Tyler let out a feral growl that came from deep within his belly. It was a growl that sounded like it came from a wolf, though that shouldn't have been possible considering he was in his human skin.

Still, it rumbled out of him and he attempted to wiggle out of Tyrion's control. Tyrion had the upper hand, however, and shoved the blade up Tyler's back and hissed, "if you don't calm down, I'll cut you open and rip out your spine."

My mouth hung open at Tyrion's words. I'd never heard him speak like that before and I couldn't have imagined it either, considering he'd always been the younger, less serious one of the four brothers. I had just always assumed he was the innocent one of them.

It only proved that I knew nothing about either of them. Probably least of all my own promised...

Tyler huffed in annoyance and frustration but stopped fighting against Tyrion. At least he wasn't that dumb. He seemed so feral. So animalistic. I'd never really seen him this way. But, in truth, I had not paid much attention to him in the past to begin with.

"I won't go into that thing," Tyler said, rooting his feet into the ground.

Tyrion surprised me more when he pushed Tyler forward, muttering, "You will." He forced Tyler into it, cutting into his back with the blade he held. The smell of blood wafted in the air then and my stomach reacted instantly.

I could hear Tyler hiss as he started to push back, but Tyrion was stronger and quicker. Tyler was shoved into the capsule. "You will regret this," Tyler muttered, his voice dripping with venom. His bushy, dark brows were pulled together. Then he suddenly chuckled, as a smirk formed on his thin lips. "I'll see you soon enough," he chortled, his brown eyes connecting to mine. It made my heart stop.

Tyrion moved. Mere moments later, with Tyrion in the space next to him, the capsules vanished. There was barely any time to process how fast they'd vanished into the ground, but I did notice the blood drops on the ground from Tyrion's blade.

Next in line was Ryker with Holden.

I saw his dirty blonde hair before I really registered anything else about him. It hung without volume from his head, damp from the humidity of the air. It was slightly wavy and a picture of me once driving a hand through it played in my mind. But I felt nothing as I remembered an intimate moment between the two of us, even sharing a kiss made my gut still entirely. There was no excitement. No rush. No resentment. No hatred for his betrayal.

I hadn't even noticed that our eyes had connected but when I did, I saw something in the blue of them that I hadn't expected to ever see there.

Not even caring enough to concentrate on the emotion that trickled through him to confirm it, I simply looked away.

"I never meant for it to go as far as it did," a voice said so suddenly, I almost thought I'd imagined it. My heart was still trying to continue beating from that stare Tyler had looked at me with.

I hadn't actually heard him speak for such a long time, let alone to me.

With a raised eyebrow I returned my gaze to him and held his stare. There was nothing left for me to say. I had felt bad for him the moment I had met Reagan. I would have plucked up the courage and had ended things with him. Any feelings, if there ever had been any to begin with, had been gone for a while. In all honesty, I let Holden go far longer than what the betrayal would have destroyed had Reagan never shown up. Holden was always sketchy but I never knew how to place it, so I accepted it as something that just belonged to him. Something that made him who he was. But the real moment that I let go of anything that had been between us was the day we spent in the human neighbourhood when he lost my trust by lying through his teeth.

I bore only anger at myself for having looked past all the warning signs. For having believed in him despite it all. Holden was as cunning as the only two friends he had, and I should have realised earlier that people attracted what they were on the inside. Why else would he have ever been friends with them if it were otherwise?

He'd given me a valuable life lesson.

No one could be trusted. But it was not only he who had taught me that, recently.

"I never meant for you to have true feelings for me," he continued and I instantly felt Ryker's shock.

Annoyance clouded anyone else's reaction and it was coming from me, entirely directed at Holden. Who'd he think he was, making me sound like some love-struck idiot who hadn't known any better?

I studied his stare, trying to find his intentions behind the icy blue of his irises. Was he trying to wind me up? Or was he genuinely apologizing? Thinking that I had actually somewhat loved him? I wasn't really sure what was worse.

"Then you have nothing to worry about, Holden Farren. I never loved you in the first place."

And that blow made his gaze turn cold and a scowl lined his face.

I grinned. "You were a means to an end anyway. Your betrayal means nothing to me. It only proves what a weak pawn you are in whatever game Shyla thinks she's playing."

Ryker used the moment of distraction to push Holden into the Moska, the black gooey substance that instantly formed bandages around his entire body, strapping him into it, and quickly occupied the spot next to him.

Wordlessly the Thrakos brother nodded towards the lever and Reece moved it.

"Good bye, Catherine."

And with those last words, Holden disappeared into the depths of the ground and I wondered if I would ever cross paths with him again.

Good bye, Holden. Good bye.