MasukRemi POVThe first three I couldn't hold the shift past eight seconds before my concentration broke. The fourth I got to fifteen. The fifth I lost it at twelve and that was worse somehow — going backward felt worse than not getting there.He said nothing during any of it.Just: "Again."We are going to do this, Parrot said. After the fourth."I know."He's right that again is the only option."I know that too."You've been thinking about whether you're doing it right instead of just doing it."I know," I said.Stop knowing and start doing.The fifth attempt I stopped thinking.Just reached for the wolf. Let her come forward. Held it.One second. Five. Ten.Fifteen.Twenty.The clearing looked different. The smell of the frost different. Everything sharper.Twenty-five.He held up his hand."Thirty," he said.I shifted back."Good," he said.One word.It was the right word."Again," he said.We went again.The forest task started at midday."North path," he said. "Silverwood. Moving wa
Remi POV"One bed," I said.Nero looked at the bed.Then at me."Yes," he said."One bed in the whole cabin.""It's a small cabin.""There are two rooms.""One is a storage room.Which Mordor is apparently going in."I looked at the bed. At the fireplace that had been used hundreds of times — the stone around it darker than the rest, worn at the edges from years of hands resting on it. At the single window facing east. At the ceiling lower than anything I'd lived under since Riverside.Everything about it said someone had loved this place. Used it carefully. Come back to it repeatedly."Your grandfather built this," I said."Maintained it," Nero said. Setting down the bags. "It was already here. He just. Kept coming back."I looked at the fireplace.At two letters carved into the stone beside it. Small. Not decorative. Just. There.D.B.Like he needed to mark it as his."He said it was the only place he could hear himself think," Nero said.I looked around."I can see why," I said.Out
Remi POVThe room took it. Chanting Dark LunaAnatoria sat down. Then she tracked me. She'd been watching me the whole time I was speaking. And when the room turned back to Nero she turned to the guard beside her and said something very quietly.The guard moved towards me.Pipper grabbed my arm."East passage is blocked," she said fast. "Grandmother just sent people. Go left. Kitchen corridor. NOW."I went left.The guard behind me was faster than he looked.I went faster.Through the kitchen door. Down the corridor that smelled like food and old stone. A door at the end that—Locked.I turned.He was twenty feet away and closing.Then from a side passage Kade appeared.He looked at the guard.The guard stopped."Full authority," Kade said. Very flat. "The Dark Alpha left me full authority. Stand down."The guard looked between Kade and the direction Anatoria was in.Then stood down.Kade looked at me."South gate," he said. "Now. Nero is already Leaving ."The south corridor.Kade b
Remi POV"Trust me," Nero said."Every step," I said.He went left.I went right.We didn't look back at each other.Which was harder than it should have been.I heard Jade before I reached the preparation room."No. FEWER pins. The entire point is that it looks slightly wrong. Adding more pins makes it look right. Do you understand the assignment?"I pushed the door open.She turned.I looked at the outfit.At all of it."The hat," I said. "It's—""Perfect," she said. "It's perfect."I crossed the room.She met me halfway.Both arms."I heard about Isolde," she said. Into my shoulder."I know.""Remi I'm sorry—""Thank you Jade." I held tighter.We stayed like that.Just that.Then we pulled back. Wipegd faces. Straightened things. Back to the plan because grief didn't pause for plans but plans ddn't pause for grief either."Tell me everything," I said. "I'll be terrible," she said. . "He declines me publicly. Contract void. Every alpha in that room witnesses it.""How terrible are
Remi POV Continued Nero’s hands gripped my ass, guiding me, thumbs spreading me open so he could watch himself disappear inside me.When the cold floor started leaching too much heat, we shifted again—me on my hands and knees, him behind me. Then we lay on our sides, spooned together, his arm around my waist as he thrust lazily from behind, one hand playing with my breasts, the other between my legs.At one point we ended up back-to-back on the floor, laughing breathlessly as we twisted and reached for each other, reconnecting in a messy, desperate tangle of limbs until he was inside me again, both of us moving in a slow, grinding rhythm that built another shattering orgasm.He used the chain once more—wrapping a length lightly around his own base when I rode him, the cool metal adding delicious pressure and restriction that made him groan my name like a curse and a prayer. I leaned down, biting his shoulder as I came again, and he followed moments later, hips stuttering as he spill
REMI POVHis mouth claimed mine again, deeper this time, tongue stroking against mine with deliberate hunger. I moaned into the kiss as his hands worked the last laces of my dress, tugging the fabric down my shoulders until it pooled at my feet. Cool air kissed my bare skin, but Nero’s palms were fire, sliding over my waist, up my ribs, cupping my breasts with reverent weight.“Beautiful,” he growled against my throat, lips trailing hot, open-mouthed kisses down my neck. “Every inch of you, Remi… mine to worship tonight.”He lowered his head, tongue circling one nipple before drawing it into his mouth, sucking slowly, then harder, teeth grazing just enough to send sparks straight between my legs. I arched into him, fingers threading through his dark hair, holding him there as heat flooded my core. His other hand kneaded my breast, thumb flicking the sensitive peak until I was gasping.I pushed at his shirt, desperate to feel him. He helped me, shrugging it off, revealing the hard, s







