Page 1 of Pack Rivals: Part Two
PROLOGUE
Angel
Ten yearsago
Time stops.
Freezes.
Ceases.
So does the beat of my heart.
The breath in my lungs.
The sparking of my nerves.
Time stops and when it starts once more, nothing is the same.
My mind takes several long minutes to start churning again, to compute what I’m seeing.
Like my brain doesn’t want to believe. Like it can’t. Like it’s trying to reject the very truth presented before my eyes.
Because it can’t be true, can it?
Not my girl? Celia.
Not my brother? Axel.
Not together.
But it is true.
It’s plain to see.
There outside the door of his apartment.
He’s kissing her.
My brother is kissing my girl.
She balances on the tips of her toes, lips moving against his, palms resting on his chest. His hand is tight on her elbow, his mouth pressed to hers.
The truth of it is there. Plain as day. Plain for everyone to see. Everyone, including me.
My heart cracks. Right down the middle. The pain so intense, I huddle over my knees and try not to hurl.
The two people I love the most in the world. Behind my back. Betraying me.
How? How could they do it?
I dry heave right there on the sidewalk outside his apartment block, and as the last violent retch wracks through my body, the pain ceases. In its place rampages rage; red hot and raw.
I jolt upright, tipping my head back to peer up at the balcony that runs around the apartment doors.
They’re a pace apart now. Axel’s talking to her. I can’t see his face or hers.
She takes a step towards him and he takes one away. She laughs, and he shakes his head. Then she’s spinning around and walking away. I watch her disappear into the stairwell, observe as Axel watches her go, his hand scraping through the dark hair on his head.
