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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Even with the added workforce of the Beltaire Bandits, no further progress had been made regarding my brother's whereabouts. I thought about him daily and longed to hear his voice even if it was just to poke fun at me. I missed Apollo so much, and with each passing day, I knew the odds of finding him were stacked against us.
It was said the first forty-eight hours were the most critical. Those hours had slipped through our fingers and were long gone now — gone just like Apollo.
In the wake of Apollo's disappearance, I had set up a routine for myself. Every morning I would check the mind link between me and my brother. The soft buzzing of static would welcome my ears, and I would always sigh in frustration. I'd check the mind link later in the day, as well. I'd always have to make sure to ask Ezra if he had any updates on Apollo.
I was sure Ezra grew tired of my repetitious pestering, but I couldn't help but feel that if we had caught wind of Apollo's whereabouts, Ezra would try his best to protect me. He would try everything in his power to safely retrieve Apollo before I even knew there was word of Apollo's whereabouts in the first place. He'd assured me of the contrary, but I couldn't help but feel like I was being handled like weathered glass.
The veins on my back feathered out, expanding in length. The veins had expanded so far to one side of my back they were now trailing up the base of my neck. Only a turtleneck would be able to cover up the sign of my impending doom, and I was not keen on wearing one given the humid temperatures.
Of course, at the sight of my growing veins, Ezra did not hesitate to have Greg, one of the Solaris doctors, look me over. And, he was constantly checking up on me and poking some pointy object into my flesh. It was like I was a never-ending test subject. At one point, I had wanted to wave a white flag. I no longer felt like a person, but the pure joy I could see written all over Greg's face made me falter.
The constant tests also filled Ezra with hope. And, I did not want to take whatever shred of hope Ezra clung to.
So, I allowed myself to be poked and prodded. Sometimes, I would even put a smile on. But, in the past couple of days, a near-constant migraine plagued my skull, sometimes making it hard to form complete sentences. The light was my enemy most days, but I tried to pretend like it was no big deal.
But, in the back of my mind, I could help but ask if this was it? Had we been too late?
I never fooled myself into believing we'd be so lucky as to find a cure, but I did have the hope we'd find Apollo before my mind succumbed to the Feral sickness.
Certainly, we had been too late. Groaning, I felt the unmistakable buzzing of my watch before the glaring light of the notification flashed.
Urgent! Time for meds! was displayed across the screen. The light illuminated the otherwise dark room, and I swallowed the desire to unlatch the watch from my wrist and chuck it at the wall.
