished I could talk to her and make things better.
But I should save my wishes for myself.
It wouldnât be long before Raphael returned to the pack house with a verdict, and I knew the sentence wouldnât be light.
A Millennium Wolf committing murder wasnât a laughing matter. We didnât have any kind of special clemency.
It was an offense punishable by ~death.~
EVE
As I paced the pack house library, I racked my brain, trying to figure out who this new ~vigilante~ might be.
They seemed to have at least peripheral knowledge of our movements and connections, which led me to believe it was someone in our own circle.
Was it actually Jed?
Not only was he connected to us, but he was caught red-handed at the scene of the crime.
Still, there were too many things that didnât add up about Jed being the vigilante. He had absolutely no motive for going rogue.
Was it another one of the Millennium Wolves?
Maybe one of them had beef with Jed and decided to frame him? Theyâd also likely picked up details on our covert task force through Raphael.
But it was definitely a stretch.
Was it Raphael himself?
The thought sent a shiver down my spine. Not only did I have no idea where he was during both murders, but he also had a very violent past.
What if Raphael went rogue because Snow had almost gotten hurt?
What if he found out about Ruben and my visits to the black market and decided to put a ~permanent~ end to that?
I had to stop myself from thinking such thoughts. ~What am I saying? This is my mate that Iâm making a suspect.~
Even so, no one could be ruled out.
My internal game of ~Guess Who~ was suddenly interrupted by a piercing scream.
~Snow!~
I raced out of the library so fast that my feet were practically hovering off the ground. I reached Snowâs room to find the door wide open. Not just wide open, torn off the hinges.
She was cowering in the corner, enveloped in some sort of kinetic shield, her whole body shaking.
As I entered the room, I saw massive claw marks on every surface, including the ceiling. The room was practically destroyed.
There was a hole in the wall where the window used to be. Whatever had broken inside was fucking powerful.
I knelt down, and Snow let her shield drop. She looked exhausted; all of her energy had gone into protecting herself from the creature.
As she closed her eyes, I picked her up in my arms.
Whatever this vigilante was, it viewed Snow as a threat too.
I had to get her out of here.
I started running down the hallway, but I stopped in my tracks when I heard the most ferocious roar Iâd ever heard in my life.
The monster was in the pack house.
I used my cloaking power to make me and Snow as close to invisible as I could and continued running.
I knew it wouldnât mask my scent thoughâ¦
Suddenly, a massive crash echoed through the corridor behind me and heavy footsteps thudded on the floor, bounding toward me.
~ARRRR-ROOOO-OOOOO!~
I didnât look back, I just kept moving, clutching Snow as tightly as possible.
I leaped through the air, trying to get some distance between me and whatever it was that was tearing through the pack house like it was made of paper.
This thing was huge.
No doubt Haze-induced.
And it was hunting us.
I had to get to Raphaelâs office. It was the safest room in the pack houseâenchanted by several magical properties and armed with his personal arsenal of weapons.
It was just down this corridâ
~CRAAAAAAAAAAAASH!~
The wall in front of me splintered open like it was hit with a wrecking ball; it startled me so much that I dropped my cloaking.
Lumbering out of the hole in the wall was the biggest, mangiest, most gruesome werewolf that Iâd ever seen.
It unclenched its jaws and howled.
It had successfully stalked its prey into a corner.
And there was nowhere left to runâ¦