*It’s not real. It’s not real. *
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” His lips slowly curled up into a smile I was very familiar with.
*He’s not real. He’s not real. *
“You look good, wolfy,” he said.
I swallowed loudly and tried to get my body to cooperate with the signals my brain was sending it.
“Y-you’re d-dead,” I croaked.
He laughed, making me flinch. “Do you know how many times I’ve been underestimated?”
I should have gone with Eva but I was too much of a pussy to question Dad about the photos. My inability to push my fear away has once again landed me in trouble. The man responsible for the fear was standing only a few feet from me.
A man that Lucas had killed.
“Your father used the help of a witch to bond you and your sister, I used one to fool all of you,” Oliver said. “Besides, I received a. . .warning from a friend about the plan they had.”
“L-Lucas?” I had to know how deep his hatred for Dad went.
“Lucas?” He scoffed. “Do you really think that he would have thrown you under the bus when he went through all that trouble to rescue you in the first place?”
If it hadn’t been Lucas who warned him then it had to be someone else, someone in Grayson’s pack who had known about the plan.
“I didn’t want to rush things again,” Oliver was saying. “Last time I allowed my anger to control me, but not this time.”
“Y-you won’t get away with—”
“Kidnapping you again?” he interrupted. “I’m not counting on there being any survivors left when I leave. Have you ever heard of the saying and eyed for an eyes, Ariana?”
There was a flutter in my chest. It took me a moment to realize exactly what I had felt because of the fear and panic coursing through me.
“Dad won’t l-let you take m-me,” I whispered.
The smile was back on his lips again. “He failed once,” Oliver said. “He will fail again.”
My eyes dropped to his hand when it twitched at his side. Fear flashed through me when my eyes locked on the familiar blade he held.
I felt like a deer caught in the headlight of an oncoming car. I knew I had to move but I couldn’t, not with the knife that had caused me so much pain in plain sight.
“I was hoping that Lucas would be the one to kill you, but he allowed his emotions to get the best of him.”
I forced my eyes away from his hands and back up to his. They widened when I realized that he had used the knife as a distraction. Grabbing the book closest to me, I threw it at him as I got up and ran for the door.
Something flew past my head, making me stumble but thankfully I didn’t freeze up again.
There were three safe rooms in the house and the closest one was in the kitchen. All I had to do was get to it and lock myself in.
“There’s no time to play chase!” Oliver hissed from behind me.
A scream fell from my lips when he grabbed a handful of my hair and jerked me to a stop. He pressed his chest to my back as he pulled my head back a few more inches.
“It’s a shame that we won’t be continuing or game of chase. I was looking forward to watching Lucas making a fool out of himself,” he said against my ear.
The tip of the cold blade brushed against my neck, making my stomach clench.
“I supposed there’s some time for a short game,” he whispered.
I squeezed my eyes closed and sucked in a breath. If I was going to die today then there was no way I was going down without a fight. I was tired of being weak which was why I had taken the first step to recovering.
The blade stopped over the pulse beating at the crook of my neck for a few seconds before it slid down over my collarbone to dip underneath the material of my shirt.
“It’s such a shame that someone as pretty as you are part animal.”
I elbow him and tried to make a run for it but a fist connected with my lower back, making numbing pain flash through me. I hit the floor hard enough to knock the air from my lungs. Struggling to suck air into my lungs, I rolled onto my back.
Oliver loomed over me with his lips twisted into a sinister sneer. “Look at you, trying to fight me.”
My fingers twitched but my body remained frozen.
“Making a deal with a witch has some benefits.” He straddled my hips as he pressed the tip of the blade into my skin. “Can you feel it, Ariana?”
I blinked up at him.
“Can you feel the poison moving through your veins?” He pressed the knife down harder, making it sink deeper. “In about a minute you will start boiling from the inside out. I wish that I could stay around to watch the. . .” he smirked, “explosion.”
All I could feel was the blood soaking my shirt. The wound had gone numb. Was that the first sign of the poison spreading through my body?
“Don’t be scared.” He leaned down and pressed the bloody tip of the knife against my cheek. “Your Mommy’s waiting for you in hell.”
There was no warning.
Eva tackled him, her jaws instantly locked around his arm.
My arms curled up into a satisfied smile when Oliver screamed in pain. Eva should rip him apart but she needed to make his suffer a bit before she killed him.
I turned onto my side and searched the room until I located them. For a moment it looked like she had the upper hand. Eva’s teeth were still lodged into his arm. She was unaware of the weapon Oliver had reached for with his free hand.
