Alessia Stocklin and Ezra Withers are polar opposites, but they can certainly agree on one thing: their mutual hate for each other.
He's an Alpha deadset on killing every rogue he comes across, while she's a vigilante - known as Nightshade - intent...
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"Alessia, maybe you should head back," Ezra walked up behind me, cupping my palm in his hand. He looked over the glaringly bright blood that coated the inside of my palm. He gulped twice, his jaw clenched as his head hovered in the direction we came.
Pulling my hand from his grasp, I hastily whipped my hand on my black shorts. I knew it was not sanitary, but my options were limited. I was in the middle of the forest, and there was no way I was going to retreat back to Solaris with my tail in between my legs just because of a little blood.
"What's going on?" Elias questioned.
I made no move to answer him, and Ezra did not either. Elias' gaze hovered over both of us cautiously before he waved us forward. In order to complete the blood promise, we were headed toward the Beltair Bandit's residence. While a temporary truce of sorts had been made, Elias still did not trust us enough for us to know where the Bandits lived and operated. I did not blame him, but I was surprised when he coyly slipped two eye masks out from his jeans pocket.
"I always come prepared," he threw one of the eye masks in my direction and the other in Ezra's.
"I'm not wearing this," Ezra looked at the black fabric with apprehension, holding it by the thin back strap. "I don't know what you've done with this — or who've you done with this."
"Don't be silly," Elias waved Ezra's concern off. "I have a different set for that."
His words were not comforting, but I put the eye mask on, regardless. Once the mask was on, I was not able to see anything; it was like I had been cloaked in total darkness.
With both Ezra and me wearing our masks, Elias put a guiding hand on both of our backs as he led us to the Beltaire Bandit's Hideaway as he fondly referred to it as. The trek to the Hideaway was not long, but it was winding.
For a solid ten minutes straight, I was convinced Elias was running us around in circles. Truthfully, he probably was — to throw off our whereabouts. But I pictured him dawning a cheeky smile on his face, knowing he was in complete control, and that thought alone had me wanting to pry the eye mask off my face and give him a sturdy kick in the shin.
After conquering a patch of rocky terrain, Elias' hand, which had been hovering just barely over the thin fabric of my shirt, retreated back and Elias, with a commanding voice, said, "Welcome to our Hideaway."
Taking off the mask, I was not prepared for what I saw. As my eyes adjusted to the influx of light, I had to look up to see the Hideaway Elias was referring to.
Upon first glance, it seemed the Beltaire Bandits lived in trees. Both small and large tree houses were built into the surrounding, bulky trees. Connecting all the tree houses were ladders made of rope and wood. The treehouse structures seemed to be fashioned of the same wood as Solaris' pack buildings. I wondered if Elias had anything to do with the style choice here in the land — or maybe air is a better word for it — of the Beltaire Bandits.
