Page 10 of Roaring Flames

But can you even call it a betrayal?

What right did you have to know?

I place my knuckles against my forehead and groan.

“I’m fucking this all up, aren’t I?” Christian’s voice is tired. Weary.

“You’re certainly not making this any better,” I snap.

I don’t know how I feel. What to think. How to process.

On one hand, it feels as if my entire life is a lie. Everyone knows this humongous secret while keeping me in the dark. They simply moved me where they wanted me to go—a puppet on strings. A pawn on a chessboard with no checkmate in sight.

On the other, what would I have done if I knew about this earlier? Freak out? Run away? Call them insane? If I didn’t quite literally see my skin change and distort, I probably would’ve laughed in Christian’s face.

So what does this all mean for me?

I don’t get a chance to ponder.

The handle on the office door shakes once, twice, three times, but the lock holds.

Then Ashton’s voice calls out, cocky and belligerent, “Christian? What the fuck are you doing? We need to talk about Isabella.”

And Ilose my shit.

Four

ASHTON

Never in a million years did I expect to receive a text from Desiree freaking Harper demanding IGet my ass to school right this second or else I’ll cut off your balls and feed them to you.

I spent the last few hours in my father’s office, poring over all of the details of the case while he watched. Exhaustion clings to me now, and my body feels heavy and leaden. It’s a miracle I can keep my eyelids open for longer than a second at a time.

But as my father always says, our kind doesn’tgettired.

We’re the superior species.

The superior breed.

The superior…everything.

I’m not sure I ever willingly believed his rhetoric, but I also didn’t argue against it. Not as much as I should have.

Dragging a hand down my face, I pause outside of Christian’s door. If anyone were to know where Izzy ran off to, it’ll be him. Even at a young age, my brother made sure to be keenly aware of all of the players on the board. He was like me, in a sense. Constantly studying the game so he could emerge victorious.

It’s ironic that, in the end, he lost so spectacularly.

Christian Montgomery.

I’m surprised I didn’t make the connection sooner. Montgomery is our mother’s maiden name, after all.

An uneasy feeling swirls in my stomach as I hover my knuckles above the door, not daring to knock.

My relationship with my brother… It’s complicated, to put it mildly. Not as volatile as the one between the twins, but definitely not loving either.

We used to be everything to each other, but that changed when Christian was revealed to be a lone wolf and not a member of my pack. He withdrew in on himself—that’s the only word I can think of to use.Withdrew. The fire in his eyes dulled to a burning ember, and his smiles became less and less frequent.

Then, without a word, he disappeared. Father told me he chose to travel deep into the forest in order to protect the community.

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