Julian shrugged. "When it comes to Reuben, we never quite know. He's always so busy—especially with the work being done to locate the Maslen and Novak covens, but since it involves you…who knows? His response may come quicker than normal."I winced at the implication behind what he said. Even he was convinced that I was being given some sort of special treatment. I stood still, fists clenched, as I watched Julian walk away.Zinnia rubbed a hand over my elbow. "Hey. Don't mind him. I'm sure you'll be able to prove that any favors Reuben's giving you are deserved.""So you think that Reuben's really giving me favors?" I asked."Come on, Ben…you're the only recruit staying in a guest suite. You flew right through training—and yeah… even I have to admit that you're better than all the people you passed by—but still, your time here as a hawk-in-training is, let's say, out of the ordinary."I looked at the tattoo of

My eyes narrowed at her. "You're a hunter," I reminded her, the memory of the hawk tattoo on her lower back coming to mind. "Why on earth would you want to turn into one of us, the very thing you wanted to completely eradicate?""You used to be a hunter too, right? I saw the tattoo on your back. Yet here you are…""That's different. I wasn't given a choice when I was turned. You're choosing to be one of us. Why?"She was silent but a moment as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Because I don't ever want to feel powerless again… I don't want to feel like I don't have a choice." She paused, her gaze distant. "More than that, I envy what you and Sofia have. I want to have that too…with Sam."I almost choked at her statement. "Sam?"    She looked at me with panic-stricken eyes. "You're not going to tell anyone, are you? Only Kyle and Eli know how I feel for Sam…not even the girls know&hell

The look in Sofia's eyes the last time we spoke haunted me. I told her that I would pursue her, that I would find a way for what we had to last forever, but I hadn't the slightest clue how to do that. She was an ache in my heart that I knew would never go away until I was certain that she would be mine to keep for eternity.When her birthday came, it felt like losing a precious year. The night before it, I was moping around like a dismal sap over the feeling of her slipping away from my grasp. I was being pathetic and I knew it, but I couldn't help myself.Still, the day came and I was determined to set myself aside in order to make her happy. That was her day. I wasn't going to ruin it with my selfishness.I sneaked into her room in the wee hours of what could be considered as morning at The Shade. I was disturbed to see that her beautiful face was marred with agitation as she whispered in her sleep. She was clutching her blanket so tightly, her knuckles had be

Everything started out as planned. We flew by helicopter to New York. Since I'd been paired with Zinnia, I was supposed to stick with her at all times. After landing on the rooftop of a building right across the street from our mark, the rest of the team quickly ran toward their assigned positions. I was about to do the same thing, but Zinnia quickly grabbed a hold of my arm. "Wait…" she whispered. "What?" I asked impatiently. "We're supposed to get into position, Zinnia…" Cat-like, her eyes darted from one side of the roof to the other. Her gaze stopped on a specific spot on the rooftop. "Zinnia! Ben!" our squad leader, Quinn, spat out in a muffled hiss. "What are you two doing?" My eyes widened when I saw a red dot on Zinnia's forehead. I was about to push her to the ground, but she had already done so, screaming, "Duck!" before tackling me to the ground. Gunshots were fired and from my peripheral vision, I could see one of the hunters fall to the ground. I was looking for a t

I watched Kyle carefully. I knew for sure that he'd never turned a human before. I wondered what was going through his mind. At that point, however, there was no time to ask. I'd been spending all my free time preparing Sofia's quarters at The Catacombs, I barely gave Ashley's turning much thought. Corrine nodded for us to follow her and we made our way to the chambers where I'd been kept asleep for four hundred years. The giant round pillars, the stone slab in the middle of the room—each feature triggered unwanted memories from the past. "Are you sure this is what you want?" Cora's big brown eyes were moist. It was clear that she'd just hurriedly wiped tears away before I came in. I couldn't look into her eyes. I knew that she loved me. She'd told me many times before. More than that, she'd shown me in more ways than one that I meant more to her than she did to me. I could still remember how she broke into tears when I told her that I wanted to end it all. I wanted to escape The S