Chapter Three

"I regret it."

Liora said it to the ceiling of her apartment. Flat on her back on the couch, one arm over her face, still in last night's clothes.

"I completely and totally regret it."

I told you.* Freya's voice was thin as paper. I told you and you didn't listen and now we're going to die in this apartment and nobody will find us for three days.

"We're not going to die."

Liora.

"Okay, we might die." She pressed her palms against her eyes. "God, I shouldn't have broken the bond. My dad's debts are still sitting there and now I have no mate and you're fading and I just — I ruined everything."

Screw the debt. Freya's tone shifted, sharper now, urgent. Liora, listen to me. You need to recharge. Right now. Today. If you don't get energy from your mate soon, I won't make it. And neither will you.

"I know." Liora sat up slowly. Her whole body felt heavy. "I know, Freya."

She stared at the wall.

Then she thought about last night. The club. The warmth that had moved through her chest out of nowhere, slow and golden and real. She'd been so focused on getting to Leoric that she'd almost missed it.

Almost.

"Wait." She sat up straighter. "Last night. That man in the VIP section."

What about him?

"He's not my mate. But I got energy from him, Freya. Real energy. Enough to feel like myself for the first time in weeks." She paused. "And he was — I mean. Not that it matters. But he was—"

Spit it out.

"Hot. Aggressively hot. Chiseled jaw, perfect nose, lashes that had no business being that long, and eyes like—" She searched for it. "Like the Bay of Naples. That deep dark blue-green that makes you forget what you were saying."

Freya was quiet for a moment. You got all that from a thirty-second encounter where you offered to fix his erectile dysfunction?

"I'm observant."

A knock at the door saved her from continuing that thought. She opened it to find her best friend Sophia already halfway through a sentence, takeout bags in both hands, sunglasses pushed up on her head.

"—because I called you four times and you never — wait." Sophia stopped. Looked her up and down. "You're still in last night's outfit. What happened?"

"Leoric was cheating. I rejected him. Freya is dying. I'm probably next." Liora stepped aside to let her in. "Come in."

Sophia dropped the bags on the counter and turned around slowly. "You rejected him."

"Loudly. In a restaurant."

"Liora."

"I know."

"Okay." Sophia took a breath. "Okay. We'll figure it out. You need to recharge — do you have anyone else who can—"

"Actually." Liora pulled her jacket off the hook. "There might be someone. Get your shoes."

—

The park was bright and cold, Liora spotted him from halfway across the path and grabbed Sophia's arm so hard she yelped.

"That's him." Liora stared. Same jaw. Same height. Same unbothered posture, like the world arranged itself around him and he simply allowed it. "Sophia. That's the man from last night."

Sophia went very still. Then she turned slowly. Then she grabbed Liora back.

"Girl."

"What?"

"Girl." Her voice dropped to a hiss. "Stop playing with me right now."

"What are you talking about?"

Sophia's grip tightened. "Do you know who that is?"

Liora looked again. Tall. Dark coat. A small boy — maybe six — running circles around his legs while he checked his phone with the patience of a man who had learned to multitask or lose his mind.

"He's the man from the club," Liora said slowly.

"That's Elias." Sophia's eyes were wide. "Elias Duskfangor. Alpha of the Darkfang Pack, Liora. The most powerful Alpha in the entire North."

The ground shifted slightly under Liora's feet.

"So the VIP I was dragged out to serve that night—"

"Was the most powerful Alpha in the region. Yes."

"Oh my god."

"Oh my god is correct."

They both stared at him for a moment. The little boy had now apparently decided to climb his father's arm like a tree. Elias caught him without looking up from his phone.

"Okay." Sophia turned to her fully. "So you're telling me that you can recharge just by being near Elias Duskfangor?"

"It worked last night. I don't know how, I don't know why, but Freya came back to life the second I got close to him."

Sophia pointed a finger at her. "Then you need to lock him down. Listen to me carefully. You stay close to him, you stay alive. And a man like that?" She raised an eyebrow. "Your father's debts disappear like they never existed."

"Sophia—"

"You want to die?"

"He's the Alpha of the Darkfang Pack—"

"You. Want. To. Die?"

She has a point, Freya offered weakly.

Liora looked at Elias across the path. He'd finally put his phone away. He was crouching down now, saying something to the little boy, and the boy threw his head back laughing at whatever it was.

Something tugged at her chest that had nothing to do with Freya.

She shook it off.

"Okay," she said.

Sophia blinked. "Okay?"

Liora straightened her jacket. Lifted her chin. Ignored every sensible thought in her head.

"I'm going after him."