The wildlings parted in front of us, the soulless made way for us to pass, neither suspecting our deception, none of them even glancing our way or trying to stop us. It felt like we walked for miles. It felt like I was so far away from where my mate fought his enemies that if I turned and ran back I was never going to reach him.

I was alone with two men who had both betrayed me, one of which had already claimed it had been all a game, the other still to give me his reason.

"I think we're far enough," Cole announced as we approached the group of people I'd thought I'd never see again.

Micah, Adam, Jazmine and Hunter were waiting for us in the middle of the road, the sounds of the battle hushed with the distance.

"Hopefully, they won't be able to reach us in time once Leila detects you," Cole told me and motioned toward the others. "We are going to do our best to keep them off, but you better hurry up because as soon as she's through with her fun she's going to look for you."

He let go of my elbow and went to join his friends.

"I'm sorry, Scarlet," Micah said, guilty eyes gleaming with tears that looked at me. "I never wanted to..." She choked on her words, those tears spilling out.

"I thought it would be all fun and games when I first joined Cole. I thought we'll get our revenge, be heroes and help others... I never thought that I'll have to kill... and in the end... in the end, I became a monster..." she trailed off, voice lost in her ragged breaths that were ripped out of her chest with the enormity of what she had realized about herself.

And it hurt. It broke my heart to see her so broken, hear her say something that I was guilty of thinking myself, know that she was right.

Perhaps there was a time when she was different—a normal girl, a person instead of a cold-blooded killer, but she was no longer that person. She was a monster and it was all I could see now, had seen in her for a while—in all of them, and I couldn't bring myself to try and convince her of the opposite.

"We're all monsters, Micah," I told her instead. "It doesn't matter if we use our hands, feelings or words. At one point or another, we all end up being the monster. It's just life that works this way."

Wiping the tears off, she held my gaze. "So you forgive me for what I did?"

I shook my head. "A lot of water must flow before it washes off the bad blood between us, but if you're really going to do what Cole says, it might help."

She nodded. "Let's do this."

"I'll need a bit of space too," I piped in, glancing at Lucas. "You're going to help, right?"

"Is there any other reason I would tag along, Scarlet?" He rolled his eyes at me, a gentle smile tugging at his lips. "Of course, I'm going to help, or did you truly believe that I'd just desert you for Leila?"

"I--"

"You're the only woman I've ever loved besides my mother, Scarlet. I can't die for her since she's already gone to the other side, but I'd die for you if I have to. I want you to be happy even if it's him," he told me with a stony face.

I could say there was more that he wanted to tell me, more that he wanted to do, but he held himself back.

"Is that why you left? You wanted to give me space so I wouldn't feel awkward being with him in front of you?" I asked, bringing my hand to cup his cheek.

He winced as if my touch was causing him pain and I wouldn't be surprised if it did. He had gotten so few of these that it probably felt like pure torture that I was giving him so little of myself. Never enough.

"Oracle told me weeks ago, Scarlet. No—months ago," he said, taking a step back. "I knew I had to do this long before she even hinted it to you. Both she and Michael warned me it will come to this. That's why I left. I was hurt when you chose Regan, I was so hurt that all I could think of was that we're never going to work, and it finally made sense why I had to do this." He closed his eyes, breathing slowly, pushing the words out with such an effort that his body started to tremble.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I wanted to ask him what he was talking about, what it was that he had to do exactly, but I didn't dare.

I was too much of a coward to spill it. And he was too caring to tell me.

"We're too selfish for each other, Scarlet. I want you so much I feel like I'd die if I don't have you. And you want him the exact same way. I'm not going to back off and neither are you. No matter what you do, you're the only one I see and, no matter what he does, he is the one you see." He brought his hand to rest on the back of my neck and, while another man would have put pressure on it, he didn't do that. He just let his hand rest there, his warmth pouring against my skin, his wish for me to do what he was too afraid to do on his own in his eyes.

"This is why we're never going to work out. I know that, Scarlet," he told me. "And I'm still selfish enough to want one last memory of you."

A memory to last me an eternity. The echo came soft. I wasn't sure if it was his thought that I picked on. I didn't even know if it was possible for me to catch any of his thoughts since we never shared a mark or a bond like Regan and I, and then, before I could make up my mind, it went as it came.

