“An arctic wolf?” the teenager asked incredulously. He kneeled down, stroked Poppy’s fur.
Poppy let out a soft groan.
My stomach twisted into knots. He was alive, but when he became fully conscious, he wouldn’t be well.
I can’t stay here with Poppy,I thought as my heart split into two.I’m a fucking menace. I’ll only cause trouble for him.
The teen stiffened at the sound of Poppy’s voice, groaning softly as he roused.
“A shifter?” the young man murmured. “What are you doing here by yourself?”
My eyes widened in hope. The young man’s voice sounded kind. I recalled his silent footsteps, the ones I hadn’t heard until he was right on top of us. He must’ve been a shifter, too. Feline, maybe.
I didn’t know why, but I trusted this stranger. At leasthewouldn’t burn down Poppy’s home and kill the people in it. But I needed him to know it in no uncertain terms.
“Please take care of him,” I rasped from the shadows.
The teen’s gaze whipped towards the sound of my voice, but I’d already slunk down the opposite slope. I didn’t want to be seen, or spoken to. I wanted to disappear.
I abandoned Poppy.
Before the sun rose on the city, I shifted and began the awful journey home.
“Violet,please tell us what’s wrong.”
Cobalt’s ever-calm voice was pitched halfway to panic when I stormed into the castle. I spoke to nobody. Didn’t look at them, either. I just wanted to go to my room and wallow in grief until I died.
Jade was uncharacteristically frazzled as he caught up with Cobalt. The pair hurried behind me, oblivious to the fact that their presence was unwanted.
“What happened?” Jade asked. “Violet, slow down, we only want to talk.”
The sound of my name grated like nails on a chalkboard. It was one of the last things Poppy had said to me, desperate and pleading and yet so full of love.
I didn’t deserve the name that sounded so sweet on Poppy’s lips.
I was something different now. Something worse.
“Stop fucking calling me that,” I snarled. “Leave me the hell alone!”
My room was right around the corner. There, I’d be safe. There, I could suffocate in my agony in peace.
Cobalt grasped my arm. “Violet, stop this,” he implored. “Speak to us.”
I freaked out. I bit him, not caring how hard.
With a silent look of astonishment, he dropped me, more out of shock than pain. I veered into my room and slammed the door hard enough that it echoed down the hall like a thunderclap.
After that night, I was never the same.
“Viol,”Poppy said sternly.
The cold embrace of the past disappeared as Poppy’s voice forced me back to reality. The present.
It was evening. We were outside the castle together. Jade stood nearby but distant enough to give us space. His arms were crossed, his expression grave and concerned.
I shut my eyes tight. I pinched myself for a good jolt. But the dark memory still had its claws in me, like it was trying to drag me back. To relive it.
“Viol, look at me,” he demanded. When I couldn’t respond, he curled his lip and released a wolf’s growl from his human throat.
