LOGIN(Tova)Four. Well on his way to five.I keep landing on it.Zack's age and when Angelique ran.I've turned the numbers over so many times it's gone smooth as a river stone, no edges left to catch on.I told her I’d let it go, but I can’t.She loved him like crazy. Why the hell did she leave?So this morning I'm doing something useful with the itch instead of just scratching at it in my own head.I'm following Maliyah's voice down a hallway like I’m on my way to somewhere else.She's at the far end with Brynn, heads close, the kind of close that screams we’re conspiring.They’re not too far from an open window, so I duck outside and plant myself against the wall nearby, pretending to type on my phone.Everyone knows people who are busy on their phones have no awareness of what’s going on around them.It’s a well-established fact."...and you're certain she’s been getting the full dose every day?" Maliyah's asking in a low whisper."Yeah. I’m putting it in her morning coffee," Brynn say
(Maliyah)My daughter is going to make a beautiful Luna, and with me helping her from the shadows, she will become very powerful.Rene Beck just needs to stop dragging his feet long enough to let her.I sit in front of the mirror in the room they've given me and pull the pins from my hair one at a time, slow, the way I do when I want my hands busy and my mind free to work.Rene Beck stood in a hallway today and called the dead girl mine in front of three of my own.He didn't notice himself say it.That's how I know it's true.A liar chooses his lies. A man who's caught off guard says what's underneath.The wolf is hers, still.After everything.After five years of mourning a corpse that turned out to be a coward who ran instead of dying properly.I should be furious.I find I'm mostly curious.There's a knock, and Victor comes in without waiting for me to answer, which is one of the few habits of his I've never managed to break."You're still awake.""I don't sleep well in other men's
(Angelique)The hallway's full of Myr wolves again.I should've smelled them sooner, but I'm too busy thinking about last night.About Rene’s words and how they nearly broke me in a way that none of his cruelty has managed to.I’m carrying Zack's lunch tray, trying to ignore how insufferably smug my wolf’s been since Rene told me I was safe with him.He’ll protect us. Tell him.Telling him is the last thing I should do.I nearly walk into them before I fully register their presence.Three of them.Strangers, all broad shoulders and unfamiliar scent, blocking the corridor like they grew there."Excuse me."I keep my voice light. Try to angle around them.The tallest one steps into the gap before I can pass."Angelique Pruitt."He says my name like it tastes bad."The dead girl.""I'm not in the mood. Please just let me past.""Nobody asked what mood you're in."A female steps up beside him, sharp-faced, arms crossed."What a selfish bitch. You let your whole pack mourn you. Your stepmo
(Rene)I send Cole to fetch her with two words."Bring her."He doesn't ask which her. There's only one.She comes in still smelling like Tova's wine, chin up, already braced for whatever I am tonight.Smart girl.The box is on the bed, lid already off. Black leather, a small steel ring at the front, polished so it catches the lamp.She sees it and her whole body goes still in that way she has, the way that means she's working hard not to react.I bought it three days ago.Told myself it was about ownership, about making the point with something tangible instead of my mouth for once.I knew exactly what it was about.I just don't say it out loud, not even to my wolf."Strip."She does it without hesitation.It took me several weeks to train it into her and I still get something low and vicious in my chest every time she obeys without question.Mine.The wolf says it like a fact, not a hope.I pick up the collar."Come here."She crosses the room on bare feet.Doesn't look at what I’m
(Angelique)Tova lets herself in with a bottle of wine in one hand and a bag of the orange puffs Zack isn't usually allowed in the other."Tova!" Zack's off the floor like he's spring-loaded."Hey buddy." She tosses him the bag. "Don't tell your mother.""I’m right here," I say dryly."Don't be a spoilsport, then."I should take the puffs away.I don't.Some days you let the kid have the orange dust and the felony, because the other choice is being the only bright spot he’s got and somehow ruining that too.Tova drops onto my bed like she pays rent on it and twists the cap off the wine.Then she goes still.Sniffs.Her eyebrows climb her forehead."Angelique Pruitt.""Don't.""You smell like him. Again.""Tova-""Like him him. Like you've been somewhere you'd have to go to confession about if we had that. You hussy."She fans herself."And here I thought he was meant to be rejecting you. Worst rejection I've ever smelled.""It's complicated.""It's always complicated with you. That's
(Rene)"No more delays."Maliyah says it like she owns my father's study.With him nodding along from his chair, she nearly does.I’ve never been able to understand why he’s always so eager to support her.She was mated to his Beta. Angelique’s father, Theodore Pruitt.That doesn’t explain how oddly close they are."The Warden's gone. The pack's whispering. Every day that drags by makes you look weaker."She folds her hands in her lap."Reject the girl. Tonight. With witnesses present, so no one can argue it later."Kill her. She dares to dictate terms to an Alpha?This is one instance where I wish I could give in to my more bestial urges.The world would be a better place without Maliyah in it.I have to keep reminding myself that attacking her would be equal to declaring war against the Myr pack."I appreciate your concern, but I’ll do it on my own time.""You've had your own time."Her smile is patient and awful."Now you'll have mine."My father adds dryly from his chair, "She's r
(Rene)She's only been under my roof two days, and I've already stopped being able to tell the difference between hating her and the other thing.That's a problem.I had it clean before.Five years of mourning. Missing my mate.Only to learn she betrayed me.That she didn't just let me bury her, sh
(Angelique)I find out the rules of my new life by eavesdropping, which feels about right.I'm sent down to fetch Zack's lunch from the kitchens because the Alpha's pet doesn't get to sit and be served.I really don’t mind. Keeping everyone away from Zack right now is my top priority.On the way ba
(Rene)The boy falls asleep in the car before we clear the gate, and I'm glad, because it means she has nothing to hide behind when we get to the house.I have Cole take the kid to a room on the far side of the residence.Angelique watches him carried away down a corridor she doesn't know, in a hou
(Angelique)Twenty minutes to dismantle a life.It's not as hard as it should be.That's the part that hollows me out, how little there is.Zack's clothes.The shoebox of his drawings.One good blanket.My documents, the fake ones and the realer ones, taped inside a vent I pried open with a butter







