POV Avery
My heart’s still doing this annoying race-car thing, and I’m pacing my room like a caged animal. Too wired to shift, too tense to breathe properly.
My muscles are screaming for action—fight something, run somewhere, scream at the universe for making everything so fucking complicated. Instead, I grab my blade and slam it down on the desk.
Once. Twice. The metallic clang echoes through the room but doesn’t help the chaos in my head.
Joanna storms in without knocking because apparently privacy is a foreign concept in our family.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” she says, hands already on her hips like she’s preparing for war.
I don’t look up. “You usually are.”
She steps closer, and I can practically feel her reading my emotional state like a goddamn textbook. “You kissed her.”
My entire body goes rigid. Just for a second, but Joanna catches it because she catches everything.
“Holy shit, Avery,” she groans. “You actually kissed the vampire. You didn’t just freeze in a fight, you melted like chocolate in summer.”
“I didn’t melt,” I mutter, but even I don’t believe that lie.
“You look like you’re still steaming.” Her voice goes sharp, cutting. “She could kill you. You should kill her. That’s literally how this is supposed to work.”
“Maybe I’m tired of what’s supposed to work,” I snap back, turning to face her with eyes that probably look completely unhinged. “Maybe I don’t want any of this—the arranged mate, the territorial wars, the constant proving myself to people who’ve already decided I’m not enough.”
Joanna blinks, clearly not expecting that level of honesty. “Then what do you want?”
I open my mouth and nothing comes out. Because what I want is sitting in my throat like a confession I’m not ready to make—blood and wind and that terrible, beautiful kiss that changed everything.
I look out the window instead, where trees sway like they know secrets I’m still figuring out.
“She’s undoing you,” Joanna whispers, and there’s something almost scared in her voice.
I close my eyes. “Then maybe I was never properly put together to begin with.”
“You think this is strength? Letting some bloodsucker unravel you like cheap yarn?” Her voice drops low but stays sharp. “You’re risking everything we’ve worked for.”
“She’s not—” I break off, dragging both hands through my hair. “You don’t understand.”
“Try me.”
“She looked at me like I wasn’t broken,” I whisper, the words scraping my throat raw. “Like I wasn’t too much or not enough. Just… like I was exactly what she expected.”
Joanna’s expression softens slightly. “And what does that change?”
“Everything.”
“Avery.” She steps closer, voice taking on that big-sister tone that used to comfort me when we were kids. “This is insane. She’s a vampire. You’re supposed to bring her back to Father, not make out with her on cliffs.”
“Don’t tell me what I’m supposed to do.”
“Someone has to! You’re acting like—”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re in love with her!”
The words hit the air between us like a physical blow. We both freeze.
“I’m not—” I start, but my voice cracks.
“Oh my God.” Joanna’s eyes go wide. “You are. You’re actually falling for a vampire.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It never is with you.” She crosses her arms. “What’s her name?”
“What?”
“The vampire. What’s her name?”
I hesitate for exactly one second too long. “Natalie.”
Joanna’s eyebrows shoot up. “Natalie? We’re on a first-name basis now? That’s just perfect.”
“It’s not like that. And you asked me for her name!”
“Really? Because it sounds exactly like that.” Her voice is getting louder, more incredulous. “You’re defending her. A vampire. To your own sister.”
“I’m not defending anyone!”
“Bullshit! You just spent five minutes explaining how she makes you feel special instead of talking about how to capture her.”
“Maybe because I don’t want to capture her anymore!”
The words explode out of me before I can stop them. Joanna goes completely still.
“You don’t want to—” She stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. “Avery, this was your idea. Your trial. Your way out of marrying Bloodfang.”
“I know what it was.”
“Then what the hell has gotten into you?”
“Maybe I realized there are worse things than political marriages.”
“Like what?”
“Like pretending to be something I’m not for the rest of my life!”
Joanna takes a step back. “Who are you right now? Because you’re sure as hell not my sister.”
That hits like a punch to the gut. “Maybe your sister was tired of being who everyone expected her to be.”
“This is insane. She’s going to get you killed, or worse—exiled. And for what? Some twisted enemies-to-lovers fantasy?”
“Don’t—”
“Father’s going to lose his mind when he finds out.”
“He’s not going to find out.”
“Really? Because you’re about as subtle as a freight train right now.”
I can feel my control slipping, anger and frustration and something that might be panic all mixing together in my chest. “Why can’t you just trust me?”
“Because you’re not thinking clearly! This vampire—Natalie—she’s messing with your head.”
“Or maybe she’s the first person who’s ever seen me clearly.”
Joanna stares at me for a long moment, then shakes her head. “You’re going to regret this.”
“Maybe. But at least it’ll be my choice.”
“And when Father finds out? When the pack finds out? What then?”
“Then I’ll deal with it.”
“We’ll deal with it. This affects all of us, Avery. Your choices don’t exist in a vacuum.”
The guilt hits me like a slap, but I’m too angry to back down now. “I never asked you to clean up my mess.”
“No, you just assumed I would. Like always.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Neither is falling for the enemy!”
We’re both breathing hard now, staring at each other across a chasm that feels wider than the one between territories.
“I’m done with this conversation,” I say finally.
“Good. Because I’m done watching you destroy yourself over some vampire who’s probably just using you.”
The words hit their target perfectly. I feel something snap inside my chest.
“Fuck you, Joanna.”
I’m out the door before she can respond, slamming it hard enough to rattle the frame. My feet are moving before my brain catches up, carrying me toward the forest, toward the one person who might actually understand the chaos in my head.
Even if she’s supposed to be my enemy.