تسجيل الدخولARIEL I went to bed alone, Lev wanted to watch Evie through the night. Just to be sure she was fine. I was planning on getting a few hours of sleep then returning to her bedside to take over from the staff who was watching her sleep. The room was cold. The kind of cold that seeped into your bones and made you feel like you'd never be warm again. I pulled the blankets up to my chin, curled into a ball, and stared at the wall.Kazimir's words kept playing on repeat.I don't even think we should try to be together if you won't stop hiding things from me.He was right. I knew he was right. But knowing it and fixing it were two different things. I'd spent ten years building walls around myself. Ten years learning to trust no one. Ten years surviving on my own. I didn't know how to let someone in. Didn't know how to be vulnerable. Didn't know how to stop running.I closed my eyes. Breathed.Sleep didn't come.---The knock on my door came at 2:47 AM. I knew the time because I'd been stari
ARIEL The door slammed behind him. I stood frozen in the middle of the room, his words echoing through my head like a death knell. I don't even think we should try to be together if you won't stop hiding things from me. Those were the words that kept ringing in my head. And I couldn’t stop it. I couldn’t stop myself from thinking about it. He was so right. I was hiding things and I'd been hiding things since the moment I arrived.I sat on the edge of the bed, swallowed by thoughts that I had no way of controlling. The room felt small and suffocating. Her father. Malhorn had said. When her father comes to retrieve her.What did he mean by that? I didn't know what it meant. Didn't know who Evie's father was, or why Malhorn thought it mattered. But I knew one thing: whatever it was, it was dangerous. And I didn’t want that possibility that there was a man somewhere who could come and take my daughter away from me. I should tell Kazimir, I should inform him, but I didn’t. I hadn't tol
KAZIMIR I went to Scarlet’s apartment. It was a two hour drive and I hated it. But a part of me was curious about what she had to say. She opened the door before I could even knock. Dressed in black lingerie, her hair loose and a glass of wine already in her hand."Kazimir." She smiled. "You really came.""You said it was important.""It is." She stepped aside. "Come in."I walked past her, into the living room. The windows overlooked the city, the lights flickering like distant stars. She closed the door behind me."Drink?""No.""Still so serious." She poured herself another glass anyway. "You used to be more fun when we were together.” "That was a long time ago. I was young and stupid."She laughed softly. "We both were. We practically grew up together remember?” I turned to face her. "What do you want, Scarlet? I drove all the way here to see you it better be worth it.” "Straight to business." She sat on the arm of the couch, crossing her legs. "You used to be more patient."
ARIEL I was patiently waiting in my room for Kazimir and Nik when their voices finally told me they had returned. The sun had set, the fire burned low, and I was pretending to read a book I hadn't turned a page in for an hour. My mind was elsewhere, on Malhorn's call, on the ultrasound and on the words that kept echoing through my head.Her father. It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought of who Evie’s father was, or who he could be. But as the years passed, I had decided it was useless to thinkabout him. Since his absence didn’t matter much in our lives. For Malhorn to bring him up, I wondered what that could mean. Kazimir appeared in the doorway of my room, I had left the door open so I could see and hear them. Nikolai was behind him, looking tired but relieved."The witness is safe," Kazimir said. "She's going to recover."I felt something loosen in my chest. "Thank God.""She also identified her attacker. We think Katherine might be involved in this."My blood went cold. "Katherine?""
We reached the hospital soon enough, Nikolai was by my side, our boots clicking against the linoleum, our faces set in grim lines. The witness, Kara Wilson was in a private room I had asked her to be put in at the end of the hall. Two men stood outside the door, my own men, handpicked and trusted. They nodded when they saw me. "She's stable," one of them said. "The doctors say she'll recover." "Good." I pushed open the door. Kara was lying in the hospital bed, her face pale, and her eyes hollow. She was connected to monitors and IVs, her hands folded on top of the blanket. She looked up when I entered. Her eyes widened. "Alpha Kazimir Rossi. What? How?” "Kara." I crossed the room, stopping at the foot of her bed. "I'm sorry this happened to you. We vowed that we would give you our protection and we failed to.” "It's not your fault." Her voice was hoarse. "To be honest, working for Alpha Kane made me quite a lot of enemies back in the day. I only thought one of them
ARIEL I wanted to follow him. The moment Kazimir walked out the door, I was on my feet, reaching for my shoes, my keys and anything. I couldn't just sit here while the witness who was the only one who could get me out of this mess was fighting for her life. I couldn't just wait and worry and do nothing. But Kazimir's words echoed in my head. Stay here. Please.And Nikolai's voice on the phone, calm and steady. We've got this, Ariel. Don't worry. For once, I believed them. They could handle this all on their own. All I had to do was wait. I sank back onto the bed. Pressed my palms against my eyes and tried to breathe.I hated this. Hated feeling helpless. Hated waiting.But I stayed.---Lev and I met in the kitchen an hour later. I was staring at a cup of tea I hadn't touched, my mind a thousand miles away. He sat across from me, his expression careful."How are you? Where’s Evie. It’s time," he said. "Routine checkup. Nothing to worry about.""I'll come with you.""You don't have
KAZIMIR I didn’t come through the front door because I knew Maddox would run if he ever heard I was in his shitty club. He would use the chance to sneak away like the slimy frog he was and hide for the next couple of months before my men found him again. No. I took the back exit, the one reekin
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







