LOGINBetty POV
"You are going to die today, Betty," Laura says, her breath smelling of stale meat and cheap copper.
I do not look up from my bowl of cold porridge. My spoon scrapes against the ceramic baseline. A sharp, rhythmic grating that makes the small hairs on my arms stand up straight.
"Leylani is a werewolf," I say, my voice flat, hitting the stone walls of the kitchen and bouncing back like iron. "I know what she is."
"She is not just a werewol
Betty POV"Hunter!" Novalee screams, bursting through the narrow stockroom door.The word slices through the air like a silver blade. My heart hits my ribs. Beside me, Adriel’s posture goes completely rigid. The air in the convenience store instantly turns suffocating."Get back," Novalee hisses, her palm flat against my chest as she shoves me into the shadow of the metal shelving units."How many?" I whisper, my throat completely dry."Five," she breathes, her fingers digging into my arm. "They’re sweeping the street.""Who are they looking for?""I don't know," Novalee whispers back, her eyes darting toward the front glass windows. "They marched straight into the restaurant. They targeted Adriel the second they smelled the royal blood. He deflected them, then mindlinked me to hunt you down and hide you."A sudden, sharp pressure stabs behind my temples. The connection opens.
Mitchell POVThe phone screen flashes. A black-and-gold notification pops up from my banking app. Flagged.I stare at the digits. The transaction amount makes my jaw tighten. Adriel is with her, and my little brother does not know the meaning of a budget. He just swiped my black card.Another alert pings. A second request for authorization. This one is from Betty.My thumb hovers over the green button. Girls are a different kind of monster when they get inside a shopping mall. Especially my girl. I tap approval, but my chest feels tight.I press her contact name. The phone rings twice before her voice fills my ear."Hi, love," I say, leaning my shoulder against the cold stone wall of the corridor. "Yeah, it is all good on this end. Adriel and I just finished moving your things into your new room."I listen to the sweet sound of her breath over the static. My wolf stirs inside my chest, lifting his head at her voice."I am stand
Betty POV"Pick a target, Betty, or I will pick one for you."Adriel drops his hand on the metal handle of a massive, industrial trolley. The screech of the wheels echoes against the concrete floor of the warehouse. This furniture store is massive. It is a maze of wood, metal, and glass, deep inside werewolf territory. A few human scents drift through the aisles, but they stay low. They know their place."I do not know what I am looking for," I say. I turn my head to look for him, but my eyes hit empty air. "Adriel?"He is gone. He moved without a sound. The crowd of tall, broad-shouldered wolves shifts around me, blocking my view. Panic tightens my throat."Nina, get over here," I bark, my voice sharp. "Help me."Nina steps out from behind a stack of flat-packed wardrobes. She grips my elbow, her fingers digging in just enough to anchor me. "Do not let the scale of it freak you out. What room do you want to break first? The bedroom? The off
Adriel POV"Move your feet, Mitchell, before I dump this entire pizza box right onto your head," Betty snapped, her voice cutting through the damp chill of the subterranean corridor.Mitchell did not move. He stood three paces ahead of us, his broad shoulders squared, his nose twitching as he drew the heavy air deep into his lungs. "Shut up for a second, Betty."I reached out, my fingers wrapping tightly around the soft leather of Betty’s jacket sleeve to pull her back. The hallway leading to her quarters was usually thick with the scent of pine and old stone, but right now, a sharp, metallic copper tang scraped against the back of my throat."Blood," I muttered, my chest tightening as my inner Lycan stirred, claws straining against the skin of my knuckles. "That is fresh blood."Mitchell gave a sharp nod, his amber eyes flashing in the dim light of the overhead bulbs. "It is not an attack. The scent is heavy, but there is no pheromone of fea
Betty POV"Sit down and eat," David said, pulling out a chair for me.We had spent four hours out on the grass with the young ones, running until my lungs burned. For four full hours, the heavy weight in my chest vanished. David made it easy to forget. We had trained under his father for years, and he knew exactly when to crack a joke to keep my mind off the disaster my life had become.But the moment we stepped through the heavy oak doors of the dining hall, the peace shattered.A low, vibrating growl ripped from Adriel's chest. The wood under my boots seemed to shake with the force of it.I snapped my head up, my eyes narrowing. "What is it now?"Then I saw her.That wretched girl was sitting right in my designated chair at the head of the long table. She was lounging back as if she owned the stone walls around us. Jeremiah was standing three paces away, his fingers twitching, looking like he wanted to rip her head straight off her
Adriel POV"Get up, David. You are hovering," I say.My voice cuts through the crisp autumn air of the courtyard. I keep my shoulders square, my back pressed against the cold stone pillar of the packhouse veranda.David does not budge. The boy is ten years old, a scrawny tangle of limbs from Betty’s old pack, and for the last three hours, he has been glued to her side. He does not look at me. He only looks at Betty, his small hands gripping the hem of her oversized jumper like it is a lifeline."He is fine, Adriel," Betty says.She does not look at me either. Her fingers trace the boy's hairline, smoothing down a stray tuft of brown fur-like hair. Her movements are methodical. Too slow. Too deliberate. It is the same distraction tactic she has used for a fortnight, ever since the fire took her parents. She fills every second with tasks. Shopping trips. Checking the borders. Now, this.A hollow, black void t
Betty POV"Wake up and look at me," a voice commands from the darkness.The sound does not come from my ears. It vibrates deep inside the marrow of my bones. I am floating in a black, empty void. There is no floor. There is no ceiling. There is only a heavy, suffocating
Adriel POV"Get the hell away from her door, Mitchell."My voice is a low, vibrating snarl that rattles the heavy oak panelling of the corridor.My brother doesn't flinch. He stands there in the dim light of the west w
Betty POV"Your mother is a liar, Betty."Adriel didn't yell. He didn't have to. The sheer weight of his voice cut through the heavy heat of the training arena, freezing the blood in my veins.My mother flinched beside him, her fingers curling into the fabric of her faded tunic. "Adriel, please. Th
Betty’s POV"Mine!"The roar ripped through the garden, heavy enough to vibrate the gravel under my slippers. A hand slammed into Luka's chest, throwing him back two steps. He stumbled, his boots skidding across the dirt before he hit the ground.My chest tightened. Inside my head, a rhythmic, fran







