Page 131

“Do you really remember nothing else? What about before that?”

“All I remember is leaving the bookstore and then waking up tied to your freaking bed. So I think I have a pretty good idea of what’s real or not.”

The door slams between us, leaving me frozen on the outside.

“Why would I try to kill you, Vixen? Why the fuck would I do that?”

There’s no answer.

Twenty-seven minutes. That’s how long I try to get her to open up. I’ll wait out here the rest of the damn night if I have to. I need to make sure she’s okay.

Footsteps enter the yard. I turn, spotting the wolf, hands in his pockets while he makes his way to where I am.

Before I can tell him to go the hell back to where he came from, the door opens, and my attention jumps to Sumner. I notice first her long hair, now pulled messily into a bun at the top of her head.

She looks like the sun. So bright I forget how to breathe. So bright and so…alive. Sumner is still here, and she is fucking radiant.

I track the movement of her lowering her head, my gaze landing on the small suitcase at her side.

Why does she have that?

“What are you doing?” The question comes no matter how obvious the answer is.

My eyes flick back to hers. Ocean blue and sandy brown. Colors I’d never thought about before Sumner. Colors now I’m certain I’ll never forget.

“Leaving. What does it look like?” she answers coldly.

“To where?” She has nowhere else to go.

And then wolf boy steps beside me, taking the bag from her hand. “This pretty lady’s officially joining the pack.” He smiles down at her like a giddy child.

“She’s not joining anything,” I say, mostly to her, though I need him to know it too. Sumner can be as pissed as she wants at me, but she can’t be that far away. I can’t keep an eye on her if she’s not here.

I step forward, ready to talk some sense into her, when Josten moves between us. “Come on, man. Let her go.”

“You’re not leaving with him,” I grit, ignoring him and waiting for her eyes to find mine. She stares only at the ground.

Josten wraps his arm around her shoulders, comforting her the way I can’t.

“Vix, please…”

Nothing. Not one thing from her. Sumner’s eyes are fixed wholly on the ground. But the wolf, his are on me. Each one telling me to back down. That he’s won. It isn’t me Sumner needs. It’s him.

My chest tightens. Every piece of me wants to reach for her, to hold her here, to beg her to stay.

He tugs her forward, keeping her in his grip. Sumner follows him, and she doesn’t look at me even once.

The rejection stings. It fucking cuts right into me. I’ve just lost her…again.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

SUMNER

My thoughts wander while I wash the dishes, thinking of the little tube of liquid Ashen so easily gave me, the very thing I’ve worked so long trying to get. My ticket home. After months, I finally have it… So why can’t I bring myself to drink it?

It’s been a little over a week since I started feeling like I was losing my mind. My dreams are all mixed up, blending with what I thought I knew. I’d woken up that night so sure of what I’d seen. There are gaps though, pieces that are missing.

I don’t know what’s real anymore.