LOGINThe world was a blurred streak of gray and neon. Zack's head felt like it had been packed with wet wool, his thoughts moving with the agonizing slowness of thick syrup."Nate?" he croaked, his voice cracking like dry parchment.He realized he was in the back of a blacked-out SUV, the engine roaring as it ate the pavement. Nathan’s face was a mask of cold, hard granite, his eyes fixed on the road ahead while one arm remained a protective bar across Zack’s chest."I’ve got you," Nathan said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. He shifted his weight, revealing the smaller bundle tucked against his side. "And I’ve got Leo."Zack’s eyes landed on his son. The boy was waxy, his skin a terrifying shade of translucent blue."Why is he... Nate, why does he look like that?""Marcus played a desperate hand," Nathan explained, his jaw tight enough to snap. "He dosed you both with Starlight. We're five minutes from the trauma center."The name of the drug hit Zack like a physical blow, punching thr
"Nate, please," Zack's voice was a ragged scrape against the silence of the basement. "It’s too tight."Nathan didn't loosen his grip. Not an inch. His arms were a jagged vise around Zack, a desperate, physical barricade. As long as he could feel the frantic thrum of Zack’s pulse against his own skin, he wasn't letting go.The shack was a rotting tooth in the jaw of the hills outside Havenfall. After the boat hit the shore, Marcus had shoved them through the brush for twenty minutes, his pistol barrel cold against Zack’s neck. Now, they were crated in the dark—Zack, Leo, and Ivy. Ivy sat in the corner, her face a map of purple bruises and leaked mascara, a prisoner of the brother she’d tried to please.When Marcus first snatched them, Zack had prayed for a slip-up. He’d hoped they’d be taken to the Wright estate, somewhere Ethan Cole’s men could find them by scent and steel. But Marcus was a different kind of animal. He’d played the water, cutting off the trail. Unless Nathan and Etha
The air in the suite didn't just turn cold; it vanished.Nathan stood like a statue carved from obsidian, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the mahogany table. His chest heaved, a jagged, broken rhythm. Beside him, Zack looked like he’d been struck. His skin went the color of ash, his lower lip trembling as he looked at Madeline."What do you mean 'taken'?" Zack’s voice was a choked rasp. "Madeline, how? You were with him. You were right there.""I’m so sorry, Zack." Madeline’s voice was thick with a mother's grief. "I turned my back for one second. One second to speak to Diana, and he was gone. No sound. No struggle. Just... empty space."Zack backed away, shaking his head. His eyes were wide, swimming with a frantic, localized madness. When Nathan moved toward him, arms outstretched to anchor him, Zack lashed out. He swiped at Nathan’s hands, his breath coming in sharp, panicked hitches."Don't!" Zack hissed. "Don't touch me. Don't comfort me. I want my son, Nathan. I wan
The high-pitched squeal of Leo’s laughter cut through the park, a sharp, jagged sound that pulled Madeline back twenty years. For a split second, the concrete jungle of Havenfall blurred. She wasn't a widow watching the clock; she was a young mother again, her husband’s heavy hand on her shoulder as they watched their own son claim his territory in the sandbox.Madeline’s chest tightened with a dull, familiar ache, but it wasn't grief that made her knuckles whiten against the park bench. It was the math.At first, she’d written it off as a grandmother’s desperate hope—seeing Nathan’s ghost in the way the boy tilted his head. Now, it was a cold, hard fact. Leo might have Zack’s eyes, but he had Nathan’s blood in his soul. The way he squared his shoulders, that arrogant smirk when he outran the other kids—it was a carbon copy of the Durand heir."DNA doesn't lie, but people do," Madeline muttered to herself.The pieces of the puzzle were finally clicking into place, jagged and ill-fitti
Nathan’s heavy, scarred hand trailed a slow, burning path down Zack’s spine. The early light from the Havenfall skyline cut through the blinds, painting jagged amber stripes across the pale expanse of Zack’s back. Nathan traced the curve of a rib, his thumb lingering on the fresh purple bloom of a bruise before hooking the silk sheet bunched at Zack’s waist and tugging it down to the floor.Zack let out a jagged, broken sigh. He was facedown, his cheek pressed into the black pillowcase, but he shivered as Nathan’s mouth replaced his hand. Nathan nipped at the sensitive skin of his lower back, a sharp, proprietary sting that finally forced Zack to wake.He rolled over, his eyes heavy and red-rimmed, glaring up at the man looming over him. "Seriously? How am I supposed to sleep with you doing that?"Nathan let out a low, gravelly chuckle. He lunged forward, capturing Zack’s mouth in a kiss that tasted of salt and possessive hunger. "You’re missing the point, Zack."Zack’s breath hitched
The air in the suite was thick, a cloying mix of iron, expensive cologne, and the salt of sweat. Nathan looked down at the man beneath him, and for the first time in three years, the predator in his chest stopped snarling and started to purr.Zack was a wreck. His hair was plastered to his forehead, his chest heaving in jagged, broken rhythms. He looked drugged, his eyes unfocused and swimming with the kind of raw, carnal static that only hit a Wright heir when their blood peaked. Nathan had spent a thousand nights picturing this—the high-stakes runner of the Cocolink underground finally broken open and yielding."You're making a mess of my sheets, Zack," Nathan rasped. His voice was a low, jagged friction that made Zack’s toes curl into the high-thread-count linen.Nathan didn't just see a beautiful man. He saw a legacy. Zack wasn't some fragile trophy; he was the hidden pulse of Havenfall. But right now, under the weight of Nathan’s body, he was just skin and bone and desperate, gas







