Novels by Sandra Lin

AIDEN'S POVThe morning sun is pouring in the window of the lodge as I sip coffee in the great room. The close-of-the-weekend gathering persists in a forced cheeriness that is annoying. Alphas and their Lunas, pace around getting ready for today's planned hike on the trails of the mountain—it's a pack tradition, supposedly to promote unity and pack-strength.I see her as soon as she walks in. Haylee. Her hair is pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail, and she is dressed in practical hiking clothes that cling to her athletic frame. She is beautiful, stunningly so. The way she always has.Xavier right behind her, hand possessively at her lower back, they fall into line for the breakfast buffet. He leans down to whisper something in her ear that makes her laugh, and something rips through me like acid."As you coming on the hike Fenrir?" Alpha Rodriguez stands next to me, giant plate of food in his hand.I pull my eyes away from the couple. "Wouldn't miss it.""Good man." He claps my shou

HAYLEE'S POVI collapse another dress into my overnight bag, my motion mechanical. The weekend getaway is lurking in front of me like an exam I’m unprepared to take. Three days with just Xavier at the Blue Ridge Lodge—three days pretending that I am not disturbed after seeing Aiden."Taking the blue one? that is Good choice. You look stunning in it."I smile, but it does not come all the way up to my eyes. "For the formal dinner, yes. Is Marissa ready with the twins?”"Everything's arranged." He moves up behind me, his hands resting on my shoulders. "They'll be fine. This is about us, remember?"His fingers knead the tight muscles in the back of my neck, and I force myself not to step away. There’s nothing wrong with his touch — it’s soft, affectionate — but he’s starting to scare me. Then why does it make me want to run?---The twins’ room is a riot of toys, both boys lying on the floor with their wooden wolves. Kael leads a first battle scene while Lior positions his wolves as thou

XAVIER'S POVI observe Haylee as she steps out of the shrubs, stiff backed and expressionless. Aesthetically about control, as pure control as we’ve seen in years. But I know better. Since we have been together for five years, I can decipher the nuances — the small line between her brows and the tightness in her shoulders. Aiden has gotten to her more than she’d like to concede."How did it go?" I remain calm in my voice as she gets up onto the steps to our porch.Haylee looks me in the eye, but there’s a wariness in her eyes. "It's done. I told him to stay away.""And will he?" I lean on the railing, looking at her face.She groans, ruffling her hair with her hand. "He's stubborn. But I made myself clear."I take a confident step forward and circle her in my arms. She pauses for half a second and then relaxes against me. That brief pause cuts me to the heart.“You seem tense,” I say, into her hair. “Let me make dinner like this today. You can rest.""That's not necessary—""I insist.

HAYLEE'S POVThe woods are a blur as I race back to the compound, replaying that encounter at the springs in my mind. The near-kiss with Aiden. The pull of the mate bond. The weakness I'd shown. Anger floods through every muscle on my body with every step—anger at myself for almost giving up rational want for biological need.I stop at the end of the clearing to regroup myself before entering Xavier's domain. _My_ territory now. Five years of establishing a new life, of molding walls around my heart, and Aiden's reckless actions could wreck it all in a few blow of his two-fisted wrecking ball.Not this time.Xavier is waiting for me on the front porch of our house, the warm light just behind him. He stands relaxed, but I can see it in his shoulders."It's later than I thought you would return," he says, with just the slightest edge to his voice beneath the warmth of it.I meet his gaze evenly. The eastern border took more time than I thought it would. Pack of scoundrels came through la

AIDEN'S POVThere are coils of seedy tendrils of steam emanating from the holy hot waters and they skulk through the dusk like gasps from ancestors. I glance at my watch for the fourth time in fifteen minutes. She's late. Maybe she’s not coming at all.The mere thought sends an unpleasant wince down my chest. Five years of being apart, five years of wondering, of wishing, of regretting, and now that I have found her again I don’t want to frighten her. One slip up and I might lose her forever with my children.A branch breaks in the distance, and my wolf ears automatically zero in on it. Seconds later, I’m enveloped in her scent now; lavender and rain with an essence that is so Haylee beneath it. My body reacts and my heart races when she breaks through the trees.She stops at the clearing’s edge, wariness in every line of her form. The Luna finery is gone, replaced with plain jeans and a forest green sweater that turns her eyes more gold than brown. Her hair is down around her shoulder

HAYLEE'S POVThe trip to the pack house feels much longer than it should, every step heavier than the last. Aiden’s words keep playing on a loop in my head, unsettling truths and possibilities spent five years burying now being unearthed and made privy to society. The mating bond buzzes under my skin, awakened more by our time together.Xavier’s waiting for me on the front porch, all tense and choked with barely leashed anger. His gaze follows my progress around the room, taking stock of the details of my appearance as though he is looking for evidence of my disloyalty.“You never answered when I called,” he murmurs as I make my way up the steps, his voice soft, but his demeanor anything but.“There has been no emergency at the northern border,” I rebuke, edging around him to the door. “Elder Margaret just confirmed that already.His hand grabs my wrist, powerful, but not in a painful way. “The emergency was that my Luna was in the woods with another Alpha. An Alpha who didn't have the