LOGINStill, her mouth will not push the matter. When her heart desires it, Draven Calder will make the arrangements for her status. What wolf in this entire forest would ever say no to the supreme leader?Mireya composes her frame and stops asking questions. She looks up at Draven, meeting his gold eyes across the wide table, the two of them looking completely lost in their own little world.My male body stands directly opposite their space, impossible for their eyes to miss. Yet my gaze simply looks away toward the door, completely unbothered.Lucien, Tavros, and the other alphas take Thalia’s short answer in stride. For top-tier genius minds under the moon, a touch of pure arrogance is only natural."This hall is just one tiny piece of the testing park," Thalia announces to the group. "There are two more campus sectors for your boots to see. Once our tracks are finished, my tongue will share the high policy directions for the coming winter. Your packs might find the data super enlighteni
LARDON VEXLEY POV"Your wolf is quite a puzzle, isn't he, Lardon?" Orion Greyclaw whispers, and his gay voice is full of light teasing as his eyes track Draven Calder entering the grand hall.He nods toward my leather notebook. "My chest loves how your brain ignores his heavy boots. Your spirit stays entirely locked on the Skyfang Rift Engineering data like he is nothing but air. That is your greatest weapon, Lardon. When your paws decide to walk away from a pack bond, your mind cuts the thread instantly."But still...Orion cannot resist shifting his gay eyes toward the high alpha.Draven Calder knows my male body is standing right by the iron wing. My nose smells his thick pine scent the exact split second his big boots cross the stone threshold. Yet his gold eyes pass straight over my head with total coldness, never pausing for even a single beat of his heart.To the warriors watching us in the hall, we look like complete strangers who never shared a sleeping fur. The way his beast
LARDON VEXLEY POV"Get your fingers away from that weapon, Lardon!" Mireya Duskrell yells, and her high voice sounds super mean and loud in the big war room. "Do you think this Wraithfang Recon Unit is a basic forest toy? Your paws cannot just touch our top warrior gear without a special pass from the high council. This flying machine is the result of many winters of hard work by our pack scholars.""My wolf was just looking at the steel wing," I say right back, and my face stays completely calm as all the high pack leaders turn their eyes to stare down at my male body.Mireya clenches her teeth, her gold eyes flashing with a real bad temper.Ronzek Hale steps up right beside her, and his face looks super dark and angry like a warrior ready to fight. "This is completely unbelievable. Did the border guards not tell your ears the rules when your boots arrived at the gate? Everything inside the Shadowpine Lunar Institute is strictly for observation unless your fingers have a special alph
LARDON VEXLEY POV"Get your hands off that right now, Lucien!"I pull my hand back from the dark cold metal of the Wraithfang Recon Unit. My fingers shake. I do not look at Lucien Mordane. I squeeze my notebook against my chest. My heart goes fast."I am just looking," I say. My voice is low. I try to sound brave.Lucien looks at me. His eyes change. He looks surprised because I touched him by mistake when I dropped my book. He rubs his hand. "Well, this is a surprise. I did not think a small wolf like you can get into the Frostveil Peak testing grounds.""I come with Orion Blackthorn," I say. I do not want to talk to him. I turn my back."Orion?" Lucien makes a angry sound in his throat. "You call the high alpha by his first name now? You think you are big?"I do not answer him. I walk away fast. I want to find Orion. I leave Lucien standing there alone in the big open yard.Mireya Duskrell stands by the heavy iron gates. She sees everything. She sees how close I was to Lucien. Her f
"Lardon, your tongue is being awfully formal with my ears," Draven says, and his deep voice sounds real cool, almost teasing—it is hard for my brain to tell if his beast is mocking my male status or not.I look straight down at the spirit painting sitting on my desk and let his small comment slide away. Instead, my mouth asks, "Your tongue said your hands would send me digital photos of Vesper Vale’s copy—the small details of the canvas brush. My inbox has seen zero files from your slate. Did your memory forget the data?""No."Draven sounds completely indifferent about the files.My brain does not understand his short answer, but I keep my tone real calm. "If your claws have a free minute, could your fingers send them over to my slate?""Lardon, my wolf would do anything for your body. But not this task. My claws cannot promise that data to your hand." His refusal sounds real heavy and final—leaving zero room for my tongue to argue with his alpha status.My brow turns down with a rea
LARDON VEXLEY POV"Your wolf is breaking the bond?" Grandfather Ilyra asks, and his old face looks super blank like he cannot understand my words at all.He looks at my flat mouth for a real long time. My face shows zero sadness and zero joy to his eyes, just a calm look.His old hands start to shake real bad against my fingers, and his voice sounds like he is crying. "So that is it... That explains why his big truck always leaves our cabins so fast..."The real truth is, our whole bloodline always knew how things stood between my frame and Draven Calder. How could our wolves not see it? But still..."Lardon, tell your grandfather honestly—did your claws end the mate bond with Draven because Aziel Crowbane came back from Bloodmoon Iron Hold?"That is the biggest fear hiding inside his old chest. After all these winters of getting bitten by the Calder line, why did my feet wait until Aziel was let out of the prison gates to drop the marriage scrolls?"No, Grandfather, it has absolutely
Lardon Vexley POV"My wolf body feels a tiny bit better now, Uncle Emile," I whisper, tucking his heavy wolf-skin blankets right under his chin.I stay by his high cot until the noon meat is cold, waiting for the burning sickness from the radiation light beam to stop twisting my guts, and then my b
Draven finally drops his heavy gaze onto my face.His eyes note, maybe for the first time since the sun came up, how completely white and bloodless my skin looks—and that my fingers are clamping a brown paper sack from the medicine counter. His dark lashes drop down, his eyes lingering on the heavy
Lardon Vexley POV"The healing wing for old wolves is just past the back clinic garden, Lardon," the chief clerk says as I walk up to the iron counter.My paws are shaking real bad from the radiation light beam, but I still slide twenty thousand pack credits across the wood to pay for my uncle's be
Lardon Vexley POV"The old Luna ate three full bowls of meat broth tonight, Lardon, her wolf spirit is coming back fast," the kitchen servant says, wiping a wooden spoon.The heavy clay pot I left boiling over the fire is completely empty now. Even Draven Calder dipped his spoon in for a second hel







