ログインWith as frequently as she reminded me, failing to recall that fact was an impossibility.Two moon-cycles had drifted by since Madeline and I had abandoned the pack’s formal rites to retreat to the Northern Glades with the rest of the sentinels—and Serena, of all she-wolves, in our shadow. When Madeline had first proposed the trek, I was certain she intended to use the isolation of the forest to finally decide if we would ever be more than mere pack-mates, but that trail had remained cold. I couldn't exactly fault her for her wariness after everything that had transpired, but by the Mother, the female must not have grasped how absolutely agonizing this state of limbo was for my beast.Or perhaps she understood perfectly. Perhaps she was dragging out the hunt to give me a taste of the suffering I had once inflicted on her. If that was the scent she was following, it was certainly hitting its mark.“Well, we could officially mark our bond again if—”“Now is not the season,” Madeline cut
He let out a jagged breath and cut the flow of the wash, slowly dragging a pelt over his skin before sliding into a pair of breeches and retreating to the sleeping quarters. He hadn't bothered to ignite a torch, but the silver radiance of the moon spilling through the balcony archway provided enough light to navigate the chamber. However, as he pulled back the heavy furs and slipped between them, his instincts immediately flared—he wasn't alone in the den."Maddie?" he murmured, his voice thick with shock as he reached out to graze her shoulder. When his pads met the silk of her skin, Harrison knew his senses weren't playing tricks. It was truly her. "What are you doing in my territory?"She stirred at the low vibration of his voice, shifting so her spine was no longer toward him. She rolled onto her side, offering a hazy, soft smile from only inches away. While the sight of it made his heart hammer against his ribs, it was the sharp scent of the peat-mash on her breath that kept him
“I know your spirit better than you’d like to admit.”As much as she hungered to deny it, she couldn't. They were cut from the same jagged stone. They were both bastards at the core, yet loyal to a fault—even if they wore that loyalty like armor—looking at Grant was like staring into a pool of still water, a reflection of every grace and every horror within herself.It was the reason they had ignited in the first place. It was also the reason they could never run as a pair.Rather than answering the jab, Serena stepped around him, determined not to let him see her resolve crack. “I am retreating to my furs.”Unfortunately, her paws faltered as she neared the exit, and she had to seize the stone wall to keep from collapsing. She was more far-gone than she’d calculated, an issue that wouldn't have mattered if she were alone, but the last thing she wanted was for Grant to witness her stumble.Never one to miss a kill-shot, Grant’s hand was on her elbow in a heartbeat. “You require a guid
At the start, my haze-filled eyes didn’t register his shadow in the frame, but as the doorway finally snapped into focus, Serena permitted her lips to curve. She was relieved it was this specific wolf out of the two missing from the pack-gathering.He crossed the threshold with a predator’s grace, making a point to thud the heavy oak shut behind him, stifling the boisterous howls from the rest of the manor. The sudden silence was absolute.“Serena.”“Grant,” she answered, raising her arms high in a languid, feline stretch. She could feel his golden-brown eyes tracking the pale skin of her ribs as her tunic shifted upward.You may despise my scent, but you cannot resist the pull.His gaze was clouded with a dark, amused heat. “You’re intoxicated on the mash.”She made a clumsy attempt to right herself but found the gravity of the room far more treacherous than she’d anticipated. Her vision swam by the time her paws hit the floorboards, a jagged giggle vibrating in her throat. “It would
"What are you tracking?" I asked, a low-frequency attempt to shatter the heavy, static silence of the den.Serena tilted her head, her silver hair spilling over her shoulder as she stared at the flickering images of a historic war-flick on the screen. "An old chronicle of the Great Divide. I cannot bring my wolf to focus on the scents of the past, though."I let out a soft rumble of agreement. "The sun has set on a grueling cycle.""That is the understatement of the moon," Serena murmured, her claws raking idly through her hair. "I should not have entered this territory. I’ll need an elder to examine my spirit when I return to the North, because agreeing to run with this pack was likely the most mindless leap I could have made.""It isn't mindless," I countered, though my own instincts understood her hesitation. Had our positions been swapped, I wasn't certain I would have stepped foot on a trail led by her. "You have every right to be in this den; these males were once part of your o
There was this one twilight when I was trying to settle you in your furs,” Richard had told her, as he had done countless times across the years. “We’d been trekking through the woods all day and you were spent, but the last thing you wanted to do was close your eyes. You glared and bared your tiny gums and whined, completely refusing to yield. Eventually, you drifted off, but when you woke… Oh boy, you were purely lethal.”At that point, he would always grin down at his little terror of a daughter and wrap an arm around her.“Every time your eyes met mine for the rest of the sun-cycle, your face would flush red and you’d snarl like I was a rival alpha. Best part is, you still wear that exact expression today.”I knew I certainly did. Only it wasn't my father who was feeling the bite of it these days.“Harrison, I swear by the Mother, if you don’t stop growling about her presence, I will bar you from the den for the remainder of this entire hunt.”“But I just don't scent the logic,” h







