LOGINAlanza’s POV"You finally decided to join the living," Sombra said, her mental voice echoing with a heavy yawn.I blinked against the harsh fluorescent light of the hospital room. My mind felt like it was wrapped in wet cotton. "I must have passed out.""You didn't just pass out," she corrected. Her phantom tail flicked against my consciousness. "You dropped mid-sentence while talking to Luciano. He nearly took a nurse’s head off because she didn't sprint into the room the second he hit the call button. The man has no chill."I let out a soft, tired huff. "I’m almost glad I was asleep for that. I don't think I had the energy to manage his temper.""You were running on empty, Alanza. Blood loss will do that. They hooked you up to a bag of the red stuff overnight. You look less like a ghost now."I sat up slowly, testing the weight of my own limbs. The world didn't tilt or spin. The blurred edges of my vision had sharpened, a
Lucia’s POV"Is someone there?"My own voice sounded like it belonged to a stranger. It was thin and cracked, barely rising above the rhythmic tapping of water hitting the floor.Plink.Plink, plink.The sound was uneven. It grated on my nerves, drilling into my skull until my teeth ached. I tried to shift my weight, but a sharp, hot flare of pain exploded across the left side of my face. I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut, though it didn't matter. The world was already pitch black.I remember the vampires. I remember the coldness of their skin and the way the air seemed to die around them. My heart hammered against my ribs as the memory of the attack rushed back. I reached up to touch my throbbing cheek, but my arms didn't go far. Metal cinched tight around my wrists, followed by the heavy, industrial rattle of iron.I pulled harder, and the sound echoed off stone walls. My pulse spiked. I wasn't just in the dark. I was restrain
Alanza’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“Your brother’s looking for you. I think he believes me that I don’t know anything, but I’m not sure. I’m deleting everything off this phone just in case. I have a bad feeling about this.”I read the text from Lucia’s burner account and swallowed hard. My knuckles were white as I gripp
Alanza’s POV“Crystal Lake is a power-hungry bastard, that’s what he is.”The bell over the door chimed. I barely glanced up. The sound meant another customer, but my focus stayed on the pastry case. It needed to look perfect. Four months here at The Novel Grind had turned this small cafe into my r
Luciano’s POV“Of course not, Alpha,” he said. His spine went straight in a second. His face was blank. “I just worry this obsession with the Crystal Lake girl is distracting you from what truly matters.”My chair scraped the stone floor as I stood. A sudden heat, a crazy rage, flared up from month
Luciano's POV"I want eyes on Jimena Verity the second she steps foot in this city."I slammed my palm down, the heavy desk taking the impact without a sound. Karlos, my Beta, did not even blink. He knew the drill. Weeks had passed since the Lunar Gala. It felt like months. The Crystal Lake Pack's







