LOGINThe pages kept turning like a countdown to my inevitable ruin.I sat hunched at the small table in the corner of the SouthPoint Pack library, watching Iris flip through the ancient ledger with growing dread. Every rustle of the dusty, old parchment made my stomach twist. Three weeks. Maybe a month. That was all the time I had before Iris told Lewison his bride was seeing ghosts — or worse, before Frank found an excuse to hand me over to Vesper.And where was the Aubrey destined to save me from my demise? Off playing hero while I was left here slowly losing my mind.I drummed my fingers loudly on the table. “You gave me an ultimatum, yet the one man capable of fulfilling it has conveniently disappeared to God-knows-where. Brilliant planning. Truly.”Iris didn’t look up. “When he returns, I suggest you get on your back immediately. This is not one of your romance novels, Quinn.”Heat crawled up my neck. “And when I do fall pregnant,” I continued, unable to help myself, “you’ll still hon
I shouldn’t have seen it.And yet I couldn’t unsee it.It was unbelievable. Unreal. And yet it was very much real.My lungs wouldn’t work properly until we were in the carriage. Then the air came in ragged gasps, too fast, too shallow. My chest heaved. My hands shook.I blinked once, only to find Iris staring at me, her face as blank as ever.“You would make a terrible werewolf. You have no gut. You have no liver. For all I know, you probably think you’re still in cozy little Evenmoor.”I leaned my back against the carriage seat. Lips pursed as the past few days played in my head like the nightmare that it was.“Forgive me,” I snapped, “for not preparing for a world that I never believed existed.”A beat of silence passed, and with it came a tension I wasn’t ready to battle with, so I remained put and let the silence become my companion.Had I gone too far? Said too much?Iris was protecting me and keeping me close. Teaching me skills that could save my life or some other man’s marita
My back was flat against cold metal, and the sharp, bitter scent of crushed herbs filled my nose—mint, something sour, something medicinal.The difference was that this time, I wasn't forced to have my legs spread-eagled while wrinkled hands I still tried not to remember violated me. Instead, Iris was ordering me to rest.But how could I get any sleep when Iris had just informed me that Frank could forcefully take me if he caught me alone? She had just informed me that my age-old fear of getting bedded by a withered old Lord was possible, and I was just supposed to accept it and go to sleep?No. I could not. I would not.I sat up, combing my hair with my fingers.“You’re supposed to be asleep, Quinn.”“How—”“Werewolves can't just hear words even from far distances, we can sense certain movements too… and of course hear them as well. So I don't need to look at you to know what you are doing… most of the time.”I arched an eyebrow. “Most of the time?”As fast as my hands would let me,
Werewolves weren’t real until I was to marry one.And ghosts were a thing of the imagination until I was informed that my brother-in-law was one.Dark eyes that reminded me a little too much of Lewison followed my every movement at breakfast. It was when I noticed the blond hair this person carried that the realization would strike me.I was still seeing ghosts.My fingers tightened around my fork. Iris’s remedy was enough to grant heavenly sleep, but not quite good enough to take a certain spirit back to heaven… or hell depending on what this Dorian Aubrey was like anyway.“Quinn.” The sharpness of the tone brought me back to where I was and what I was supposed to be doing.My head jerked to my left as I put on a pretend smile for my favorite healer—Iris. She didn't return it.Her eyes fell on my food. “You were eating and you just stopped.” Her eyes rose to meet mine and she arched an eyebrow. “Did you perchance see something of interest?”Was the woman trying to bait me into adm
I thought I knew what would happen after I finished.I was wrong.Lewison always surprised me when I least expected it.I had shown him what he wanted and given him verbal permission to do what he had to do with me… that was the only way I could be with child after all. But he was patient?Beads of his seed cooled on my chest, sticky and impossible to ignore. My jaw ached. My knees would be bruised from the cold floor. But I’d done it.I watched him stand, tying his breeding garment around his waist with steady hands like he hadn’t just fallen apart under my mouth. Like his voice hadn’t broken, saying my name.And then he surprised me.I didn’t need an invitation or express permission to get on my feet. A rag. I needed a rag now to clean up the mess I had created.Turning on my heels, I planned to search for one, but the hot, rough palm that landed on my naked shoulder put an end to my plans.“You were amazing tonight. Thank you.”Arching an eyebrow, I spun to meet the owner of the v
I’d felt it against me earlier. But seeing it was different.I had almost forgotten what he looked like, but, oh, how could I?He was… significant. Thick enough to make me wonder how he hid all of that while he walked around. Hard—standing proud, curving slightly toward his stomach. The head flushed dark, almost purple with blood. A bead of moisture caught the firelight—clear, glistening, proof of his want. A vein ran along the underside, pulsing visibly with each heartbeat.My mouth went dry.Then wet.I never knew that my body could act that fast until that very night. My body knew what to do even if my mind was screaming.I reached out. Hesitated. My hand hovered inches away as my mind repeatedly asked if any of this was actually real.“You can touch me,” Lewison said, his voice tighter than I had ever heard it before. “I won’t break.”I almost laughed. He thought I was worried about HIM?I was worried about ME.I wrapped my fingers around him.Memories of the tavern night rushed b
Lewison Aubrey might as well have caused me an early death.One that came far earlier than the five-year notice I had been granted.All the panic and bravado that had been coursing through my veins vanished, leaving room for useless things like blood and oxygen.I should have screamed and yelled an
It was the third day.Two days had gone by since I saw Lord Aubrey last.For the past three days, I had been monitored like a prisoner in a gilded cage. My meals came at the same time every day and every morning at first light a dozen maids filed into my room to prepare me for another day when I wo
Inside the red curtains, it was easy to forget that there were dozens of men beneath us ready to watch their Alpha Prince bed me.Lord Aubrey lay idly on the bed, his eyes trained on a far distance once again, as though he had utterly forgotten the reason we were here.My feet would not lead me bac
Quinn Feywin had somehow wound up as a toy.Not just any toy. One to be paraded around to a pack.“Yes, Father. We should leave now. I still have to teach her our ways,” Lord Aubrey answered, and all of a sudden, I was reminded that I wasn’t even Quinn Feywin anymore. I was now Quinn Aubrey.My fat







