INICIAR SESIÓNI had reached my limit.Brooks circled the Borderlands camp day after day, leaving his own pack to rot, without a shred of responsibility in him.And Harper had been acting strange lately.She went to bed early every night and no longer pestered me for stories or lessons.Watching quietly, I figured out it was Brooks, sneaking her off to play.Somehow, somewhere along the way, this child had forgotten what I'd taught her.I had told her she couldn't go running off with strangers.Brooks said it plainly.“I'm her father. How does that make me a stranger?”When I confronted him, father and daughter wore the very same expression.“Lena, our daughter has Alpha blood, and I really can't rest about it.”I didn't want to hear another word of his nonsense, so I simply closed the clinic.Harper thought I was angry and kept trying timidly to soothe me.“Mommy, I know I was wrong. I'll never run off to play with him again. He just said he was my daddy, and I, I didn't believe him.”Looking at my
Three years later, I had opened a small clinic on the edge of the Borderlands, living a quiet life with my daughter, Harper Hart.Then the man in the tiger-head mask showed up, and I knew him at a single glance. It was Brooks.For days on end he trailed us in secret.A few days in, he went so far as to fake being drunk and collapse right at the clinic door.That day my daughter had been playing nicely in the yard when she suddenly ran in and shouted at me.“Mommy. The tiger man outside, I think he's hurt.”I had no interest in dealing with him. “It's nothing. Go back to your room.”Hearing my voice turn cold, Harper nodded timidly and didn't linger.Just then Brooks slowly opened his eyes, knowing his act had been exposed.He braced a hand on the ground and got slowly to his feet.He looked at me with a pitiful expression, something almost meek creeping into his voice.“Lena, I was wrong. None of what happened was your fault. I was too proud. I've loved you since we were children, and
On the day of the full moon rite, Brooks had no heart for the ceremony, his mind circling back to Lena.With the rite about to begin, he scanned the faces around him and couldn't stop himself from asking,“Where's Lena?”The Beta standing nearby found it odd too.“She was around just now. I saw her myself. I'll send someone to find her right away.”A moment later, word came back.“Alpha. Beta. Dr. Hart is resting at the clinic out back. Shall I bring her over?”Brooks thought it over and decided to let her rest.She was probably worn out. She'd suffered alongside him for years, and her body tired easily.And with everything today, she was likely upset as well.Once it was over he would tuck her away in his own quarters and find some way to lift her spirits.But the ceremony was half over and still there was no sign of her.Brooks could no longer keep his temper in check.His face had gone completely dark.“Bring her here!”But right up until the marking ceremony ended, I never appeared
I surfaced out of the terror of drowning.Pale as paper, I pressed a hand to my belly.I felt the child there, and finally let out a breath.“Relax. Your child is fine.”The voice beside me was calm and even.I threw back the blanket and scrambled out of bed.“Old Luna, why are you here?”She didn't look at me, only tended quietly to the plants in my room.I was still working out what to say to her.The old Luna let out a cold laugh. “I was reborn too. I brought you to my side to ask you one thing. Why won't you be Luna this time? That scene at the pool, the one that washed the potion off you, I'm the one who had Theo arrange it. Years ago I was carrying a child, and I drank the broth my mate sent me and lost it. He was a monster, the most selfish creature alive. That is why I mean to destroy him.”Watching the pain twist across her face, something came back to me.In my last life, after I knew I'd lost the baby, Brooks still came around often.Then, seeing how I grieved, he frowned an
As her words landed, Theo's face fell, but he didn't argue.Brooks looked at the jacket someone held out to him.He walked straight up to me and settled it over my shoulders.Then his face went cold, he turned, and the full weight of an Alpha's power rolled off him.He drove a kick into Theo's chest.Even that wasn't enough to satisfy him.He hauled Theo up by the collar and put a brutal punch into him.“Alpha.”Theo's voice shook, and blood spilled from his lips.I threw myself in to stop it, afraid Brooks would beat him to death in front of everyone.But Brooks's eyes were locked on my neck.He dragged me in front of him, his grip vicious.He stared at my throat as if he could see straight through it.“He marked you, didn't he?”His voice was raw, consumed by obsession.I avoided his gaze, confused as to why he wore such an affectionate expression now.“What is it? Does it hurt? It hurts me far more than it ever could you.”He seized my wrist, hard.“Days ago there was nothing there.
Before I knew it, the night of the first-quarter moon had arrived.The day I was leaving was close now.Brooks threw a warm-up banquet for the full moon marking ceremony.He didn't announce Cassia's status outright, but she stayed at his side the entire night.Plenty of the women there burned with envy.An Alpha like Brooks, this tender with a woman, was a sight in itself.He even took off his own jacket and draped it over her shoulders.Nothing in me stirred at it anymore, and I was already half lost in daydreams of life as a healer.As I went to grab a few small cakes, a passing bartender slipped a note into my hand.I found a quiet corner and opened it.It read, “Come to the pool right away. Something important to discuss.”It was Theo's handwriting.Maybe something serious had really happened, the way he was rushing.I made sure no one was watching me and hurried off.What I didn't notice was the heat of a stare following me out.I reached the poolside and spotted Theo from a dista







