The Beginning of The End
Chapter 54

Since the end I never dared to hope. I never dared to dream of a comfortable future. Life was hard enough on my body, I didn't have time to comfort my anxieties about the world. I didn't want to.

It never mattered what I thought, survival was the only thing on my mind.

I was one of the last of my kind. I needed to stay strong and fight.

My father told me nothing would ever be the same again, WE wouldn't ever be the

same again. He was right about that. But not about the death of hope.

Where there is life, there is hope, and I want to believe in a better future for myself. I want to hope that things will change.

They are starting to, slowly. I'm not afraid to wake up anymore.

I'm not afraid I'll die in the woods all alone or feel the bite of a hellhounds teeth.

I don't worry about where my next meal will come from or if I have enough water to make it another day.

The world isn't better, father was right about that, it will never get better.

But maybe I will.

My mates love me, that's what they say. They promise me comfort and family. They say once we leave and go to their home that I will be welcomed with open arms.

It is hard to believe, but I'm trying.

I'm trying to see them differently and pretend they never commited mass murder. I'm slowly convincing myself it was never their choice, or their fault. They were commanded to do it.

Just like my people were forced to help in their own demise.

Ryker says he doesn't regret any of it, but that is hard to believe. He's nicer than he appears, and sometimes he touches me with such tenderness I have to remind myself I didn't imagine it.

Ryker is becoming my beacon of hope.

Maddox is becoming an influence in my mind.

They have both thawed the ice around my dead heart, and slowly, they are trying to fit all my pieces back together. I don't know if they will or if I'll ever feel... Normal again.

But I feel something I haven't felt in a long time, I feel relaxed.

The days are the same, almost routine. I wake up in their arms, they take me to breakfast, I go see Miya and I spend the rest of the day in the vast library I found on the third floor.

Ryker says no one ever goes there, everyone is always too busy, and the slaves don't have access to it.

It makes me sad that it sits there, forgotten and alone.

It was exactly the way I was out in the wolf.

Forgotten.

Silent.

Dead inside.

"What's on your mind, little fae?" Ryker asks, watching me with wary eyes.

"I'd like to see Miya today." I say, holding my breath.

A sigh.

An almost laugh.

Ryker shakes his head. "I was wondering when you would ask that, she has been asking for you since the sun set on yesterday evening."

My heart battles against my ribcage. She was asking for me? Why didn't they say something sooner?

"Is she ok?" I ask, ignoring the masses of questions all trying to get past my lips at

once.

"She's alive." He shrugs.

That doesn't help, not at all.

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But I can't expect Ryker to care about a human he doesn't know, not yet anyway. But he will once he sees how amazing and loyal she is.

She's the missing piece to a passion that most people abandoned simply because of greed.

Maddox slams open the dining room door, storming to his seat next to mind and throwing himself into it so hard I fear the chair might break.

It doesn't. The wood holds his weight with a groan and a creak.

I turn to him, placing my hand on his arm. "Tough morning?" I ask.

"Darax sent us a message.” He pauses, growling through his anger. "We have to be back in the realm by the first morning sun tomorrow. He knows what he is doing. He's not giving us any time to prepare."

My body stills. Bones rigid.

I didn't expect it to be so soon, I thought we would have more time to prepare.

More time to convince Miya to come with us.

What will I do if she refuses?

How do I tell the only friend I have ever had that she can either choose to come with me or die?

They will kill her. I have no doubts about that.

Ryker stabs the slab on meet of his plate harder than he needs to, his eyes dark, his jaw set. "Then we will have to get everything packed and ready to go before dusk." He turns to Maddox. "Call all the scouts back. Tell them we are going home.

Home.

They call it home, because it is where their people are. Maddox and Ryker each have a family, people they have to think about and care for.

I had that once.

Maybe I can have it again.

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"What about me and Miya?" I ask, removing my hands from Maddox's arm and entwining our fingers instead.

His hand is warm, so warm it scorches my skin.

But it's also comforting, like a soft, thick blanket of a winter morning.

Like a cuddle from a soft cloud.

My hand fits perfectly in his, and it makes my skin tingle with something I never thought I would have. Something I didn't think I wanted.

"You have until nightfall to convince her to come, if she does, she will never leave your side unless she sleeps or you demand it." Maddox says, filling his plate with a mountain of food. But he never released my hand. Not once. "If you still want to bring her along?"

I nod once. A tight movement filled with worry.

It doesn't matter what I want, because when it comes down to the end, it is still her

choice, and I can do nothing to stop that.

Nothing at all to make her change her mind.

I have to hope that her love for me is stronger than her hate for those who killed everyone she loved.

She is not their mate; she doesn't feel what I do towards them. She never will.

All she knows is hate.

All she feels is anger.

Will my words be enough to sway her?

Will my love be enough to break her silent protests?

There is only one way to replace out, and I am running out of time.

Time waits for no one.