Softly.

Breaking my heart with the knowledge of what these words meant.

He didn't need to ask me.

I brought my lips to his on my own.

I found him open to me as if he had been waiting. The bond to the soulless was there—casting its shadow over his soul—so pure and so tainted the contrast was impossible not to feel.

Sweeping me in, drawing me under, I flowed into that bond and he was right next to me, holding my hand in the darkness.

I believe you'll need the pack's strength, Lucas said to me, his voice ringing with an otherworldly note to it. Open your link, Scarlet.

I concentrated.

The pack bond was stirring up with worry and quaking underneath the tension of the pack. It felt like I was a part of an edifice suffering under a storm that shook it to its foundations—a tornado, and that structure was ready to collapse any moment now.

I could hear the distant screams, my mate's shouts and encouragement when he gave his pack orders, feel the pain when new wounds graced the wolves' exhausted flesh.

And fear.

So much fear I could choke on it.

Be strong! I sent into the pack bond, howls meeting my plea as the wolves' hope burst, filtering into the link.

Stay safe and do what you must, was Regan's only response before he slammed the connection between the two of us shut instead of letting on whether he knew about me kissing Lucas or not.

Pushing the concern to the back of my mind, I glanced at Lucas' ethereal form. What do we do now? I asked.

We search for Leila. We should be able to recognize her imprint right away, he said and for a second I wondered what he meant by 'imprint', his response strangely reminding me of Oracle's cryptic messages.

I rolled my eyes, at least it felt like I did. I was still learning how this travel-outside-your-body thing worked, but clearly, this was one of the cases of 'watch out for the craziest, creepiest thing out there and wander as close as you can'. No doubt, Leila was it—the craziest and creepiest thing, that is.

We wandered for what felt like hours, feeling the texture of the place with our fingers. In the darkness, his face, his skin that was glowing softly, was the only thing I could see.

I was glowing too, a paler shade of white-yellow that was barely enough for me to see what was right in front of my nose.

There was nothing to stop us, though. It looked and felt like we were in some kind of a maze, or a dungeon—walls with what looked like cells made of something black, sticky and fragile since with the slightest push on our part that jelly-like texture would dissipate into dust.

Particles what seemed like burnt paper would burst out from the chamber walls that collapsed when we ventured a touch and flow in the air around us, almost like they had a mind of their own.

And every time they did, I would get that strange feeling that something was terribly wrong here.

What do you think those are, Lucas? I whispered eventually listening to our quiet steps echoing into the catacombs of the place, nearly jumping the moment the sound came.

A high-pitched, scratching sound resonated every few seconds, making us quicken our pace and look around for the source of it and just like every other time we'd heard it, we looked.

There was nothing but darkness and the outlines of the cells when we stood close enough to them for the light coming from our bodies to illuminate them.

I don't know, but I think we better hurry up, Scar. This doesn't feel right, Lucas said and pulled me after him.

He was right. It was all creepy, beyond creepy in fact, yet we had to look for something that was even nastier and most likely a lot more disgusting than what was all around us.

It didn't take too long for us to find it.

In the very center of the maze, there was a cage elevated, a cage that held flickering human shapes inside of it and these shapes were the ones producing the screeches.

Nails scratching the bars that held them imprisoned inside the cage.

Do you think that's what we are looking for? I asked, halting my steps before any of the things noticed me. I didn't know what they were, but I was getting an odd vibe from them. They were not ghosts, that was certain, but more than that and the fact that they were mutilated beyond recognition, I had no clue about the nature of the prisoners.

Lucas gave me a pointed look. You are aware that the soulless feed off souls, aren't you, Scarlet?

I held my breath, already able to guess where he was heading with that. I just couldn't make myself say it aloud.

Most of them do it quickly, but I don't think it's her case. I think she likes to keep them longer than the rest of the soulless. I believe she dries them slowly so they rest longer and she gets more enjoyment out of it.

I didn't like the sound of that. Not one bit.

You mean those are... I couldn't even bring myself to say it as one of the forms stuck its head between the bars. It would have been impossible for a normal person to fit a head between those.

Souls, Lucas said. They are the souls she took back in the camp, Scarlet.

He was right. Looking closely at them, I recognized them too and just when I did, Leila's laughter boomed inside the maze.