LOGINAvaThe first thing I heard was a low, tired voice, reading words I couldn't quite catch yet. My body felt heavy under the sheets, pinning me to the bed. I could hear the steady rasp of my own breathing. My open eyes blinked dryly in the dim light.I opened my eyes wider. A small, pale room with a c
AvaDad let go of the shackle and sat back, his face relaxing from the concentration. He was quiet for a long moment. Then his eyes met mine."Baby," he said gently, "do you want to know what happened?"Something in his tone made my chest tighten. I had a feeling that this was a truth I wasn't ready
AvaHe stepped out of the blackness, edging closer, until I could finally see him. Unbelievable. He was so young, the age he was when...when he died. His warm brown eyes, both of them, looked at me with a fond smile.I stared, my mouth hanging open, unable to make a sound. My dad. Standing in front
LeviI settled into the chair by her bed and took her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb over the back of it. "Hey, Ava. It's Levi," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I just talked to Sofia. We had some things to say to each other."I sat there, rubbing her hand, trying to find the words Maya and
LeviI sat with my father in his room, a week after Hilda's funeral. Some families had already packed up and left the pack after becoming human. Others had stayed, unsure of where else to go.My father wheezed beside me, the hiss of his oxygen tank an ever-present sound now. He was thinner, frail, h
MayaI zipped Sofia's dress as best I could with my good hand. The collar was tricky. I fiddled clumsily with the small metal fastening. "There, perfect," I said, releasing the dress and stepping back.Sofia blinked hard at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a neat bun. The dr
"Eight years in that room, Alexander." She rolled her hips and hit that perfect angle again. I groaned. "Eleven children pulled out of her before her body gave up. She was twenty-seven."Selene looked down at me and smiled. "You're still hard."My stomach dropped."I'm telling you about a girl who d
Ava"Daddy..."The word came out broken.Evelyn's hands left my face. She stood and turned, putting herself between me and the doorway, her whole body going tense.I couldn't see past her at first. Just her back blocking my view. But I could smell him—that scent I'd carried somewhere in the back of
But as I stepped toward Hilda, the musky cloud of the drug filling the small room, she didn't flush. She didn't pant. She just sat there, her nostrils flaring once in contempt."You smell like a desperate dog, Alexander," she said."Shut up," I growled, the drug fueling a white-hot arrogance in my g
She was good. Young and traumatized and trying so hard to be okay. And I'd let them just take her away like that."Sit," I said.Levi didn't move."Levi."He looked at, then sat.Although he didn’t sit on the boulder with me. He sat on the ground, his back against a tree trunk. The bark was rough, s







