Chapter 7

THE WOLF

Energy spiked through my limbs, and my foot bounced, causing my knee to hit the side of the car with a soft thump. I had to be right, and she was with Lucian; my bond felt the closing of the distance. With every mile the sickness swirling in my stomach staved off.

I would see her soon. She would know I hadn’t died.

I breathed out slow. Guilt would eat her up after she regained her humanity. My Runt. None of it was her fault, but it would take a group effort to convince her.

“Would you stop shaking your leg?” Elliot snapped and leaned forward, poking his head between the two front seats. “I am more than capable of driving. Who came up with this seating hierarchy?”

Enzo threw his elbow back, forcing Elliot to jerk back to avoid a hit to the face. Tanner looked over at Enzo, shaking his head.

“Don’t hurt the fangs. Maya seems fond of them,” Elliot huffed, lounging back against the seats like a boneless cat.

“Drive faster,” I interjected, smacking Enzo’s headrest like he wasn’t already speeding.

“Good idea.” He pressed on the gas and the car jolted forward.

“Although we may survive a collision. The young ones may not?—”

“Turn here,” I interrupted Tanner, digging my fingers into the car seat. Soon I would be with Maya. A throb pulsed through my heart. It would be the first time I held her with my mind clear and our bond no longer veiled. The weakness that had haunted me for so long had dissipated; all that confusion, fear, and worry, gone. Only Maya mattered.

I’d been reborn but simultaneously dragged down by nauseating guilt. I forced myself to breathe, since holding my breath proved counterproductive.

Lucian’s large house stretched into the gray clouds. It had always been a beacon of light in my dreary life with Myron—a symbol of hope, all because of the slip of a girl who had resided in that home. With all the darkness seeping into my life, visiting her became what I’d looked forward to as a child.

I was not the same boy from back then. I couldn’t be. But nothing hurt more than knowing how she had been stolen from me—all spawning from some bitch’s jealousy.

After shedding the curse, I was finally thinking clearly. She had to accept me. Even if she never forgave me for my bullshit, I would work every day forward to wash away the repulsive sins she’d seen me commit.

Gravel spat from under the tires as Enzo zoomed up the drive. The beams of the vehicle illuminated the front. I wasn’t sure which of us was out of the car quicker, but it seemed to be a race to the door.

Enzo and I collided. Grunting, I shoved him, and he returned it as we jockeyed over the threshold. The doorframe scraped against my chest, and we squeezed into the foyer at the same time. Her sweetness mingled with Lucian’s familiar smell. I inhaled, focusing on her , but I didn’t have to go far to follow my nose.

I stumbled to a stop at the gaping opening into the living room, panting.

Maya lay on the rug in the middle of the room, her arms outspread beside her, and her head lulling to the side. The moonlight spilling through the windows illuminated her tan skin with pale light.

“Oh fuck,” Enzo croaked and fell to the ground with a hard thump beside her. “What’s wrong with her?” His hands hovered over her like he didn’t know what to do with them.

Maya groaned and rolled her head side to side. Her eyes were slit as they turned toward Enzo, and she gave him a loopy smile.

I recognized that expression. She was wasted off her ass. Her unfocused eyes didn’t settle on anything in specific.

“Maya,” Tanner whispered, the name carrying too many emotions.

When did Tanner and Elliot enter? I hadn’t sensed them step next to me.

“Maya,” Enzo called, gripping her chin, and turning it toward him. She grinned and snickered.

“Sunshine,” she giggled. “I called you that ages ago.” Her eyes widened. “Do you know what I saved you as on my phone? It’s a secret,” she stage-whispered. Elliot inched closer.

“You’ve been drinking.” Tanner crouched and plucked up the bottled, tipping it to look at the label.

Maya pouted and yanked the bottle from his hand. “You were mad at me when I last saw you.” She chuckled. “You know, before I lost myself and turned psycho on you guys.” She blinked her glassy eyes. “You hate me now, don’t you?” A deep sigh wrenched from her stomach, and it made my heart throb.

“Never—”

“You,” she slurred and shot straight up, gripping Elliot’s collar. “I’m sorry you were pulled into the bullshit, vampire.” She shoved him away and thumped back onto the ground, staring blank-faced at the skylight. “Beckett is gone,” she whispered, and her beautiful face crumpled.

“Maya,” I croaked. Her head rolled and eyes flicked over to peek at me. A shudder jolted through her body. Her lip quivered, and those brown eyes welled with tears that glinted from the illuminating moonlight. A stab to the gut would have hurt less.

“You’re dead,” she wheezed. “I killed you.”

The emotion in those few words would forever haunt me.