A blonde girl in a white dress and mask came running toward me, and I braked slightly. However, she dodged out of the way and quickly scurried past my car out into the pedestrian zone.

I was honestly surprised that no one had been run over yet today.

I parked not far from the club and immediately got out to search for my little sister, dodging two reporters from the Blairville Daily who were looking for people to interview.

I looked around with increasing tension.

There she was, standing on the other corner of the parking lot with Emely.

I decided to go straight to the two of them, determined to explain to Mia in detail what she was provoking with her immature behavior, that certain actions could have consequences.

But I didn't get very far.

An unbearable pain in my neck made me pause. I touched my skin, my face twisted in pain, but there was nothing at all. The pain remained, and along with it came quick images.

A dark street, the street where I lived. A single flickering lantern, Larissa on the ground, in front of it... the black haired DeLoughrey guy.

Then the images disappeared abruptly, and I knew immediately from whose perspective I had seen.

In a hurry, I sprinted over to Mia and Emely. The latter seemed mentally absent. She must have seen the same images as me.

“I can explain...” Mia began with more nervousness than I was used to from her. But the pain and the images in my head distracted me, numbing everything else. I would have to take care of Mia later. Now I reached for Emely, who seemed to be in a trance, and shook her hard.

“Ems!” I shook harder. “Ems! Where is she?!”

“Who are you talking about, Julian?” I heard Mia behind me.

“Emely! Where's Bay?!” Panic rose up inside me. “Come on, Emely, I've seen it too!”

I didn't want to believe it. She must still be in that damn club with her friends...

Emely's eyes seemed to clear, and I used the moment to shake her again. Then, finally...

“Julian...the Ruisangors...they…”

“I know!”

“In front of your house...”

“Could someone explain to me what's going on?” Mia asked, confused.

“Get in the car!” I replied tensely, not taking my eyes off Emely, who was now also clutching her neck.

“But...”

“Just do what I fucking tell you!”

Mia groaned, but finally obeyed and hurried to the car.

“Ems, we have to get there, now!”

But instead of following me, Emely looked at me with hesitation.

The pain that we were both trying to suppress was now not only shooting through my throat, but flooding my entire body. But instead of paralyzing me, it cried out to help Bayla, to go to her and reassure me that she was okay.

“We don't have time to think!”

The increasing pain made my heart beat rapidly, and my grip on the car keys became slippery because my hands were sweaty and shaking.

“Julian...”

“What?” I looked into her dark brown eyes. “What, Emely?!”

“I'm not going to interfere there and endanger the pack's existence.”

My breath hitched.

How could she say that? Hadn't she seen the pictures?

“Damn it, Emely! Just fuck that damn pack for once and do what's right!”

Her loyalty to that stupid pack made me so angry! Bayla was in danger and the Ruisangors had just broken the treaty, but all she could think about right now was her stupid pack?!

Instead of trying anymore, I let it go and ran to the car, where Mia was already waiting for me.

But Emely suddenly appeared at the passenger door.

“Let's go.”

And even though I didn't know why she did it, I didn't question her sudden change of mind, but started the engine to drive off.

Five minutes later, we were downtown, where it was remarkably empty. Probably because everyone was at the club or at home at this time of night. I just wondered because two hours ago, countless children had been running around in Halloween costumes.

I was breaking all possible driving rules, so I couldn’t care less.

“Julian?! That was red!” Mia sounded startled. “What's wrong with you guys?”

Neither Emely nor I said a word.

I was trying to get to our house as fast as possible, if I could without crashing, which was hard when Mia was asking questions all the time and the pain was increasing, not decreasing.

“Julian, she's in so much pain...” Emely whimpered from the passenger seat, unable to take her hand off her neck.

I felt the need to simply take her pain away, but I wasn't able to. There was only one person who could possibly do that, and she was in mortal danger right now.

I felt my hands shaking and gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles stood out.

“Fine. Ignore me then,” Mia grumbled from the back seat. Her impatience didn't make it any better.