LOGINRILEYI couldn’t sleep much that night.Every time I managed to drift off, fragments of nightmares jolted me awake. I couldn't remember exactly what I'd seen, only that the visions had been bloody, chaotic, and filled with an overwhelming sense of impending doom.By morning, I was exhausted, my limbs heavy with fatigue. I didn't want to crawl out from under the covers, but a burst of excited chatter soon shattered the silence.The sliding door to the adjoining bathroom flew open, and Dominic bounced straight onto my bed, his little face beaming.“Mommy! Wake up!” he called, tugging at my arm.I groaned, burying my face in the pillow for a moment before turning to look at him through half-lidded eyes. “Domi... what time is it? It's still so early.”“Mommy, the wedding rehearsal! You forgot!” Dominic pouted, crossing his little arms over his chest in mock frustration.I blinked against the morning light, slowly piecing my thoughts together. Then it hit me.Dominic had been chosen to ser
RILEYThere weren’t many guests wandering through the rose garden, and Sophia was completely alone by the time I hurried into the small, wrought-iron pavilion.She paced restlessly across the stone floor. The moment she heard my footsteps, she whipped around, her eyes flashing with irritation.“What took you so long?” she demanded, her voice tight.I stopped at the entrance, struggling to catch my breath. I was practically panting; I had sprinted all the way from the pack house after tucking Dominic into his room. But I didn't have the energy to argue with her tone.“I had to make sure Dominic was settled,” I said. “I’m here now. What did you want to talk about, Sophia?”Sophia drew a sharp breath, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. She stepped closer, lowering her voice to a near hiss.“You have to stop the wedding, Riley.”I blinked, genuinely stunned. “What?”For a moment, I wondered if I'd heard her wrong or if she was trying to make some cruel joke at my expense. But So
RILEYI had never seen this man before in my life, yet a heavy sense of familiarity pressed against my chest.Was it simply because I had "seen" his face in my dream just last night? Or was it something deeper—something buried far beneath my own consciousness?Before I could contemplate it any further, the elderly man looked away.The brief commotion over the spilled tea quickly subsided into polite chuckles and quiet conversations.He turned on his heel and walked toward the grand archway alongside the girl and the young man, without casting another glance in my direction.I wondered who he was and why he'd looked at me as if he knew me.I took the opportunity to ask Dale about him when I met him at the training grounds later that afternoon to pick up Dominic from his weekly session.“A silver-haired man?” Dale mused, falling into step beside us as we walked back toward the main pack house.He tilted his head, his tone light and thoughtful. “Honestly, Riley, that's a bit vague. Quite
RILEYIn the weeks following my conversation with Dale, nothing significant had happened. Life within the pack had settled into a stable rhythm, and the overwhelming joy and logistical madness of the wedding preparations seemed to have swallowed up any dark rumors or lingering suspicions.Catherine hadn't pulled a single suspicious stunt—or at least, none that I'd managed to catch.I'd tried calling Sean once, a week after our late-night encounter in my room, hoping to find out whether he'd uncovered anything new about Lorcan. But he'd sounded distracted and eager to get off the phone. Strangely, with the wedding only a short while away, he still hadn't returned to Iron Cliff. I had no idea what was keeping him so occupied.That didn't mean life was entirely normal, however.For one thing, my unsettling dreams hadn't stopped. They had evolved. The bloody nightmares had vanished, replaced by bizarre, hyper-specific flashes of mundane trivialities.Three nights ago, I dreamt that Domini
LORCAN“Mason?”Chad blinked, his brow furrowing as he stared down at the transparent evidence bag resting in his palm. He looked up, his expression a mixture of bewilderment and curiosity. “Who on earth does this hair belong to?”I grinned, slipping my hands casually into the pockets of my jacket. “The mother of Alpha Killian's precious little heir.”Chad's eyes widened in genuine surprise. He glanced down at the bag, then back at me. “Wait... you actually suspect the mother is somehow related to Mason? How?”I gave a careless shrug. “Just a gut feeling. But beyond that... she carries the unmistakable presence of a powerful werewolf.”As I spoke, my mind drifted back to the day I'd met Riley Clarkson in the city center. I vividly recalled the sensation I'd experienced when she'd walked straight into my private hotel room, putting on the pathetic, poorly disguised act of a disappointed hooker.Ah, she certainly hadn't known that I'd identified her long before she'd even knocked on my
LORCANMason's face darkened. “Yes,” he murmured. “Why?”“Do you think they might still be alive somewhere out there?” I asked, resting my chin on my laced fingers.Mason frowned. “I don't know. And I don't care.” Hatred and resentment glittered in his blue eyes. “They were the ones who abandoned me to the feral beasts after our parents were slaughtered. They never tried to find me once the dust settled, and I sure as hell never wasted a single breath looking for them. Even if I found them, all I'd want to do is kill them.”I offered him a sympathetic, carefully measured expression, nodding along as though I shared his pain.It wasn't the first time I'd heard such a wretched tale of familial betrayal. This world was crawling with abandoned orphans and broken wretches.But projecting an air of deep, sorrowful understanding was precisely what this simple, emotionally starved man needed from me.And I'd always prided myself on being a master of that craft: giving people exactly what they







