LOGIN“Either bleed quietly… or take it outside.”BANG!I slammed the reception bell onto the counter. The waiting room went silent. A rogue threatening another patient sat back down. An old woman stopped yelling about prescription prices. Even the kid with a broken wrist stopped crying.Brie peeked around the pharmacy window, barely hiding a laugh. “You enjoy terrifying people way too much.”“They’re easier than paperwork,” I replied.The clinic was hidden beneath an abandoned warehouse in the middle of The Pit. There were no signs, no government licenses, and no records. It was just cracked concrete and buzzing lights for the people nobody else wanted: runaway omegas, shot rogues, and humans caught in pack wars.If you could still breathe, we’d try to keep you that way. Questions were optional. Cash wasn’t.I shrugged off my leather jacket and slid behind the desk. Officially, I handled admissions, bills, and scheduling.Unofficially, I kept the waiting room from turning into a crime scen
I burst through the hallway just as chaos explodes in the nursery.Cora tries to stop me, grabbing my arm. “Kieran, wait—!”I shrug her off without slowing down. My mate is in there.The scene hits me like a silver blade to the chest.Sienna has Delphine pinned against the wall, teeth sunk deep into the vampire’s neck. Golden light pulses violently from the bite. Delphine isn’t moving much anymore — just twitching, choking on her own blood. Dark crimson spills down her chin and chest, staining her elegant gown.Darius screams in pure rage. “You bitch!”He lunges toward Sienna, claws extended.I move faster than thought. I slam into him with my full weight, driving him back and pinning him against the opposite wall. My forearm presses hard against his throat.“You will not touch her,” I snarl, voice distorted by the partial shift.Darius’s red eyes burn with fury, but he stops fighting when he sees Delphine’s condition. “Let me go to her!”Sienna finally pulls back from the bite. Blood
The Night Court moves.Darius lunges first, a blur of shadow and fang. I spin, shielding Callum with my body as golden light explodes from my hands. The power slams into Darius’s chest, throwing him backward into the wall with a crack of stone. Delphine hisses and darts toward me from the side.Tabitha and Isla react instantly. Tabitha grabs a heavy lamp and swings it like a club, smashing it across one vampire’s head. Isla shifts partially, claws ripping across another’s arm. Cora stays close to me, ready to take Callum if needed.“Get him out!” I shout at Cora.She doesn’t hesitate. She snatches Callum from my arms and runs toward the inner door. My son’s cries echo down the hallway as she disappears.Relief floods me for half a second.Then Delphine is on me.Her cold fingers wrap around my throat. I gasp, golden sparks flaring wildly as I claw at her arm. The Bridge power surges, burning her skin. She screams and releases me, but the damage is done — my throat feels bruised, breat
We race through the forest like shadows given form. My paws slam against the earth, muscles burning as I push harder. Sienna runs at my flank, her lighter wolf form keeping pace with fierce determination. Ryker’s roar still echoes in my ears — raw, furious, and filled with warning.Hold on, I send through the pack link. We’re coming.The trees blur past us. The lake falls behind. We crest a ridge and plunge into denser woods near the eastern border. The scent of blood hits me first — sharp, metallic, and mixed with unfamiliar vampire rot.I snarl.We burst into a small clearing and the scene stops me cold.Ryker is fighting for his life.Three vampires circle him, moving with unnatural speed. Ryker’s
We walk deeper into the forest, the night air cool against my skin. Kieran keeps my hand in his, steady and warm. The path winds through ancient trees, moonlight filtering through the canopy in silver patches. For the first time in days, my chest feels a little lighter.Kieran stops near a small clearing and turns to me. “Shift with me.”I hesitate for only a second. It has been so long since I let myself run as a wolf. The hybrid side of me has taken over so completely these past weeks that I almost forgot how it feels.I nod.We undress in silence. The cool breeze raises goosebumps on my arms. Then the shift begins.Pain and release crash through me at once. Bones crack and reform. Fur ripples across my skin. I drop to all fours as the wolf surges forward. When I shake out my coat, I feel lighter than I have in weeks. Freer.Kieran’s massive black wolf stands beside me, golden eyes glowing softly. He nudges my shoulder with his nose, a low, affectionate rumble in his chest.We run.
I sit at the head of the oak table, the hearth fire fading. Dinner’s scent still lingers as the meeting begins. Sienna sits to my right, her hand inches from mine; Rowena stands silent by the window. Opposite us, Thorne, Garrick, and two other elders watch, their faces etched by years of hard decisions.The silence feels dangerous.Thorne clears his throat first, his deep voice cutting through the room. “We need to address what happened at dinner. Sienna’s… proposal.”Sienna straightens beside me. I can feel the tension rolling off her through our bond.“I only suggested we help other packs,” she says, her voice steady but edged. “The protests in Europe are escalating. If we do nothing, it will reach us eventually. This is our fight too.”Thorne leans forward, his old eyes narrowing. “Your fight? Or another distraction?”I see Sienna flinch.“Laura is dying,” Thorne continues, not unkindly but firmly. “Your grandmother’s condition is weighing on you. We all understand grief. But rushin
Where the hell did that car come from?One second, I'm laughing at the barista's dumb joke, stepping off the curb without looking. Suddenly, I felt the headlights blinding me, the engine roaring, and the tires screeching as the car swerved.Then him. Kieran's body slams into mine from behind, hard
Elara is still talking about increased patrols and wolfsbane toxicology, but her words fade as my attention locks onto the girl at the coffee counter.Sienna Hart.When the sun is shining, she looks different. She seems softer, wearing a simple dress, and her hair tied back casually. She is not try
The music dies mid-beat.I push up on my toes, trying to see. People are running for the exits, others frozen in place, their wide, horrified stares fixed on the back of the club.Oh God.A werewolf, torn apart mid-shift. The body is caught between forms, human limbs twisted at wrong angles, fur ma
I turn back to my drink, swirling the last of the whiskey in my glass and letting the burn settle deep in my stomach.This is a mistake.Every girl like her walks in here hoping, praying, begging for attention from a wolf. Fucking reckless.I should send her away, make an example of her for wearing







