เข้าสู่ระบบAurora.The room was too quiet.I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling as shadows from distant headlights drifted across the walls. The mattress was softer than anything I’d ever slept on. The blankets smelled clean, carrying a faint trace of cedar and fresh laundry. Everything should have felt safe and comforting.Instead, it felt foreign.My body refused to relax. Every small sound made my muscles tense—the low hum of the air conditioner, the distant gurgle of plumbing in the building, the faint ding of the elevator several floors away. I kept waiting for the familiar horrors: yelling, bottles shattering, a door slamming hard enough to rattle the walls, my stepfather’s heavy footsteps outside my room, the click of the lock turning.My chest tightened.The memories wouldn’t stop replaying.Take her instead.I squeezed my eyes shut, but the words still hit just as hard. No hesitation. No regret. Just a cold, calculated choice. He had chosen to hand me over like I was something dis
Aurora.The car was warm.That was the first thing I noticed. Warm, safe, and quiet. The realization alone nearly brought fresh tears.I sat curled against the door, arms wrapped tightly around myself as streetlights slid across the windows. My tears had slowed but not stopped. Every few minutes another slipped free, tracing silently down my cheek.Neither twin said a word.For once, they didn’t push. They didn’t demand answers. Alec drove with steady focus. Maxwell sat beside me in the back, close enough that I could feel his solid presence, yet far enough that I didn’t feel trapped. The silence should have felt awkward. Instead, it wrapped around me like a shield.My throat tightened.I still couldn’t believe any of it. Not the wolves. Not the brutal fight. Not even the rescue itself. What kept replaying was my stepfather’s face, the complete lack of hesitation when he had asked those men to take me. Like handing me over was the simplest decision he’d ever made.I squeezed my eyes
Alec. Aurora had been avoiding us all day.Under normal circumstances, that might have amused me. Today it didn’t.The image of her face kept replaying in my mind as I drove—the bruise on her cheek, the way she’d looked away when I asked about it, how her entire body had gone rigid the moment we noticed. Someone had put their hands on her. I was certain of it.Maxwell sat beside me, arm resting against the window, staring out at the passing streets. For once, he looked as troubled as I felt.“You’re thinking about her,” he said.I snorted. “You’re one to talk.”“Someone hit her.”Maxwell’s expression darkened. “I know.”Silence settled over the car. Neither of us liked where our thoughts were headed. Aurora had brushed us off, deflected, and changed the subject. But she hadn’t denied it convincingly. The more I replayed the conversation, the less I believed her.“I should have pushed harder,” I muttered.“She would’ve run.”“She did run.”“It’s her way of coping.”I exhaled sharply. U
Aurora. The scarred man took another step toward me, his heavy boots thudding against the worn floorboards. The second man lingered near the doorway, arms crossed, watching with bored detachment.Instinct finally shattered the icy paralysis that had locked my limbs. I ran.Not toward the front door—toward the kitchen. The house’s layout flashed through my mind in frantic, broken pieces. Back door. Neighbor’s yard. Fence. If I could make it outside—A hand clamped around my wrist like iron.I cried out as the scarred man yanked me backward. Momentum jerked me off balance, pain shooting up my arm. He hauled me against him with almost no effort, as if I weighed nothing.“Let go of me!” I twisted violently, digging my heels into the floor, fighting for any traction.His grip tightened. “Stop struggling.”My stepfather stood a few feet away, eyes fixed on the floor. He flinched at my cry but didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Didn’t lift a finger to help.The realization hit harder than the fear:
Aurora.The whispers started before I even reached my locker.At first, I thought I was imagining it—paranoid after the morning’s disaster. But the stares followed me down the hallway. Phones are angled just a little too obviously. A cluster of girls near the water fountain stopped talking the second I passed, then burst into hushed giggles.By the second period, it was everywhere.Someone had snapped a picture. The kiss. My hand fisted in Alec’s shirt, our mouths pressed together in the middle of the courtyard like some dramatic scene from a bad romance. It was already circulating through the school’s group chats, blurry but unmistakable. Did you see Aurora and one of the Wolfe twins?She went straight for it.Thought she was too good for anyone.I kept my head down, earbuds in even though no music played. Every time I caught someone looking, heat crawled up my neck. The bruise on my cheek suddenly felt exposed again, no matter how much concealer I’d layered on.I ignored the twins
Aurora.I didn’t realize I had fallen asleep until the pounding on my door dragged me awake.For one disoriented second, I thought it was still part of the dream. Then the knocking came again—sharp, insistent.My eyes opened slowly. Gray morning light filtered through the curtains. My cheek felt stiff and tender where my stepfather had hit me. My throat ached from crying.For a long moment, I simply lay there, staring at the ceiling and wishing I could stay buried under the blankets forever.Another knock. “Aurora.”His voice. Of course.As if last night had never happened. As if dragging me down the hall and locking me in my room had been completely normal.“Aurora.”I sat up slowly, my head heavy, my entire body weighed down by exhaustion. The doorknob rattled. The lock clicked. The door swung open.My stepfather stood in the doorway.The sight of him tightened something sharp in my chest. He looked awful—not dangerous or angry like last night, but wrecked. Hair disheveled, eyes bloo
Denver.The door closes behind her with a soft sound that lingers longer than it should.I remain where I am, my gaze fixed on the grain of the desk, a copy of the contract still lying open where I placed it. I do not move. I do not exhale. Years of command have taught me how to sit with decisions
Selena. I didn’t sleep last night. I kept turning in bed until morning came, my thoughts running in circles.I couldn’t stop thinking about what Denver might want from me. What kind of offer could he possibly make?I didn’t have to wait long.Not long after sunrise, a maid knocked on my door and t
Trigger warnings: This chapter contains physical assault, threats, and parental betrayal.-----Selena.Christopher found me the next morning.I felt it the moment the guards outside my door shifted, their posture changing in that subtle way that meant someone important had arrived. Someone they ans
Denver.I woke that morning to the sound of someone knocking on the door.I groaned, unwilling to open my eyes for another hour or two, but when the door opened and my beta walked in, I knew sleep was done for.“Good morning, Alpha,” Jacob greeted as he stepped further into the room.“Good morning,







