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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Once I informed Ezra of the brief interaction I had with Apollo over the mind link, I crumbled into his hold. His arms were strong and commanding, holding me up when I did not have the physical strength to do so on my own. He whispered sweet encouragements into my ear as he rubbed a soothing hand down my back.
Ezra allowed me to wallow in the misery that seemed to surround my life as of late, but I could tell he had a few questions on his mind. Before my body crumbled from the weight of the lost connection with Apollo, all I was able to get out was Apollo's no. Ezra needed no further explanation in order to comfort me, but — through the bond — I could tell his wolf grew anxious.
When the last of my tears dried, I nuzzled my head out of the crook of Ezra's neck and said, "Apollo," I paused, clearing my throat. "I reached Apollo through the mind link."
"Where is he?"
I shook my head and nibbled the inside of my cheek. It took a moment for me to be composed enough to answer, "I don't know. He — he said he was fine, but he didn't sound like himself. He was stuttering, and it felt like he was tired. And then the connection was gone."
Processing what I had just said, Ezra ran his hands down my arms. "He's alive though, Alessia. That's a good sign."
"I know," my voice almost got swept up in the sound of the whizzing air conditioner. "It just doesn't feel like enough. He's alive, but what are — what's happening to him?"
Ezra's eyes hardened. "We need a set of eyes and ears in Alpha Byron's pack to get a better understanding of what's going on."
I let my head rest on Ezra's chest. My head lay there for a moment while it felt like the world stopped, and the only two people in the world were Ezra and me. It felt so right, but it also felt so wrong that it felt this right. With everything going on around us, I felt guilty I could derive such happiness from the connection between us; the same connection I would have scoffed at earlier in the year.
Glad to have a reprieve from my depressive thoughts about my brother, I mulled over Ezra's proposition. An inside man. Bolting upright, I knew just the guy for the job.
"I know just the person," a faint smile quivered on my lips. "Link."
"I don't know," Ezra's back straightened. "He's your friend, right?"
"Best friend," I corrected him. "But he's more like family at this point."
"Wouldn't that be too obvious?" His eyes squinted. "If he's friends — sorry best friends — with you, then there's a connection between Link and Apollo."
"Sure," my shoulders sagged. "In a general sense. But it's no secret that Apollo and Link don't see eye to eye on just about everything. Sure, they put up with each other because of me, but it doesn't go beyond that. Anyone in the pack would know that."
