EMBER'S POV

"Well, a man must hold on to hope, that perhaps the woman of his dreams would finally give in to home." those words should have been charming, romantic even. But something about them made me angry.


Was I truly the woman of his dreams and I was, how many times had I showered him with nothing but love? How many times had I poured on him all of my hopes and dreams, even after Kate entered into our lives? Even up until now?

And here he was, talking about me finally giving in to him. I had given in to him, and he'd broken my heart. Countless times.

"I really do need to find Jean," I said. I was aware that I was blatantly not acknowledging what he had said, but I had no other choice. If I so much as spoke about love with him, or about us, I was going to become angry. I was going to cry.


He solemnly nodded,

"Perhaps I should tell you this then. It's a bit of what I told Jean. The man I had taken into my custody, is nowhere to be found at the moment."


"the man? What man are you talking about? One of the men who attacked me?"

"yes. One of them. I spoke to Jean and he told me he had thoroughly winded them up and was not even sure they'd make it. The fact that one of the men got away is news to him and he believes that the man was kidnapped, to keep him from waking up and saying something about whoever hired him. Security guards were down and the cameras were tampered with back at the infirmary."

I gasped, "That has never been heard of."

"I know. What's more, I spoke to Jean and he told me that those men were barely alive, so he truly does not believe that man must have escaped on his own. He thinks someone took him to avoid being ratted out. He thinks he's gone." he said and paced away, and when he came back, he had a lot of confusion in his eyes, and just like that, it cleared and was replaced with something firm and smoky,

"I had traced his scent as well as a foreign scent I caught a whiff off at the infirmary. It led me to a cabin where the prisoner's scent was the strongest, and I'm not sure what to make of that."

"Are you sure he wasn't killed there? Did you catch a whiff of him in some other place?"

"At the moment, that's actually the only place that it's so strong. And considering what you just said, about the man being killed there, I suppose I have a good reason to believe so now. But I'll still do some more investigation, leaving no table unturned so to speak."

I slowly nodded. I was going to have to make the effort to check on the men we had. They were on Jean's homestead though, but even then, there was no way I could push the whole thing till the next day. I needed to see those men with my own eyes, whether or not they were not okay.

"Thank you for telling me. I do not want to seem like I'm painting your family black, but one of the men did make a statement about a woman. A woman hired him, in Paris. And there are only a few women who thoroughly hate me enough to do this." I said and he nodded slowly,

"I'm aware. I'm working on it. Ember, I need you to know that it doesn't matter if it's my mother, or Kate, or my sister-"

"your sister?" I asked and he nodded,

"she was supposed to be imprisoned, but she got away. I guess with the fact that this seems like an inside job, I believe she might be working close by. The last she was seen was in France, and that was two weeks ago. She could be anywhere now."

If anyone asked me, I would have pegged it on Kate or Luna Lara. But nevertheless, I didn’t see a reason to push it with him. First, I need to check on those miserable attackers of mine.

"Well, I suppose time will tell. But nevertheless, I've made a promise to myself, that whatever happens, whoever it is that sent those men to hurt me, I won't give in to their plans. I won't hide, neither will I run. I'm literally here to stay. And they are just going to have to deal with it." I said firmly, and the ghost of a smile appeared on Paris's lips.

He seemed like he was going to say something when I heard my name being called from behind us,

"ember." I froze where I stood at the sound of my brother's voice and watched as Paris's expression grew stone cold.

I turned slowly to face him, and gave a small smile, "have you been looking for me?"

"me amongst others," he said and rested malevolently eyes on Paris. I didn't like Paris so much right then, but I was worried about him. My brother played a lot, but he was able to skillfully switch from clown to reaper when the need arose. The need had arisen, and he looked completely scary to behold. "I've had to answer questions that I didn't have the answer to. It's been somewhat tiring."

"I'm sorry about that. I was just rounding up this conversation, and I'll be back in to help give the appropriate answer."

"It's okay. Let's just call it a night. Hope he isn't giving you any trouble though?" I looked at Paris who was looking at my brother with death glares and quietly shook my head.

"none at all." I said, suddenly feeling uneasy from standing between the two, "But let's call it a night." I said to Paris, who only nodded, "Thank you ." I said sincerely and turned to my brother,

"Let's go," I said and took his outstretched hand. He had one last bad look at Paris before we finally walked outside, and only then did I begin to breathe more easily.

"Why did you have to invite him?" Axel asked, and I sighed.

Did I really think I was going to go through this entire banquet without Axel seeing Paris?

"Whether I like to remember or not, Paris was a part of the project. It only seemed fair to me to invite him to the banquet that marked its ending. It's fair." I said honestly, but he remained quiet.

"Love is a powerful thing." he finally commented, but I said nothing. I neither affirmed nor denied it, it was better that way. To say nothing and let things be.

"before we find Jean. I need to tell you. Paris can't find the man who attacked me."

"I thought they were three."

"they are. But Paris took in one of them for questioning. However, the one he took can't be found. Jean believes the bloke was kidnapped to keep the truth from coming out."

"What do you think?"

"I think I believe that too. It makes a whole lot of sense. And I believe I might have done the exact same thing. Which is why I need to go see if those other two men are still where we put them."

"and where did you put them?" Axel wondered,

"They are on Jean's homestead."

"Jean's- you're not trying to tell me that's where you are going tonight. Ember, it's nearly midnight. You need to come home."

"Axel, I'm not a little girl, I can handle myself." I said gently, and placed my hand on his shoulder, "but I'll be rest assured if I can see those men with my own eyes. I may not act like it, but I am restless. I want to know who sent those men. I want to understand their motive. Even though I feel like I already have an idea. So, I need to be sure Jean's security has not been compromised as well."

"And if it has? Do you want to walk head first into such a situation?"

"I'm not alone. It's Jean's homestead, remember?"

"you seem to be putting a lot of your hope in Jean," he said softly and I shrugged,

"It's nice to be able to do that, considering how much I've been hurt already. Jean might seem hard as a rock, but he is the good guy in my story."

"you trust him," he said simply and I nodded,

"I do. And I think you should too. He told me what you said. About you being the one who advised that he hold on to me. It was a great idea."

I watched Axel turn pink at my words and could not help but smile. Axel blushing was the cutest thing ever.

"It looked like a really good idea at the time."

"and just goes to show the level of trust you had for him. Have some of that rust now, and believe that nothing is going to happen to me tonight."

He didn’t respond quickly and I knew that meant he was wrestling with some demons.

"fine. Alright." he finally said, and I stood on my toes to kiss his cheek.

"Thank you," I said and turned when I finally caught wind of Jean's scent,

"But if he tries to hurt you, I swear I'll kill him."

I felt my wolf purr with delight as Jean came closer and knew that I was slowly stepping into trouble territory,

"And I just might let you," I said with a sigh.