LOGINAlanza’s POV"You look like you've been through a war," Luciano said, his voice cracking as he stepped into the hospital room.The heavy doors hit the wall with a bang, sent flying by the sheer force of his entrance. He didn't wait for a greeting. He moved like a storm, his hair messy and his clothes rumpled, eyes scanning every inch of me. He looked at the thin hospital gown, the plastic tube snaking into my arm, and the pale state of my skin. Only when he reached the side of my bed did his frantic energy fade. His shoulders dropped, and the tension in his jaw finally snapped."Luciano," I whispered.I reached out my hands. I wasn't sure how we stood after our last fight, but the moment he saw my gesture, he didn't hesitate. He ignored Sombra, who was watching from the corner with a sharp gaze, and sat on the edge of my mattress. He pulled my hands into his and leaned down, pressing a warm kiss against my forehead."Are you okay? Really okay
Alanza’s POV"Tell me you saw where they took her," Karlos barked, his voice cutting through the ringing in my ears.I couldn't answer. I just stared at the empty space where the air still felt cold from that creature's presence. I wanted the monster to come back. I’d take a swarm of them, a whole army of those pale devils, if it meant they brought Lucia back with them."Alanza! Look at me!"Karlos’s face was a blurred mask of panic, shifting in and out of the moonlight. I tried to focus, but he looked like an oil painting left out in the rain. My lungs felt like they were full of glass shards."The vampire," I forced out, my voice a jagged wreck. "He has her. He just... took her."Karlos’s eyes blew wide. For a split second, the raw agony on his face made him look like he’d been gutted, but he slammed a mask of cold neutrality over it. He wasn't fooling me. The way his jaw corded and his shoulders locked told m
Alanza’s POV"You are making this much more difficult than it needs to be," he says. His tone is smooth, carrying a hint of genuine disappointment rather than rage. "I really wanted to take my time and enjoy this, but it looks like I have to finish my meal in a hurry instead."The lack of anger makes me shiver. To him, my life and my desperate struggle are just minor schedule delays. He does not see me as a person. I am a snack he has to bolt down before leaving.He bites down. When his fangs pierce my skin, the world turns into a white hot blur of agony. It is not just a wound. It feels like someone poured liquid fire into my veins. The ache goes so deep that my bones feel like they are vibrating. I stretch my mouth wide to scream, but my lungs refuse to work. I cannot pull in a single breath.As the pain peaks, a wave of fake warmth washes over it. It is a hollow, sickly sweet ecstasy that tries to drown the hurt. My mind wants to chase that feeli
Alanza’s POV"You really are a bratty little thing," the vampire said, his face twisting into a mask of pure annoyance.His fingers clamped around my throat like a steel trap. I gasped, but no air came. My lungs burned as I thrashed, my feet kicking at empty air. I clawed at his skin, but it felt like scratching a marble statue. My vision started to blur at the edges, the world fading into a dark, fuzzy tunnel.Stay calm, Alanza. Use what you learned. Sombra’s voice was a sharp blade cutting through my panic.She was right. I had to think. I remembered London’s drills. I forced my muscles to go limp, stopping the useless struggle to save what little oxygen I had left. The vampire let out a dry chuckle, thinking I had finally given up. He leaned in close, his cold breath smelling like old copper and graveyard dirt.Then, he did something that made my skin crawl. He started sniffing me.His nose brushed against my jawline, tr
Alanza’s POV"I have to get to Lucia right now," I whisper, my pulse hammering against my ribs as I stare through the kitchen doorway.The messages on my screen make no sense. The phrasing is all wrong. Lucia doesn't talk like that, and she definitely doesn't type like that. Either someone else has her phone, or they have her. My skin crawls with the sudden certainty that she is in trouble.Be careful, Sombra warns, her voice echoing in the back of my mind. I can feel her proximity. She is close, though I have no idea how she managed to slip past the perimeter guards without an escort.I need to alert Karlos. My thumb hovers over his contact, but when I try to send a burst of text, the bars at the top of my screen vanish. No signal. I refresh the app, but the strange messages from Lucia have disappeared entirely, as if they were never there."Sombra, something is really wrong," I mutter.That is the understatement of the year. The kitc
Lucia’s POV"You are actually going to leave marks," I whispered, my voice caught between a hiss and a gasp.Bren didn't slow down. His fingers dug into my hips with a strength that felt less like passion and more like a permanent claim. I could feel the friction of him hitting a very specific, very sensitive spot deep inside, and for a second, the ache in my skin didn't matter. The rhythm was perfect. I arched my back, my fingers clawing at the grass beneath us, waiting for that final climb to the peak.Then, he ruined it."I'm going to finish," he groaned, his voice dropping into a guttural, animalistic rasp. "I'm going to fill you up. I’m going to put my litter in your human womb."I froze. The pleasure didn't just stop; it turned into a cold splash of reality."Your what?" I blurted out.He didn't answer. He just surged forward with a few more heavy, desperate thrusts, his breath coming in ragged bursts. He let out a l
Alanza’s POV"I think my eyelashes are actually sore," Lucia mumbled into her pillow.I didn't answer right away. I was too busy watching her alarm clock bounce across the hardwood floor. She had swiped it off the nightstand with a limp, pathetic sort of aggression. I tried to
Alanza’s POV"Hit the dirt again, recruit," London says, his voice as dry as the gravel under my cheek.I don't move. My face is pressed into the grit, and the copper taste of a split lip fills my mouth. Every breath feels like swallowing hot glass. Beside me, Lucia is a heap
Alanza’s POV"Stand straight and try to look like you actually belong in a pack," Karlos muttered, though his hand rested briefly on my shoulder in a rare show of support.I did as I was told, pulling my shoulders back despite the dull ache still radiating from my ribs. Beside
Alanza’s POV"You don't need to check in every hour, Luciano," I said into the phone, my thumb hovering over the end-call button.He sighed on the other end, a sound full of that protective weight he always carried. I didn't wait for his rebuttal before hanging up. Following L







