“Yes, we are. We are heading to the pack island to meet the alpha there,” he explains, standing up off the bed. “My pack needs a home, and the island has a lot of land and no humans to hide from.”
“Who is alpha of your pack?” I ask, and he grins. Ah, I’m with the alpha after all.
“Okay,” I say, breathing out some nervous air. Alpha wolves are meant to be super powerful and scary…and even though Myles looks like the guy next door your mum would warn you not to date, he is hiding an alpha wolf who could eat me whole if he wanted.
He steps closer, almost cautiously. “My mum left some clothes out for you in the bathroom. It’s through there.” He steps around me and to a panel door, pushing it open to show me before looking back. “I will leave you to clean up. Do you want some food, Kaitlyn?”
My rumbling stomach answers him, and he smirks. “I will take that as a yes.” Myles walks to another door and holds it open, looking back at me. “You’re safe on my ship and in my pack, Kaitlyn. Whatever you were running from won’t find you here.”
I tensely smile, because he has no clue who is looking for me. I can still feel Ren’s teeth in my neck, and I can still hear his voice as he called me his queen. I still feel the hurt as he betrayed me, hurt me and broke my heart. As Myles takes a step back, the creak of the floorboard makes me jump, and thankfully the memories go with.
Myles leaves me alone, and I walk to the bathroom, shutting the door behind me. Tears fall down my cheeks as I turn the shower on and strip out of the top and shorts before climbing in. I let myself cry for a long while before washing my hair and body with Myles’s lemon scented soap and getting out. I towel dry my hair and find a pile of clothes. The pale purple top is too big, but I tuck it into the skinny jeans which fit perfectly. The mirror catches my attention, and for a long time, I’m stuck staring at my blonde hair, which looks more like silver now. My skin is flawless, not a crease in sight, and I am skinnier than I thought I was. My eyes glow with a light blue tone to them, and my white wings don’t look real as they float behind me. I reach back, brushing a hand down my wing, which I feel like another limb, albeit a lot furrier. Slipping on the yellow socks, I head out of the bathroom and back into the room where Myles sits on the bed, his legs crossed and a sandwich half in his mouth. Next to him is another sandwich on a plate with some crisps. I smile and walk over, sitting next to him and eating the food in silence.
“What you running from, Katy?” he asks me, breaking the utter silence that has taken hold of us. Taking a deep breath, I turn and look at him. Myles has really beautiful green eyes, I notice as I watch him. He is a complete stranger to me, but he saved my life, and for that, I feel like I owe him something. Maybe an answer. For a few minutes, I simply explain how I left the academy, everything about Ren and Henry. Even Riley.
“Nearly everyone I knew and loved betrayed me or lied to me. I’m running from everyone, and I know I have to go back, but I’m not strong enough to face them.” I chuckle. “I need to help two of my friends, Vesnia and Thallon. They didn’t do shit, and I left them there.”
“That’s bullshit,” Myles replies, like it’s just that simple. I frown at him as he stands up and holds a hand out for me. “You aren’t weak, you are a survivor. Like me.”
“You don’t know me, Myles,” I warn him with a long sigh.
He shrugs with a cheeky grin. “Yet.” He has such a cheeky look on his face that I can’t help but smile back to. “I know you’re not weak. My wolf tells me as much.”
Despite my resolve that I’m not strong enough to face the world, I lean forward and take his hand in mine and let him pull me up.
“You’re going to be trouble, aren’t you, Myles?” I ask, and he laughs as he links our fingers like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Two strangers who found each other in the sea. Myles doesn’t answer me, but he does lead me out of his room into a corridor with stairs at the end and countless doors. Heading to the staircase, we both pause as I sense a change in the air just before a black shadow appears in front of us both. Myles steps in front of me, a low warning growl vibrating from his chest as a familiar angel steps out of the shadows with a girl I don’t know at his side.
“Miss Lightson, we have been looking for you.”
Chapter 31
“Gabriel, you’re alive?” I question, even though the answer is crystal clear as he stands in front of me. Memories flash in my mind of his panicked face as Ren spoke to him and how I kissed Ren to distract him from Gabriel, sealing my fate, it seems. Gabriel doesn’t look devastated that the academy he spent so long at is now controlled by vampires.
And Ren is back. Ren’s words haunt my ears as I take in Gabriel’s rough brown cloak, the way he holds his hands behind his back, and his relaxed stance.
“It’s been a long time coming, Master Gabriel. I did promise revenge as I died.”
Gabriel must have been one of the angels who killed Ren all those years ago, luring him to the academy so they could get rid of the last master vampire.
“Is he one of the people who betrayed you?” Myles asks me, never looking my way. “The angel and his magical friend can be removed if you wish it.”
“Blessed be the angels,” Gabriel states, bowing his head, but I don’t return his greeting.
The woman at Gabriel’s side steps forward. “My name is Madi, and I’m from the island of tales. I’m one of the leaders, and we are currently hiding the surviving angels as part of a peace treaty we have with their kind. You are welcome to come back with us, Kaitlyn.”
“Gabriel didn’t betray me,” I softly say, placing my hand on Myles’s arm and stepping to his side. Walking up to them both, I eye the new girl, Madi, with caution. She is stunning, there is no doubt about that. With her big eyes and expressive features, she almost seems like a doll rather than a real person. But behind the pretty face is a butt load of power. I can almost taste it, and I wonder if that is a new power of mine—sensing the difference between human and not-so-human.
“We should leave,” Gabriel says to Madi, who watches only me, caution in her eyes. “Being out in the open poses many dangers to us.”
Myles glances at me, and I shake my head. I don’t want to leave the ship and go with Gabriel; I’m not sure if I can trust him anymore, and I’m pretty disgusted about what he did to Ren. No one deserves to die just because of who they were born to be.
“Why don’t we go and sit down somewhere to talk? Kaitlyn is going nowhere unless she wants to. I swear on my wolf that the ship is safe for whatever you have to say,” Myles suggests, placing his hand on the middle of my back.
Gabriel nods his head, his eyes fixed on me now as he tries to read my expression, searching my face for answers I won’t give him easily. Myles leads us through a door and into a cafeteria full of metal tables. A few men and women are in the room, all of them nodding their heads at Myles before leaving out the door we came in. We sit around one table, and I silently watch them both.
I was naive enough to fully trust the angels before, and even to trust my ghost vampire, but I’m not making that mistake again.