Wren's POV

There’s nothing to say.
A father doesn’t go beyond blood ties.
It doesn’t go beyond progeny.
To think love is the key.
How wrong of me.
How wrong.
“Wolf of mine...”
I stay in my darkness, eyes shut, the dams that are my lids, broken for the flow is unstoppable.
In usual circumstances, I would have gone to a bar and played Drussian roulette with the Chimeras, our waisted selves middle-fingering Life and Death... Most probably gotten my drunk self that tattoo I never dared to get and enjoyed my last supper with my crew.
But things have changed.
It’s because of Kilian. He’s messed up with my mind, poisoned my heart. And I can’t function to think something could happen to him.
My chair swivels to the left, and his body’s warmth soon moves between my knees. It’s a torso bedding itself against my thighs.
“You, um...” Kilian surfs his hands over mine, his words barely audible across my sobs. “...once said to me that it’s in the sun that you rise, in the stars that you shine, and...”
The pressure of his fingers unveils my face, the exposure of it brutal.
“...and in the wind that you let go.”
My only feeling at this moment is that of abandonment. There is no way to describe how lost I am.
As I sit here, the call to take methadone is stronger than ever. Shit.
It seems that the lone wolf has not been left behind... She’s been sentenced to death by her father.
Father...
“Please look at me.”
As my gaze collides with Kilian, Jinx begins to writhe, whimpering from a force powerful enough to constrict my heart. Two planets appear before me. There are layers of atmosphere encapsulating them, those thin films of burnt orange coating their surfaces.
Out of Space. Kilian is an out-of-Space experience...
I watch this man sit on his heels, clasping my hands as if praying with me.
In every swipe of his thumb over my skin, I fade thinking my actions are wrong. How can I not feel loved when his hands are holding me this right?.. How can I regret losing my family when his presence feels like a first choice?
“Pretty wolf, come with m—
“HUURAAYYY! YAYYYY!”
We both blink at each other, baffled by the shouts and cheers behind the door.
And this precise door swings wide open, making every bone of my body jump.
“Alpha! Pallamir’s fleet! It’s—They are retreating! We won!”
Joy and Hataro are sweating. This excess of effort, don’t they know it’s for nothing?
But then, while one is naively grinning, Joy channels her doubts into mine. Under her blue eyes, the white of them shows more than usual.
We’re not stupid.
Those fists of hers, how they fold, veins starting to appear as she tightens her fear in them. “Spades...,” I hear. It’s as if she’s far—a rumor coming from her lips as I envision this place turning into a furnace.
“I’m ok.” What else can I tell her? That tomorrow nothing will remain aside charred bones?
And Kilian is right to call Hataro a kid. Even if his brows crease from time to time as he catches his breath. To think Pallamir would submit to a 24-hour old battle is foolish.
“Hataro, let’s find the other Chimeras. We need to-to tell them the great news,” Joy mutters. That clasp over Hataro’s hand. It’s one of a mother. In the face of war and its lethal outcome, awareness transcends reason. Feelings and emotions surge inside us because we know this is our last breath. What they sense is not the last ray of hope. It’s death.
In Kilian’s throat, a lump bulges as the duo's skittering feet leave us.
His smile seems tired.
The Alpha of the Sand Rose pack is faking it.
But then, we all do at one point. Don’t we not?
“Congratulations, Kilian,” I titter in between spasms.
Despite my tears, his thumb prevents them from falling.
“We can celebrate now.” And to my words, he transfixes my running wet lines, smearing them liquid salt slowly over my cheek.
He knows it now.
My father will strike. He won’t wait.
“Tonight is our last night together.”
“Don’t say that,” Kilian growls. “You are missing something you had once so much in you.”
Once...
What makes people hesitate to tell me the truth? “Why don’t you let me pronounce this name?”
“Little wolf, it’s time for you to meet them.”
“Who?”
“They are the reason why we keep fighting.
Come.”
