Like waking up from a dream, with the dead gone on their way to the other side sensations started to creep in.

Hands crushing and shaking me, words being shouted and cried, my name resonating in my ear with the flow, more sounds... Sounds deafening silence as reality flooded into the darkness of the other side.

Opening my eyes, I saw a world of violence around me. Shadows and beasts fought against wolves. Men wearing leather suits swung sharp blades around us, edges cutting through flesh and bones like they were butter. Blood spilled out with the sounds of hushed cries and thick liquid splashing onto concrete. Bodies thumped down lifeless, or worse—soulless—on top of that same ground.

My mistress sat bent on top of my persecutor with her legs wrapped around the other woman's middle as Oracle was trying to hold Leila's hands away from her face—the one woman wishing to corrupt me struggling to prevail over the one who urged me to be brave.

Embrace a purpose I didn't know if I could embrace.

Oracle proved she had a ruthless heart by giving me that unforgiving truth she did.

I had to die.

"Cole!" Leila shouted, glancing my way. "Get her off of him!"

I didn't need to ponder over what she meant. Meeting the set of familiar eyes that could break me like no other could, I knew it was Scarlet that Leila wanted to be kept off of me.

"Stand up. Let's go, Lucas!" Scarlet yelled, pleading eyes asking me to deny myself on the most basic of levels just so I could fulfill my cursed fate. "You must get up. Help me, Lucas!" She tugged at me, rising to her feet and trying to pull me up too.

My feet barely supported me as I stood, momentarily losing my balance as the world spun around me.

"He's been out of it for a while. Give him a minute to collect himself, Scarlet," someone said from behind me, placing a supportive hand on my back.

Glancing over my shoulder I found Cole standing a step from me, eyes glaring at Scarlet.

"Let the fuck go of him, Cole!" Scarlet snapped, bringing my focus back to her as she whirled us to face the man determined to stop us.

I didn't know when she had crossed the distance between us, or when Cole approached us either, but I knew that finding them both in the same place at the same time was as good a recipe for trouble as any.

And by the look on Scarlet's face just then, it was obvious she hated the guy's guts.

Enough to punch him in the face.

She did, causing Cole to stumble before regaining his footing.

"Took you long enough to join us, didn't it? So what now, Cole? You're gonna try to kill me like your brother is trying to kill my mate?" she snarled, her gaze flickering to where Ash was fighting against Regan and a few of his wolves who flanked him by the side. The man didn't look much different than Ashwin, his body as beastly as the wildling's in his partially shifted state.

"Didn't you hear? I'm supposed to keep you away from him," Cole said, a mocking note audible in his voice despite it staying unwaveringly calm.

"Says who?" Scarlet interjected sharply.

He sighed and pointed at Leila several feet from us.

"I hate to break it to you, but you're not keeping me off him," Scarlet stated, taking a protective stance in front of me as she pushed me behind herself.

Cole shook his head. "We don't have time for this now, Scarlet, but just look around yourself. You have surrounded yourself with guards yet here I am—unscathed."

Following his advice, I did the same as Scarlet. I looked too. Men were fighting all around us, Leila was still trying to overcome Oracle as she threw punch after punch her way while the other woman blocked each and every one of the hits with her hands raised in front of her, but there was one particular group that seemed to be dancing around us with their bodies intent to stop every threat that came our way, protecting us the same way the katanas flying in the air did.

Cole should have never been able to go past Michael and his vampires, but he had.

And every once and then, as if to solidify my suspicion, the magistrate would glance our way, his eyes briefly connecting with Cole's as if silent messages were being flung back and forth in between them.

"Why didn't he stop you?" Scarlet asked.

I looked at Cole, anticipating his answer.

"What do you think?" Cole whispered, arching a brow at her.

"Bullshit!" She sounded shell-shocked. I felt the same.

Cole leaned in, lips inches away from her ear as he said, "I could have killed you as soon as I took you in, Scarlet. I had countless of chances to do that if I wanted but I waited until I was sure you can come back from it. Michael trusted me all along and I bet he never spoke a word about me when he came back here. He never mentioned me, did he?"

The words were spoken quietly, barely audible to me as I stood behind Scarlet, but I still heard them. Perhaps, it was Cole's intention for me to do. And as soon as the confession was spoken, it suddenly made sense why he didn't give my mission away when he poked into my mind.

"Doesn't that tell you something, Scar?" he added, grasping her elbow. "Now, follow my lead and pretend I have you under control."

She stiffened when he tugged on her. He gave her a pointed look, some kind of message passing between them and I guessed he was talking to her the way I knew he could.

A moment later, she bobbed her head in a nod and Cole winked at her.

"I guess we'll have to do this the hard way then," he shouted, eyes taking an evil glint as a malicious smile slithered to his lips, the sound that came out of them loud and eery.

Abruptly, he pulled Scarlet away from me and she went to his side, face blank, expressionless.

"What are you waiting for? Hold her, Lucas!" Cole urged me, then silently, Just do as I say. This is the only chance we have, he sent into my mind.

I shuffled to Scarlet's other side, clasping a hand over her elbow just like Cole had.

"She's going to be very obedient, my lady," he shouted.

Leila glanced at us, a content smile appearing on her lips as she took in Scarlet's frozen state.

"What should we do with her now?" Cole asked.

"Take her away. I'll deal with her later," the soulless said, bringing her fist down to Oracle's collarbone.

The cracking sound had me wincing as the woman screamed, the bone probably broken as blood started flowing out of the spluttered skin.

Cole whirled away, pulling Scarlet behind as the darkness around us thickened, the soulless providing a safe path for our retreat while the wildlings were blocking the vampires from reaching us.

They didn't need to do it.

Michael and his crew were going to let us go with or without their interference.

"It must look real," Cole stated quietly as we walked away from the heart of the battle. "Now, let's find you two a place where you can do your thing."

Scarlet snorted beside me but didn't say anything back. I just counted the heartbeats until it was time.

A hundred heartbeats, that was the most I could wish for before I saw her... never again.

#Hey, lovelies.

I'm wondering if you are you curious to find out more about Cole and what happened to him. Shall I post a few more bonus chapters to reveal more of his story? 

I mean, you're probably thinking something within the lines of "WTH is this guy up to now?", am I right?

Here's a clue to anyone who has ever asked or scrolled through my comments on Cole - we never really found out if he's a good guy or a bad guy. I think he's a bit of both, but that's just me being odd as ever and knowing his story.

I hope you are excited for what's to come and are not thinking that you'll have an easy ending or a predictable one (I tend to think my writing is not that predictable and let's hope I'm right and you're dying to know what will happen next ;-)

Anyways, let me know in the comments below.

~

Alsey

PS> Love the song :)))