LOGINARIEL She nodded slowly. "Thank you for being honest.""Thank you?""Yes." She started walking toward the stairs. "Goodnight, Kazimir.""Ariel..." "I'm tired. I'm going to bed."I watched her go. Watched the way her shoulders were stiff, her spine straight, her hands clenched at her sides. She was lying. But I didn't know what to do or say to her. ---I found her in her room twenty minutes later. She was standing in front of the mirror, still in her beautiful beaded dress, struggling with the zipper. I leaned against the doorframe, watching her."You need help?""I can manage.""Are you sure? Seems like you've been fighting with that zipper for a while now."She sighed. "Fine."I crossed the room and stood behind her. My fingers found the zipper, pulling it down slowly, carefully. Her skin was warm beneath my touch. Her scent filled my lungs."Scarlet is my past," I said."The past has a habit of returning whenever you begin to want something new.""That's not..." "It's okay." She
ARIEL "Kazimir." Her voice was warm. Familiar. "It's been a while."He didn't respond, he just stared at her. His face was pale, his jaw tight, his hands clenched into fists at his sides."You're not happy to see me?" Scarlet walked toward him. "Did she forget to tell you I'll be here?""What are you doing here?""I'm here for the same reason you are. The Coalition wanted to see the two of you and they wanted me here since we're friends." She turned to me. "So you're the woman who finally made him afraid of dying."I stood. "Who are you?""An old friend." She extended a hand. "Scarlet. Kazimir and I go way back. Don't we, Kaz?"He didn't respond.Scarlet didn't seem to mind. She turned back to him. "I need to talk to you. Privately."She walked toward a door at the far end of the room. Kazimir didn't move."Kazimir," she said, looking back. "It's important."He looked at me and I nodded.He followed her.-—————————-I watched them disappear behind the door.Kang was watching me. Her
ARIEL The days after the invitation passed in a blur of routine. I woke up, took care of Evie, watched her play and then I found myself busy with helping in the house or reading in the library. I checked on her progress through the updates Lev sent me every few hours. She was stable, monitored and fine.But I couldn't stop watching her.Every time she laughed, I listened for something wrong. Every time she played, I waited for the heat to come. Every time she slept, I sat by her bed and counted her breaths, terrified that one of them would be her last. Lev told me I was being paranoid. Tessa told me she understood my paranoia. Both of them were right. By the time the night of the Coalition meeting arrived, I was exhausted in a way that had nothing to do with sleep.-———————-Tessa said she’d help me get ready. She'd come to my room an hour before Kazimir was due to arrive, her arms full of makeup bags and hair products and a look of determination I recognized from every makeover mont
ARIEL "No, baby." I forced a smile. "We're just talking.""You sound like you're fighting.""We're not."She didn't look convinced. But she didn't argue.Kazimir sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. Then he looked at me."You have a choice," he said. "You can come with me to meet them. Or you can refuse, and I'll investigate on my own.""Why?""You should have a say in your own life. In your own future." He paused. "But I'm warning you, if you come, you're walking into something we don't understand. Something dangerous."I looked at the invitation. At the seal. At the promise of answers."I'm coming," I said. "I refuse to let another powerful man decide what information I'm allowed to have."Kazimir nodded slowly. "Then we go together."-—————————Before we left, Nikolai helped Evie make a drawing at the It was ridiculous, a portrait of Kazimir with enormous ears and a crown that looked like a cooking pot. She'd used every color in her crayon box, and the result was something tha
KAZIMIR I was quiet for a moment. Then: "Yes.""But you didn't want to.""What?""Why didn't you want to?"I turned my head to look at her. She was staring at the ceiling, her profile sharp in the moonlight."Because I didn't want to want you," I said. "Because you were supposed to be my enemy. Because everything about you, your name, your blood, your past...told me to stay away." I paused. "But I couldn't.""You could have rejected the bond.""Yes.""Why didn't you?"I was quiet for a long time. Then: "Because I was too intrigued by you to let go. I don't know... I just couldn't let you go." She turned to look at me. Her eyes were dark and searching."I don't know the difference," she said. "Between wanting you because of the bond and wanting you because of you. I don't know if what I feel is real or if it's just biology. Because I shouldn't be feeling these things towards you." "It's both.""That's not an answer.""It is. The bond directs us to our mates, but it can't force real
KAZIMIR I've faced rival Alphas, assassins, and men who would happily watch me bleed. None of them frightened me like the possibility that Evie was becoming something neither Lev nor I could control. I stood in the doorway of the lab, watching her sleep. She was small, curled up on the makeshift bed Lev had set up, her stuffed rabbit clutched to her chest, the crescent moon nightlight casting pale shadows across her face. She looked peaceful and innocent.But I knew better. I'd seen the footage from the kitchen. I'd seen the way the maid had recoiled, her arm blistered and raw. I'd seen the fear in Evie's eyes when she realized what she'd done. She was dangerous. Not because she wanted to be. Because she couldn't help it.And I didn't know how to protect her from herself.---I found Dimitri in the library. He was sitting in the corner, a stack of papers in front of him, his glasses perched on his nose. He looked up when I entered, his expression unreadable."You look like hell," he
ARIEL I stood at the edge of the underground club, clutching the envelope in my hand so tightly it crinkled. I hated this place. The smell of sweat, alcohol, and something darker coated the air like oil. I could feel it sticking to my skin, making my breath shallow. The money inside wasn’t enough.
KAZIMIR The scent of wolfsbane and gun oil clung to the air as I strode through the weapons room. My brothers moved like extensions of my own will, Lev filling syringes with lethal precision, Nikolai loading silver rounds with that fucking grin of his, Dimitri already melting into the shadows wit
KAZIMIR The study smelled of aged whiskey and cigarettes. I poured myself a drink, the crystal glass cold against my fingers, and stared into the amber liquid like it held answers. Nikolai slouched in one of the leather chairs, spinning a knife between his fingers. "So. What's the plan, brothe
ARIEL The car door slammed shut behind me, the sound final as a coffin closing. Kazimir hadn't spoken a word since we left the club, his silence more unnerving than any threat. Through the tinted windows, I watched the city lights blur into nothing as we climbed higher into the mountains, putting







