PARIS'S POV

"Every time I think your behavior can't get any worse, every time I believe that you might become a better version of yourself, you make me realize how wrong I am. You give me a reason to question my sanity. What sort of a person are you?"


"the kind of person you've refused to be. Wise. You want me to consider Ember as my daughter-in-law, and I simply cannot. I have never been able to, and I refuse to start now. Apologies if you're unable to live with that."

"You aren't just irredeemable. You're also shameless with it." I said angrily and turned away from her without another word.

~~~


I walked back to the prison grounds and looked at the infirmary. How was it even possible that all of this was happening? It was completely unheard of, but regardless of that, the possibility was right there with me, giving me reasons for worry. I was a strong man, at least I liked to see myself as one. But all of this made me feel very unsafe.

I was going to have to find that prisoner and find him fast. And perhaps, just maybe, it was finally time to find my sister.


I walked toward the infirmary and made my way to the prisoner's room. It smelled a lot like antiseptic, but I was able to catch traces of the prisoner. There was another scent though, one that wasn't recognizable, and I suppose that belonged to the person who had taken the prisoner out.

"one person at a time," I said and took a bigger whiff. I was going to begin with the prisoner.

The man's scent led me to the woods, and when I got there, his smell was everywhere and not in one place. And I groaned in frustration.

"What did you do? Scratch you back against every tree?" I questioned with irritation and ran my hand through my hair.

My phone rang and I desperately felt the urge to toss it aside, but dug into my pocket for it, and it was Jackson,

"How may I help you?" I asked without pleasantries,

"How far have you gone with your search?"

I looked around me. Trees upon endless trees and sneered, "Not very far. A dead-end in the woods."

"uhn, for some reason, I didn't expect much. That man was severely injured. He might have been taken and had his scent displaced to confuse anyone who looked for him."

I nodded slowly, "I'm definitely confused alright."

"In any case, I found some information on your sister."

That definitely had my interest piqued,

"Let's hear it then."

"a week or two in a B&B in the south of France. Although her present location is unknown."

"I see. " and thus, I confirmed the conversation I had with my mother. She really was funding her devil spurn of a daughter. "Do you think she could have made her way here, that's why her present location is unknown."

"anything is possible. But have you spoken to your mother about all of this?"

"I have. I wish I didn't. She had nothing important to offer me. "

"But did she sound like the culprit?"

"in spite of how vengeful she sounded. She seemed more like a helper of the culprit rather than the culprit herself. I'm she knows something, but she isn't entirely responsible for any of this."

"Do you want me to keep tabs on her?"

I started nodding and then remembered that he couldn't see me, "yes, I think that would be nice. In the meantime, let me see if I can get anywhere with searching for this son of a gun. Although, I don't think I'm going to get very far."

"It's worth a try, I guess." Jean said, but he too, sounded somewhat unconvinced.

It was worth a try in the end though. I mean, I didn't find the prisoner, but when I started north, the foreign scent I had perceived in the infirmary room found its way to me and led me to an old abandoned cabin. And in that cabin, the smell of the prisoner lingered. And ended.

EMBER's POV

"took you long enough," Jean whispered at the sound of his name. I'm sure he had been sleeping because his eyes were closed. But then again, Jean was the most alert person I had ever met.

He slowly let go of me, because he had his arms wrapped around me. But instead of letting myself be let go, I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck,

"Thank you for being here. " I crooned against his neck, and I think I heard him sigh,

"Thank you for waking the hell up," he said and I heard the edge in his voice. Smiled at it. I knew better than to think he was angry with me and not the situation.

When we finally let go of each other, he sat up and helped while I tried to do the same.

"Axel said being close to you would help. We realized that you were drained because you were filled." he pointed at my pendant, and I nodded slowly, understanding what he was trying to say.

"I felt the rush and the surge while I was fighting those men. I guess the pendant was doing what it was meant to do. And then some."

"and then some." he said, and ran a hand down my cheek, "you gave me quite a scare. And you should know that I don't scare easily."

"I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." but he shook his head,

"An apology is quite unnecessary. Might have been necessary if you had made me wait a little longer."

"yeah," I said and suddenly remembered my dream. Did he know that had almost been a possibility?

"I think I dreamed of heaven. Or almost going to heaven." I said, still thinking, and when I looked at him, he was watching me carefully and with some compassion.

"Heaven?" he asked quietly, and I slowly nodded,

"It was a garden. A beautiful one. And there was a wolf. My wolf. She told me I could choose to leave all of this, and simply go on. Not deal with the world and life I know now. It seemed so real."

"do you think that it is not?" Jean asked and I shrugged,

"I don't know. Your wolf was there too, and I think he guided me back to you."

"seems like the kind of thing I would expect of him," he said gently with a smile and ran his hand down my cheek once again,

"So you believe me? You don't think I've completely lost it."

He shook his head, "I've heard stories quite like yours. Some with wolves of loved ones who were no more, especially having a near-death experience. I can't deny that I don’t always engage in these conversations for fear of seeming whimsical-" he said and I chuckled lightly, "but I have disdain toward such controversial topics. So I don't think you've lost."

"Thank you." I said and he nodded,

"you say you saw my wolf?" he asked and I smiled, nodded happily,

"my wolf said he comes and goes, same with Axel's."

"Then perhaps the garden you saw is a place all the wolves go when we aren't engaging them. But it's comforting, knowing that my wolf is most times with yours."

"and mine with yours," I said gratefully.

He stayed a little while longer but had to head back to his pack land to deal with work. He is the alpha after all. But I couldn't help but wonder that, given the fact that it was Jean's wolf who led me back to the here and now, was that perhaps the moon goddess's way of giving each other a second chance at being mates?