**Rosalie’s POV
A phone was ringing.
It had been ringing for several minutes, and it woke from my sleep.
I heard it from my bedroom, even though I was fast asleep, and even though it sounded like it was coming from far away.
Thinking it was Soren’s phone, and he would eventually wake up and answer it, I tried to ignore it, but eventually, when he didn’t, I sat up and rubbed my eyes, deciding I’d go investigate.
Pushing my feet into my slippers, I put my robe on and headed into the other room.
Soren wasn’t on the couch. The kitchen clock showed it was already past midnight.
That was weird.
“Soren?” I called, not loud enough for the guards outside to hear and know that there was a problem, but loud enough that he should’ve been able to hear if he was in the house.
There was no answer.
“Soren?” I called, a bit louder.
I went and looked in the bathroom, but he wasn’t there either.
He didn’t seem to be anywhere.
I decided to follow the sound of the ringing phone, and as I followed it to the study, I noticed that the floor looked odd here.
Strange marks marred the clean floor. They looked like... drag marks.
“What happened?” I whispered.
I got an awful feeling that sothing bad had occurred, and it was unsettling at the very least.
Soren’s phone was on the top shelf of the closet. I rembered he had been hanging up so clothes for earlier. He must have accidentally set it up there. I picked it up and looked at the caller ID.
It was Thomas calling, and he’d phoned eight tis.
Taking a deep breath, I thought about whether or not I should answer.
If I didn’t, they’d co in looking for Soren and realize he wasn’t here.
My eyes went to the trap door. It was partially open. I knew where Soren had to be. I just didn’t know why.
Drag marks....
“Hello?” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
“Miss Ro?” Thomas asked, sounding surprised. “Is Soren available?”
“Uh... he’s uh... not right now. Because he’s... in the bathroom. But I can tell him to call you as soon as he’s... not in the bathroom.”
Thomas paused a mont before he said, “Yeah, okay. Thanks.”
“Sure.” I hung up the phone and considered what I needed to do.
I really only had one choice.
I had to go after Soren.
Either Soren had sohow figured out that I was using that tunnel to visit Ethan, and Ethan was in trouble or....
I didn’t want to think about the alternative.
I had told Ethan the night before that I would have guests over tonight, and it wouldn’t be safe for him to visit. So what happened?
In a hurry, I threw up the door and headed down the ladder, hoping I could get to the end of the tunnel in ti to stop whatever was happening.
I ran as fast as I could down the tunnel, but it was difficult with being pregnant and unable to shift. By the ti I reached the end, I was spent. My lungs were burning, and my legs were tired.
Yet, the sounds that greeted when I erged spurred on to the clearing.
Yips and growls filled the otherwise peaceful forest.
Wolves.
Fighting wolves.
I continued to push myself on until I got to the clearing.
Confusion washed over as I tried to decipher what I was looking at.
I recognized Ethan’s wolf imdiately, and I had to assu that the other wolf, the one lying on the ground, injured far worse, was Soren.
“Ethan! Soren!”
I ran over to them, hoping to make them stop. I didn’t want to see either one of them get hurt.
“Stop!” I shouted as I approached, and both of them turned their heads to look at .
Soren, who was covered in blood, shifted into his human form. Lying naked on the ground with his back to , he raised a hand. “Stay back, Ro!” he said, his hand covered with blood. “This wolf is dangerous! He’ll hurt you!”
So he didn’t know that I had been seeing Ethan.
My attention turned to Ethan then, and I stared at him as he looked at , his wolf breathing heavily.
“It’s all right, Soren,” I told him, coming to stand between Ethan and Soren. “He won’t hurt .”
Not as long as I was pregnant anyway.
“Ro, please, get back. Call my guards!” Soren pleaded with .
“It’s okay,” I told Soren. “I know him.”
“Wh-what?” Soren said, but my attention was on Ethan now.
“Ethan, what’s going on?!” I demanded an answer.
His wolf stood there, seemingly surprised.
“You told you didn’t know him,” I said, trying to piece all of this together.
His wolf took a step backward, his head tipping to the side, as if he wanted to say sothing, but he couldn’t mind-link with because I was not a mber of his pack.
“I asked you, Ethan, if you knew Soren, and you said no, but then, here you are, trying to kill him! And... you brought here, to this house.... Why?” My eyes widened in recognition as everything began to fall into place.
I didn’t want to believe any of it could possibly be true, but nothing else could explain what was happening.
“You set all of this up just to get to Soren? All of this... all along, it had to do with the war? And I stupidly thought that I actually ant sothing to you!”
I fought the tears that threatened to fall down my cheeks. How could I have been so naive and stupid!
This was the sa man who was willing to kill monts after I gave birth to his child. Of course, he didn’t love . I was the biggest fool of them all.
