The Shadow Wolf - G. Bailey Page 0,3
this was all of her choices. From the look in her eyes, I felt like she was hurt by leaving her children more than anyone else.
“You okay?” Liam softly asks me, his hand linked with mine, resting on my knee. I look up at him, admiring his locks of blond hair, how they fall over his forehead, and he brushes them aside when they get close to his eyes. He really is a handsome man, striking to look at and kind on the inside. Even with how messed up the world is, Liam is one of the good things I know I can count on.
“That’s a two-way question,” I murmur. “I’m okay in the sense my shoulder only aches now, and the scar is not pretty, but I will cope with it. I’m not okay in the sense my parents are alive and they have effectively grounded me for the first time in their lives.”
And the fact I’m pregnant, and I haven’t told anyone here. I never expected to be shipping us into danger, but I have done, and it was a shit thing for me to do. Every day I keep the secret from them, the worse I feel. We should be talking about the baby and figuring out the future together, and here I am, too scared to find a moment with all three of them to tell them the truth.
Liam frowns, brushing his lips against my cheek. The little contact sends shivers through me.
“Whatever happens, it can’t get worse than finding them alive,” Mason tries to make light of a bad situation, and I want to thank him for it, but even the thought of being thankful they are alive is bitter on my tongue.
Looking out the window, I feel a tear fall down my cheek. “I used to stare out of the window in my room, listening to my sisters sleeping, and cry, wishing my parents would come back.”
“They don’t deserve the title of parents,” Alex angrily bites out. “If we ever have kids, fuck, I will never let them down or not be in their lives for a single day. They will be bored with how much I’m always there.”
His words make me smile for more reasons than he could possibly know.
“Same,” I whisper, hoping in some ways my baby can hear me. I know zero about pregnancy, so there is a good chance it can. Pushing all thoughts of the baby to the back of my mind, I straighten up in my seat and take a deep breath. “Are you all as curious as I am about what and who is on this island?”
“Yes, and I’m pissed there is no signal. I can’t get a message to the empire to let them know we are trapped but alright,” Liam grumbles, still trying to mess with his phone with his other hand. “I’m going to find a way to contact the outside world, somehow.”
“And I’m going to find our weapons we can hide. Our familiars will stay close in the forest, but we need to be prepared,” Alex adds.
“That leaves me with the sole mission of making friends and figuring out what the actual deal is on this island,” Mason suggests, and the guys nod.
“I’m in this group too, so don’t I have a mission?” I question them all, and Alex smirks at me in the mirror.
“Is looking beautiful considered a mission for you?”
“Nope, asshole,” I laugh.
“Such a beautiful mouth you have, Miss Ana. Even with those foul words,” Alex teases, and I huff, crossing my arms.
“I am going to focus on my mum and working out how loyal she is to my dad compared to her children,” I suggest.
“I would guess quite a bit based on her being here all these years, Ana,” Liam replies. “Be careful. They aren’t the loving parents you remember.”
“I know that,” I softly reply. “But I can pretend I’m looking for that in her.”
“So, your dad is a god...,” Mason breaks the silence. “So you’re a demi-god?”
“I have no clue,” I laugh, actually realising Mason might be right. “As for today, I think I will stick with Shadow.”
“Maybe we could—” Liam starts, but he halts, his eyes looking ahead through the front window. I lean between the front seats, looking out the windshield, and I’m speechless for a second time today. A spiralling city stretches across the island, all the way to the beach and to the mountains, built around them. Stone, metal and glass structures much like the