She's the reason the heart of my family had been torn apart. Because that night, I'd unwittingly chosen her. Now, years later, she's my prey.
[Season 1 'Of Crows and Thorns']
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NELLE:- Cursed by a terrifying dark power, I'm a secret hidden in plai...
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I returned to my mother's favorite room and the small party and headed straight for the patio, snagging a glass of wine along the way.
I rarely drank. But not tonight—hells no!
By the time I'd reached the French doors, I'd downed half the glass.
Well, this will never do.
Spinning on a heel I marched for the wet bar and snatched up a bottle. Whatever kind of red wine it was, I didn't care.
Evvie and Sage entered the room. My nostrils twitched as my wraith-wolf bound up with the rank smell of rotting chicken carcass wafting from his panting breath. Leaning down, I tickled him under the chin as he nudged into my side. I should have called Sage the moment Graysen kissed me and ordered the beast to bite his stupidly beautiful face off.
Evvie instantly knew I was upset, and concern lined her features as she threaded through the Pelans toward me.
But Corné waved out to her.
Well, it was more like an arrogant snap of his fingers.
I snarled softly in his direction.
Indecision made Evvie still, her blue-green eyes flitted between us.
She hitched a shoulder as her hands twined together in apology.
We were sisters and I could read her body language as easily as if she'd spoken aloud the word—Sorry.
I shrugged, scrunching my nose—It's okay.
Besides, I wanted to be alone anyway.
My heels clipped over smooth flagstone pavers as I walked through the French doors and out onto the patio. Like my mother's room, the patio was small and intimate, boxed in with lush plantings of lilac bushes that rustled with a gentle breeze. In one corner was wrought-iron outdoor furniture. I refilled my wine, left the bottle on the table, and wandered over to the stone fence enclosing the patio, that overlooked the lawns. Gripping the cool stone railing with one hand, I took a generous sip of wine. A few contractors had just finished delivering the last of the cargo containers and were leaving. Their trucks' headlights swept across the lawn as they rumbled away.
Storm clouds hovered low against a darkening sky. I sucked in a lungful of air. The atmosphere felt damp, helping to douse the heat burning inside my body. I rubbed my forehead with my inner wrist.
What the hells has just happened?
There'd always been something that charged the air around us whenever Graysen and I were in each other's presence. I never understood it, not since I saw Graysen for the first time when we were children. He was older, messing around with his brothers at a House gathering. I didn't remember what we were all there for, I only remembered finding myself watching him and catching him watching me back. And it had been the same, every single time we'd encountered one another.