He shook his wolf head vigorously at , as if to say I had it wrong, but it was the only explanation that made any sense to .
He had suggested this house to because he knew Soren would co here with , and he knew that the tunnel would allow him to get to Soren. He had co here on a mission for the war.
After all, he was here for Soren, not ...
Did he really even know I was here to begin with, or was it all a happy coincidence that made it easier for him to get his target?
“Ro, he was here for . Stay back!” Soren’s voice was filled with worry. Over my shoulder, I saw that he had crawled to the side to retrieve his clothes so that I wouldn’t feel uncomfortable seeing his naked body. Even when he was hurt, he was being considerate. But Ethan...
I couldn’t breathe.
I turned to face Ethan.
“Well, if you want him, you’re going to have to rip and your baby apart! And while I’m sure you won’t hesitate to do that, you should know that his guards will get you before you leave the island.” I lifted Soren’s phone for him to see, but I didn’t dial.
I still couldn’t bring myself to do that... no matter how much he hurt .
Ethan shifted back into his human form, and even though he was completely naked, I kept my eyes focused on his face. I was no longer interested in his body, no matter how tempting he was.
“Rosalie!” he said, a pleading look on his face. “All of this is a trick. Soren has been lying to you from the very beginning! I didn’t co here just to kill him. I ca here to find you.”
“You can stop the lying right now, Ethan!” I shouted, shaking my head. “There’s no point in it! I don’t believe a word you’re telling !”
Behind , I heard Soren struggling and glanced over my shoulder to see him pulling his pants on. He was bleeding badly from his side and shoulder. His neck was cut as well. He needed dical attention.
I needed to make this argunt short. I needed Ethan to leave—and never co back.
“Rosalie, please! I ca to you because I love you. The baby pulled to you, so I knew you couldn’t be dead. Every mont since you’ve been gone has been like an eternity in h*ll—”
“Save it, Ethan!” I raised my voice to interrupt him. “I don’t want to hear it! You’ve lied to for the last ti. The first ti, when I learned of your plan, it wasn’t that surprising because I didn’t expect anything different from the powerful Alpha. But this ti....” I felt hot tears stinging my eyes as they splashed down my cheeks. “This ti... you looked in the eyes and lied to .”
“No, it isn’t what you think, Rosalie,” Ethan said. “He’s my half-brother! These problems we’ve been having go back for many years.”
“All the more reason for you to use to get to him!” I scread.
I shook my head, looking down at the ground. I picked up a sheet that was lying there and threw it at Ethan. If we were going to argue, he may as well cover up.
He wrapped it around his waist, but he didn’t quit trying to persuade . “Please, Rosalie, co with . I’ll shift to take you away from here. I don’t have much ti. Soren’s n are closing in.”
“Good!” I shouted, even though I honestly didn’t know how I would react to seeing Ethan hurt. Even though I was furious with him at the mont, I didn’t think I could stand to see him severely injured or killed.
Still, I couldn’t help but say, “Maybe they will kill you the way that you intended to kill . Perhaps they will slaughter you the way that you were just about to slaughter your brother before I stepped between the two of you!”
Ethan’s eyes were glistening as he took a step closer to . “Rosalie, don’t you rember how I opened my heart to you? Don’t you rember all of the things I said to you?”
“You an the lies you spouted?” I shouted, “Yes! I rember them! You’re a liar, Ethan!”
I could barely breathe while my tears flooded out. “You used ! You were going to kill ! I should’ve listened to my heart in the first place when I felt that you didn’t deserve a second chance. Wel,l I can tell you right now—there will be no third chance!”
“Miss Ro, Mr. Soren! Where are you!” a guard shouted in the distance.
Ti was up. I could tell by the look on Ethan’s face that he knew it, too. He was going to have to escape or face off against all of Soren’s guards. And chances were, unless there was an extensive series of more tunnels underground that Ethan was familiar with and the guards weren’t, he was going to be caught.
“Co with , Rosalie!” Ethan extended his hand, as if he hadn’t been listening to a single word that I’d just said.
“No! Never! ”
I backed up, careful not to step on Soren, who was still lying on the grass, trying to recover from his injuries. He needed dical attention, and he needed it soon.
“You’re making a mistake, Rosalie. He’s the one tricking you! All of this is a setup. You don’t know what you’re dealing with!”
“I know that I had to run away to get free of you, and it was Soren who saved and took in. You wanted to kill , and he let live!”
I heard footsteps approaching. “They’re over here!”
“Rosalie!” Ethan shouted, his jaw tight, and his eyes desperate.
“I don’t ever want to see you again!” I cried.
Just then, the guards ca running through the trees. I wanted to yell at Ethan to run, but I said nothing. They could catch him for all I cared.
Before Ethan shifted back into his wolf, I heard him say, “I love you, Rosalie. And I’ll never give up on you.”
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