LOGINELARA I stared at Sheila. And her friend Megan.It looked like they had been headed to the dining room when they spotted me. “It’s you after all,” I watched as their gazes roamed over me.Naturally, I did the same. It was a crisp, borderline-freezing morning, yet they were both dressed like extra-spicy mean girls from the 2015 Wattpad stories I used to read under my covers. We’re talking denim shorts so microscopic their ass cheeks were basically introducing themselves to the world, paired with crop tops that were really just glorified underwire bras.Like, seriously, do your internal organs not experience hypothermia?I saw the moment Sheila clocked the heavy fabric drowning my frame.“Where the hell did you get that? Did you steal that from the laundry?” Her eyes narrowed daggers on the number 19 stitched across my chest. I nearly rolled my eyes. Sheila was all things—beautiful, mean, confident in ways that defied logic and clothing regulations—but she was dumb. “If I stole it,
ELARAI stared at the bills on the floor.He was trying to humiliate me. And if I ran out like this—teary, shaking—wouldn’t that be handing him a shiny new trophy to put next to his hockey awards.Here was the thing about hitting rock bottom: there’s no basement underneath it. He’d already stripped away my pack rank, and my dignity. I had absolutely nothing left to lose.So, I opted for mutually assured destruction. “You slept with me,” I said.Ian blinked, his hand freezing on the knot of the towel at his hip. “What?”I held his gaze and forced a smile onto my lips. “I’m just saying... it must have been a really tragic night for you. Personally, I mean.”The temperature in the room dropped ten degrees which I ignored. I even twirled a strand of my hair around a finger, meeting those icy grey eyes as if they didn't make my survival instincts scream.“Repeat that.”“I mean, think about it, Ian,” I tilted my head, savoring the sudden, tense stillness in the air. “You slept with the gi
ELARAThe dream started sweet.Nate was holding me. His arms were warm around my waist and his mouth was on mine—soft—the way he always kissed me. He pulled back and smiled. “I love you,” And then his eyes changed.Brown bled to grey. Warm bled to ice. The arms around my waist weren’t gentle anymore. They were iron. Chains. And the mouth on my neck wasn’t kissing anymore. It bit.HARD!“Mine.”The growl that rumbled through the creature’s chest was deep and entirely monstrous. It wasn't Nate.My eyes flew open and the terror came with me—trapped in my throat, choking its way out as a strangled gasp.Pale, morning light flooded through massive windows, hitting a vaulted ceiling I had never seen before in my life. The air smelled intensely of pines, winter rain, and cologne. This wasn't the dark basement of the omega servant quarters. It wasn't my parents’ old room either.Where the hell am I?I bolted upright too fast, and the entire room lurched violently to the left. My head was
IAN**She was exactly where I’d left her, slumped between two dumpsters. Unconscious. Her thin white T-shirt was soaked completely through, plastered to her skin like a second layer of ice.She was shivering—full-body tremors that made her look like an abandoned animal.I stared at her for a second. Dying out here was too easy for her. That was the only reason I was doing this. She doesn't get to die of exposure and escape her omega sentence. She has eleven months and twenty-nine days left. She doesn't get to quit early.Yeah, this was the only reason I crouched down in the mud and scooped her up. Her head fell back against my shoulder, her freezing, wet hair pressing directly against the warm skin of my neck.It felt like fire and ice hitting me at the same time.The corridors were quiet as I carried her back inside. Most of the wolves had retreated to their rooms for the night. Only a mousy little omega girl from the night staff was out, cleaning up the mess in the kitchen. She t
IAN * * Dying out there is too easy for her. That’s the only reason I’m going. She doesn’t get to die of exposure and escape the omega sentence. She has eleven months and twenty-nine days left. She doesn’t get to quit early. That’s the only reason. No other reason. The rain hit me the second I kicked the back door open. I was instantly soaked to the skin. She was exactly where I’d left her. Slumped between two dumpsters. Unconscious. Drenched. Her thin white T-shirt was soaked completely through, plastered to her skin like a second layer of ice. I crouched down in the mud, my jaw clenching. Her lips were a faint, dangerous shade of blue. Her skin had that translucent, waxy quality. She was shivering—small, violent, full-body tremors that made her look like a abandoned animal. I scooped her up. Her head fell back against my shoulder, her freezing, wet hair pressing directly against the warm skin of my neck. It felt like fire and ice hitting me at the same time.
IAN * * I was losing. I’d dropped two straight matches to Adrian on the racing game, which shouldn’t have been possible given that Adrian played like he did everything else—quietly, with zero visible signs of human enjoyment. “You seem distracted,” he noted. “I’m not distracted.” I breathed, “I need a smoke. Let’s take a break,” I walked to the window and cracked it open. The night air hit my face—cold, damp, it was going to rain soon. I lit a cigarette and inhaled, letting the nicotine do its job. Right on cue, the game room door burst open. The twins. Of course. Rhys came in holding a leaking bag of ice against his face. His face was an absolute masterpiece of violence. The nose was clearly broken, already trying to knit itself back together but still swollen and bent at an angle that made him look like a boxer who’d lost a thirty-minute argument with a concrete wall. Zane trailed behind him, looking slightly better but not by much. He had a nasty spli







