Blair’s POV
The four of them were still huddled around Carrie, frantically checking if she was hurt. Her arm was only slightly burned, but they acted like it was the end of the world.
“Carrie! Are you okay?”
“Let me see–any blisters?”
“Get the ointment! Now!”
Meanwhile, I was still burning.
In the end, it was a passing crew member who noticed me. He rushed over, panic in his voice, grabbing the fire
extinguisher and dousing the flames consuming my body.
“Miss! Hang in there!” his voice echoed in my ears.
My vision was already blurry. As I looked up, all I saw was the four men carrying Carrie below deck like she was made of
glass. Their eyes–every last one of them–were only on her. Not a single glance at me.
They were my brothers, the blood I once trusted, but in my moment of agony, not one of them turned around.
By the time the crew carried me back to my room, every breath I took felt like knives in my chest.
The fire had torn through my skin, the burns so deep they clung to the bone. Every movement sent fresh blood oozing
out.
I could feel the wolf inside me howling, trying to trigger my healing instincts. But the silver–lined whip wounds and the
burns had suppressed it all–my recovery was crawling at a snail’s pace.
The room was empty–I was completely alone.
My phone buzzed.
I barely managed to lift my arm and answered the call.
“Ms. Swan, we still need a few documents for the private island you purchased.”
“I’ll send them… right away…” I rasped, voice hoarse from pain. “Please, finalize everything. I need to get there… as soon as
possible.”
I had nowhere else to go. Nowhere left but that island I’d bought with my own hands–isolated, far away from everything.
But just as I hung up, a cold, all–too–familiar voice sounded behind me.
“Who were you talking to?”
Christian.
I quickly shoved my phone under the covers and forced myself to act calm. “No one.”
He stood at the door, gaze dropping to the burns on my body. His brows instantly furrowed.
“What the hell happened to you?” He strode over, and for once, I heard a rare flicker of panic in his voice. “Why didn’t you
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call me?”
I looked down and gave him a bitter smile.
Call him?
I was screaming on the deck, my dress on fire, my skin burning, even my hair singed. And yet he, along with the other three, had all lunged for Carrie like she was the only one that mattered. None of them even looked back.
How could I possibly… still call out to him?
“I’m fine,” I whispered. “The healer’s on the way. You should go. Be with Carrie… She needs you more.”
To my surprise, he sat down beside my bed. “She’s got people with her. I’ll stay until you’ve had your wounds treated.”
He reached out and gently brushed the hair from my forehead. The gesture was soft… familiar. But I simply stared at him,
calm and distant, the spark I once felt for him completely gone.
He belonged to someone else now–Carrie’s mate.
Her husband.
He had marked her behind my back–sealed the mate bond. From that moment on, there was no going back for us.
“Does it hurt?” he asked softly, brows drawn together.
I shook my head lightly.
Hurt? Of course it did. My skin was splitting, rough like cracked bark, every breeze stinging like acid.
But none of that compared to the pain inside.
The healer arrived quickly, tending to my burns with the utmost care. Every touch was like a knife, but I didn’t make a sound–I bit down and bore it. I didn’t want to scream. My wolf wouldn’t allow me to break down in front of them.
Outside the door, Carrie’s overly sweet voice rang out, “Christian! Come see the dolphins! They’re so beautiful!”
He hesitated, then finally stood and helped me up. “Come with me. Let’s go take a look.”
I didn’t refuse. Didn’t have the strength to.
Out on the deck, the sea shimmered gold beneath the setting sun. A pod of dolphins leapt from the water, their graceful
arcs slicing through the waves like something out of a dream.
Carrie clasped her hands and closed her eyes like a child making a wish. “Hurry! Make a wish! I heard if you wish while
watching dolphins, it always comes true!”
He laid me gently onto a lounge chair. I sat there, surrounded by faces I once knew–now strangers.
They all closed their eyes, too. People who never believed in this kind of thing, now silently making wishes like devoted
believers.
I knew every wish in their hearts.., was for her.
I closed my eyes too.
I could feel my wolf growling within me, desperate to break free, to destroy everything, to make them all pay. But I was
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calmer than her.
I knew I had to survive, to leave this ship, to cut every last tie to my past.
“Blair, what did you wish for?” Carrie leaned over, whispering in my ear–sweet, soft, and enough to make my skin crawl.
The four men turned to me as well.
I opened my eyes and looked at all five of them–faces once dear to me, now nothing but poison.
Then I spoke, clear and slow,
“My wish… is to never see Christian, Lysander, Orion, Zayden, or Carrie… ever again.”
Chapter 5
