A single tear rolled down my cheek as Pongo—the dog I’d tried to rescue only to sign his death warrant—disintegrated into dust. The voice of my adolescent self echoed through my bleeding chest. “Everything you love dies, Sinclair. Everything you treasure is gone. That’s your true curse. The one you can never run from.”

 

The bed shook.

The villa creaked.

The air boomed with explosive thunder.

My eyes tore open. My body leapt upright, ready for battle, primed and on high alert.

Earthquake? Tsunami?

Eleanor.

I dropped my fists, no longer ready to fight an imaginary demon but needing to touch the girl I loved. I held out my palm as she scrambled across the mattress toward me. “Sully. What the hell was that noise?”

“I don’t know.” Keeping her close, so fucking thankful she was still with me and the nightmare was over, I dragged her to the deck and outside.

Dawn had already begun, shoving back the stars, making way for sunshine and another tropical day. No rain. No lightning. The boom hadn’t been thunder from the many angry storms we endured.

The waterfall continued to cascade. The blue pool serene with its glittering ripples.

So what the fuck woke us?

Almost as if the universe heard my question and decided to give me a precise and definite answer, another crack sounded, followed by the terrifying reverberation of war.

Boom.

Fucking boom.

A plume of smoke rose in the distance, kilometres away but black as cloying death.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck!

Letting Eleanor go, I bolted back into the villa and snatched my phone from the sideboard. Cal answered before the line properly rang. “I heard. Already got pilots yanking on their pants. I’ll meet you at the helicopter.”

My heart smashed against my ribs. “He’s going to fucking pay for this.”

“I have no doubt.” Cal crashed into something, probably hauling his own clothes on.

I looked down at my naked body. A body that’d been inside Eleanor. A body containing a heart that’d believed it was worthy of some goddamn happiness after so long.

Turned out, fate wasn’t done tormenting me yet. Or torturing those I loved.

“I’ll see you at the helipad in seven minutes,” I hissed.

One minute to dress.

Six minutes to bolt down the sandy path from Nirvana.

It was a fucking eternity.

If Drake had hurt anything…Christ.

He’ll pay.

I’ll make him pay with every droplet of his toxic blood.

No mercy this time.

No fucking leniency.

He’s dead.

Throwing my phone on the bed, I stormed into my wardrobe and threw on whatever I reached first. Slacks and a white t-shirt. I grabbed boots instead of expensive loafers.

Eleanor intercepted me as I came back out. She’d pulled the sheet from my bed and wrapped it around her gorgeous body. Her eyes were as wide as I’d ever seen them. Behind her, black smoke thickened up the sky.

Shit!

“Sully. What’s going on?”

Grabbing her by the shoulders, I marched her to the mattress and shoved her down. “Stay here. Don’t go anywhere.” Stuffing my phone into my pocket, I swiped a shaky hand through my hair.

I split down the middle.

I didn’t want to leave her.

But I cursed every moment she held me back.

She popped up from the bed, amplifying my panic, bleeding into rage. “Sit down, Eleanor!”

Her cheeks pinked with matching temper. “What the hell is going on? Tell me. Let me help—”

“You can’t help.” Backing away to the door, I imprinted her to memory. The nasty pain from my dream had ghosted into reality. This felt like a goodbye, not just a short parting.

This felt final.

She held up her hand, stepping toward me.

I bared my teeth. “Do not leave my villa. I have to deal with this.”

“Deal with what?”

“My motherfucking brother,” I snarled. “He’s attacked Serigala.”

Her terrified inhale was the last sound I heard as I turned and charged from my villa.

I turned my back on my future to protect my past.

I chose animal over human.

Meek over immortal.

Creature over soul-mate.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

I WASN’T FAST ENOUGH.

The second Sully vanished; I threw on the borrowed shirt and bolted after him. I ran as fast as I could. My lungs burst. My legs burned. I kept pushing, trying the impossible to catch up with him.

But…I was too late.

Gasping for air, I stood on the shoreline, squinting into the newly risen sun, dying inside as the helicopter holding Sully and Cal flew into the plume of black smoke in the distance.

From here, it looked like a volcano had gone off, spewing fire and hatred into the atmosphere, tainting the air with carcinogens and ash. Only…Sully had said his brother had attacked Serigala.

He had a brother?

And if he did, why on earth would he attack a sanctuary for disabled and diseased animals?

What sort of psychopath would do such a thing?

Swallowing hard, doing my best to get my breathing under control, I wrapped my arms around myself, drenched with a sudden chill.

How could a few short hours separate the best time of my life to the most uncertain?

Sully had been wild.

Each word that’d fallen from his mouth had sounded like a snarling pack of wolves.

Yesterday, I’d found him so unbelievably handsome. The more we revealed about ourselves, the more I found him attractive. Each time his shields came down, I spied an equally beautiful soul hidden within its host.

His laughter…wow.

It had the power to stop my heart. To stop my thoughts. To completely wrap me up in an embarrassing amount of devotion.

There had been no laughter this morning.

I’d hardly recognised him. His eyes had been feral. His temper on the shortest leash.

Not directed at me, but at his family.

A brother who had done something monstrous.

I sighed as the helicopter vanished into the smoky horizon.

I hated the distance…not just physical but emotional. Sully had withdrawn from me. The link between his heart and mine had been severed.

You’re reading into things. You were both literally woken up by a bomb. Of course, he would be short and rush to attend the wreckage.

Common-sense was a kind matron, speaking wisdom I really ought to accept, so why was there a noxious little sparrow on my shoulder, whispering of endings and goodbyes and that love wasn’t eternal, after all?

Skittles descended, scattering that little sparrow intent on whispering unpleasant repellent things. She pecked my cheek gently, worry trembling her feathered body. Pika squeaked as he landed on my other shoulder, his black eyes locked on the sky.

“He’ll be back, guys. I promise.” My voice didn’t sound nearly as confident as it should.

Get a grip, Ellie.

What’s gotten into you?

Nothing had changed between us.

Yes, circumstances had ripped us apart this morning, but…that was just life. Work and errands and other commitments would always intrude on a new romance.

I sighed, slouching into myself.

Then why can’t I shake this horrible premonition that yesterday is all I’m going to have with him?