로그인Willow’s POVHeather turned on me with fire in her eyes and came forward in a run, throwing punches rapidly. They were less accurate than before. I avoided two, caught one on the forearm, and then moved around her.“Enough!” She grabbed for my arm.I pulled away and put distance between us.She was breathing harder than she had been at the start, not because she was tired, but because she was irritated.She turned.Her technique had changed. She was no longer fighting a controlled spar. She was chasing.She lunged.The first punch came fast, but I slipped outside it.The second followed immediately and I ducked under it.She didn’t stop.She wanted to hurt me now.When she charged at me I saw an opening.I planted my feet and my fist shot forward causing Heather’s own momentum to drive her face straight into my fist.Crunch.The sound echoed through the ring. Heather staggered backward.Blood burst from her nose almost immediately.Silence fell upon the training grounds.Heather slowl
Willow’s POVHeather rushed in again, faster this time.“Stop running.”I watched her right foot.It shifted.I moved left before the punch arrived, and her fist passed the side of my ribs instead of slamming into them. The hit grazed me again, and it still hurt, but it was not the same as the clean shots from earlier.Her elbow caught my shoulder as she passed. It wasn't much, but it reminded me that seeing an attack wasn't the same as escaping it. I straightened and kept my distance.A quiet realization had dawned on me.I was not going to beat Heather. It was just the plain truth. She had a wolf, more strength, more training, and she had years of practice. If I tried to go on the offensive, it would only mean hurting myself.That was not going to work.So I changed the goal entirely.I stopped thinking about how to win and started thinking about how to stay on my feet long enough.Heather threw a jab. I saw it before her arm moved. I stepped back and the jab hit the air.She follo
Willow’s POVThe woman’s name, I learned from someone in the crowd, was Heather.I learned this because someone behind me said, very clearly, “Heather’s going to flatten her.”Another voice added, “I give her forty seconds.”“Thirty,” someone countered.I stepped fully into the ring.Heather was already rolling her neck, loosening her shoulders with the posture of someone who had done this hundreds of times.She looked at me the way people looked at something mildly inconvenient. I was not even a real threat to her, just something to deal with quickly so she could move on with her day.Part of me knew that without a doubt.I had watched Heather fight before. She was good. Not Hela-level, but she was genuinely skilled, controlled and efficient.If I had been in my right mind when I issued this challenge, I would have chosen literally anyone else.But I had not been in my right mind. I had been standing there for a week with frustration piling up under my skin, and this woman had stood
Willow’s POVI went to the training grounds that evening because I needed something to do with my hands that didn’t mean working in the garden.The garden calmed me. Today I didn’t want to be calm.I stood at the edge of the ring and watched two warriors spar. The watching helped a little, as I tracked the rhythm, the footwork and the patterns the way I always did. For a few minutes my mind went quiet.Then a voice came from my left.“Enjoying the view?”I glanced sideways.A woman I recognized from my walks with Hela. I had seen her a handful of times. She had dark hair, with crossed arms, and the expression of someone who had something to say and had been waiting for an occasion to say it.I looked back at the ring. “Yes.”“It must be nice,” the woman continued. “Getting to walk around like you own the place, and standing here like one of us.”“I’m watching a fight,” I said, my voice even.“I’m just saying.” The woman’s voice was light, sounding almost casual. “It’s interesting. You
Willow’s POVThe first thing I felt was the slow press of lips against my collarbone, light and teasing.A shiver rippled through me, and I arched slightly, my breath hitching as the kisses traveled upward, over my shoulder, before finally capturing my mouth. His tongue parted my lips, slow and deliberate, tasting me deeply, as if he had all the time in the world. I moaned into the kiss, my fingers tangling in his hair as I pulled him closer.Then his lips left mine, trailing down my jaw, and he sucked gently on the lobe of my ear. I gasped breathlessly. His breath was hot against my throat as his hands slid up to cradle my breasts, his thumbs brushing over my nipples until they hardened under my thin nightshirt.I bit my lip with a moan, my hips rocking as his mouth followed his hands. His tongue circled one nipple before drawing it into his mouth, sucking hard enough to make me whimper.“Mordecai,” I breathed, my voice thick with need, my nails digging into his shoulders.His pale b
NOAH’S POV (Willow’s former mate)I sat there for a moment in the silence she left, then pressed my hand against my forehead.I had told Willow years ago that I didn’t like Stacey. That she was fake. I had meant all of it. And now I came home to her every evening, sat across from her at dinner, listened to her shrill voice grating into my head endlessly.The wolf inside me was restless. He had been restless for two months, since the day Willow disappeared.I had done this to myself. I knew that.There had been a time when I looked forward to returning to the alpha house every evening because I knew Willow would be somewhere inside it. Sometimes she was doing the laundry. Sometimes she was helping in the kitchen. Sometimes she was just resting in her room. It didn't matter where she was because seeing her had always been enough.Now every hallway felt empty.And now here I was, staring at reports I could not focus on, in a room I didn’t want to be in, missing the one person who had ever
Willow’s POVThe training grounds were not far from where Henry had left me, and I found myself walking in that direction without really thinking about it.I stopped at the edge.I had only ever come here with Hela. She had been beside me every time, and nobody had looked twice because having the G
Chapter 35Willow’s POVThe next morning, I woke up with a plan.I lay in bed for a few minutes after opening my eyes, going over it in my head. The plan was simple. I just needed to start small, without rush so that it wouldn’t look obvious.I was going to map this pack and find out how to escape.
Chapter 34Willow’s POVDiana walked me back to the building and stopped at a corridor that went in two different directions.“This is where I leave you,” she said.I nodded. “Thank you for today.”She shrugged, like it was nothing. “Don’t hide in the garden tomorrow.”“I’ll think about it.”She ga
Willow’s POVI frowned, then turned slowly to see four young women standing behind me, but I didn’t recognize any of them.The first woman had her eyes fixed on me with a sneer on her face, and something about the look immediately felt familiar.It reminded me of Stacey. It was the kind of look that