I sucked in a breath to warn her but no sound escaped.
The knife he had used to stab me was on the floor only a few inches from me. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees and crawled closer to it. Once my fingers had wrapped around the handle, I got to my feet.
Oliver had already taken a lot away from me, I wasn’t going to stand back and watch him kill my sister. I’d rather die than have something happening to her.
A grunt fell from his lips as he bucked under the weight of her body. The movement made her jaws loosen slightly. He raised the weapon.
I was next to them in a second, digging the knife into his thigh. Oliver screamed and kicked out with his left leg. His boot connected with my stomach, sending me flying backwards and into the wall. Pain shot through the back of my skull, making black spots appear in my vision.
Eva’s whine was a distraction from the pain. I blinked rapidly and focused on them.
“Fucking bitch,” he hissed. “I should have let them kill you.”
He was on his feet, glaring down at Eva who lay on her side panting. Oliver’s back was to me which gave me the perfect opportunity to attack him.
I growled and jumped onto his back. My fingers clawed at his face as I sunk my teeth into his neck. He stumbled and reached back to grab a fist full of hair.
Tears sprung to my eyes.
Instead of trying to get away, I used the pain to fuel me. My teeth sunk deeper as my legs slid around his waist. His blood filled my mouth, making my stomach roll with nausea. There was no way I could ignore the blood filling my mouth but I knew that letting go would get us killed.
My foot brushed something against his thigh. It took me a moment to realize what it was. Lifting my foot, I placed it on the handle of the knife and pushed down as hard as I could.
Oliver’s hold on my hair tightened as he stumbled backwards. Something scrapped against the floor and suddenly we were tumbling backwards.
Pain shot through my body when we hit the ground. My hold slipped slightly. I screamed when Oliver plunged a knife into my thigh. He twisted it to the left and then to the right before he pulled it out and then plunged it back in.
I was unable to hold on to him with the agonizing pain flashing through me.
Freed, Oliver rolled away, a hand pressed to the side of his neck while the other reached down to pull the knife from my thigh. He slowly straightened and glared down at me. With a sneer, he took a step closer, knife raised and ready to finish the job, but then his eyes darted up and widened.
He froze.
“Miss me?” a familiar voice questioned.
“You—”
I blinked and suddenly he was behind Oliver. Before Oliver could turn around, Lucas gripped his hair and pulled his head to the side to expose the side of his neck I had bitten earlier.
His eyes locked with mine as he sunk his teeth into Oliver’s neck. A groan fell from his lips as his eyes fluttered closed.
The knife cluttered to the floor. A pained moan fell from Oliver’s lips.
Lucas’s eyes opened again and locked with mine as he continued to suck the blood from Oliver’s body.
“Fuck,” Lucas cursed a few minutes later when raised his head and took a step back, making Oliver’s body drop to the ground. “He wasn’t supposed to die so soon. I had plans for him.”
Frowning, he swiped the back of his hand across his mouth and stepped over Oliver’s body to kneel at my side.
I flinched when he reached out, making him pause. When I didn’t move away immediately, he closed the space between us and pressed his palm to my cheek. I blew out a breath and leaned into his touch.
My eyes darted to the body. “I-is he d-dead?”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “He won’t ever hurt you again, doll.”
Tears filled my eyes. He was dead. But then I remembered what he had said about the witch. My lips parted but the words died down when I looked back at Lucas.
“You’re here.” Panic hit. “Y-you can’t be here! Dad will kill you!”
“I’ll handle him.” His thumb brushed across my cheekbone.
“What are you?” Eva asked as she approached.
Lucas’s hand dropped as he looked at her. “I’ll explain everything to you later, firecracker. Do you think you’ll be able to take care of your injuries on your own?”
Eva nodded. She said something else but I didn’t hear a word because I was too focused on him. Lucas was here. He was alive.
But for how long?
“Breathe, Ariana,” he ordered. “You did amazing, doll. I’m so fucking proud of you for fighting him.”
“I—”
“You need to be strong for a little while longer, okay? Breathe, doll, panic later.”
I nodded.
“Where are you going?” Eva asked him when he stood.
Lucas gave her a half smile. “I’m going to go make sure that your Dad walked away breathing.”
He was gone before she could question him or even try to talk him into staying.
The pack was still under attack.
Oliver was dead.
But all I could really focus on was the fact that Lucas was here and that he wasn’t human.