Alessia Stocklin and Ezra Withers are polar opposites, but they can certainly agree on one thing: their mutual hate for each other.
He's an Alpha deadset on killing every rogue he comes across, while she's a vigilante - known as Nightshade - intent...
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I believed Alpha Byron when he said I was going to die. Just like him, I could feel death closing in on me, ready to welcome me home. I had confronted death before when an arrow narrowly missed my heart, but it hadn't felt like this.
Even though there was no pack doctor nearby when I escaped death last time, my heart still beat with a sliver of hope. It could have been the adrenaline or delirium — I couldn't decipher which — but no such feeling coursed through me as the pool of my blood began to dry. I was in and out of consciousness, barely staying awake long enough to open my eyes for more than a second.
I didn't know where Byron was. The dose of my blood would have slithered its way through his bloodstream by now. I didn't know how long he'd have before the infection took over. I didn't even know if he had a cure, but if my last act on this earth was to inject Alpha Byron with my blood, I knew I would accept my death with little objection.
It would all be worth it.
Byron was the reason my parents were dead. He was the reason Link's parents were dead. He was the reason most of Meridian was dead. He had blood on his hands for as far as the eye could see. It brought me great joy to know his discovery — the power within Alpha Gene blood — would be his downfall. At least, it was the cause of his downfall in my mind.
My lips twitched, and I could feel the crusted blood on the edges of my mouth begin to crack. A faint smile broke out on my lips. I would be reunited with my parents. Mom and Dad — I could imagine — would not delight in my death, but I knew they'd be waiting for me with open arms.
My breath hitched, my body hiccuping in a jarring cackle. I would be reunited with my parents, but I'd be taken away from Apollo. He'd be all alone in this world without even his stand-in father figure, Alpha Byron.
Again, my lips twitched. I knew Link would step in. He had promised as much when I thought I was about to meet my end. He would not really be alone. At the thought of Apollo having a shoulder to lean on, I felt my breaths coming in more labored. I couldn't catch my breath.
I knew I was dying.
But my death was turning out to be a slow affair. My breaths were jagged, but they were persistent. I had to focus on making sure I took one breath after the other or else I was afraid the world would start to fade away.
What was there to be afraid of? I wondered, my mind muggy.
I didn't have time to contemplate my musings as my mind slowly drifted off into nothingness.
When my eyes opened again, I let out a prolonged groan. I was still alive, and the pain engulfing my body was becoming more pronounced. My head felt like there was an ax stuck in the base of my skull while my abdomen felt like over a hundred tiny knives pierced my skin.
I moaned, clutching my stomach before I tried to hoist my body up. I placed my elbows on the rough, wooden floors, trying to use them to propel me into a sitting position. It was no use, though. I was only able to lift my body a few centimeters in the air before my arms shook and I collapsed back on the floor.
