LOGINLYRAHis mouth tasted like blood.Not metaphor. Not memory. Actual blood. He had drunk from the goblet before handing it to me, and now his tongue carried it past my lips with a force that left no room for refusal.The kiss was nothing like I expected. It wasn't tender. It wasn't cruel. It was a cla
LYRAI lay on the bed and tried not to think about the woman on the stretcher.The mattress was softer than anything I'd ever slept on. The furs smelled like cedar. The fire crackled and threw warm light across a ceiling painted with wolves running through snow.I pulled the pendant from beneath my
LYRAThe ride was long. The car rocked with every rut in the road, and the tires ground against frozen gravel that sounded like teeth.I stared out the window. The landscape of Darius’s territory scrolled past. Green hills, patched farmland, a river I used to walk along when I still believed this wa
KAEL"Is this how you seduced Alpha Holt back then?" I said.She tasted like fear.I hadn’t kissed her. I hadn’t planned to. But when I leaned in and dragged the edge of my canine along the mark on her neck, I could taste it anyway. Salt and adrenaline, seeping through her skin like a confession her
KAELShe held the child like it was made of glass.I had seen women hold infants before. Servants, mostly. They held them at arm's length, or close but distracted, eyes flicking to the nearest exit. This was different. She curled around the boy as if her entire body existed to shield him from everyt
I pulled the door open before I could change my mind.Kael was at the end of the hallway, speaking to Gary in low tones. He turned at the sound of the door, and for a moment, neither of us spoke."Let me see my son," I said. My voice did not shake. "Before we go. Let me hold him one last time."Some







