LOGINJasmine’s POV The enforcer grabbed my collar the second I pushed the apartment door open. He slammed me against the wall before I could even step inside. The impact drove the air from my lungs in one sharp rush. My back hit the peeling paint hard enough that pain exploded up my spine. His thick fingers twisted the fabric tight against my throat. I got both hands on his forearm, nails digging in, trying to pry enough space to breathe. My vision spotted at the edges. Zea was already moving from across the room, her face set in that fierce way she got before a fight, but she was too far. The small living room stretched between us like a canyon. “Time’s up, Trivett,” the enforcer growled, breathing hot and sour against my face. “Drax wants his money or he wants you. Guess which one he prefers.” I couldn’t answer. My lungs burned, my fingers slipped on his arm. The amulet pressed cold and hard between us. Then the front door came off its hinges. Not opened, it came off its frame. Th
Tristan’s POV I stood on the rooftop across from the diner with both hands on the railing. The metal was cold under my palms. I had been there for over an hour, watching through the large front windows as Jasmine moved between tables. She looked exhausted, her lean frame was carrying too much weight. Her hair was pulled back tight. But she kept working, dodging wandering hands and loud rogues with the practiced grace of someone who had done it too many times. My wolf was restless. The curse gnawed at the edges of my control, but I held it steady. I wasn’t ready to approach her again. Not yet, I just needed to see her. To know she was safe. Then a drunk rogue grabbed her wrist across the bar counter. My grip bent the steel railing inward before the decision even reached my conscious mind. Metal groaned under my fingers. My knuckles went white, and a low growl built in my chest. No human in the building below could hear it, but every supernatural being within two blocks would feel
Jasmine’s POV I saw Glenn from the dude of my eyes through the clinic’s glass door before he saw me noticing him. He was leaning against the opposite wall across the narrow street, hands in his pockets, watching me work. He wasn’t passing by, wasn’t waiting for someone else, just watching me specifically. My stomach tightened. I registered the threat before I registered recognition, then both hit at the same time and neither one canceled the other out. I kept scrubbing the bloodstained floor, my back aching from the long shift. The underground clinic always smelled like iron and disinfectant. Rogues came in here half-shifted and bleeding, and I cleaned up after them for pennies. Tonight had been worse than usual. But I kept my head down, pretending I hadn’t seen him. My hands stayed steady even though my pulse raced. The amulet felt heavier against my chest. The end of my shift finally came. I peeled off the thin gloves, grabbed my jacket, and pushed through the glass door. The
Jasmine’s POV We sat on the couch for a long time. Zea wrapped both arms around my shoulders and pulled me sideways into her. The grip was tight enough to hurt slightly, but I let myself be held. My whole body trembled without sound. There were no tears, just the silent shaking of someone who had absorbed a shock too large for noise. I leaned into her, my head against her shoulder, breathing in the familiar scent of her cheap perfume. The pregnancy test lay on the floor beside us, the two lines still dark and undeniable. I pressed the amulet hard against my chest through my shirt. The iron dug into my skin, and the rune edges cut into my palm as I closed my fingers around it. I didn’t feel the small bleeding marks until later. Right then, all I felt was the weight. The same amulet my mother had given me when I was small, the one that had kept my wolf locked away my entire life. Zea didn’t speak. She just held me tighter, her hand rubbing slow circles on my arm. She knew when to
Jasmine’s POV I pushed through the apartment door. I sank into the edge of the bed, Zea came back not long after and I started talking before I even finished taking my coat off. “Zea, the guy from the gala found me.” Zea’s head snapped up from the couch. Her face went from alarmed to furious in under three seconds. “What the hell do you mean found you?” I shrugged the coat off my shoulders, hands still shaking. “Alley off Mercer. Three thugs jumped me, but he took them down. Then he called me by my real name. He had the wallet, Zea. My ID was still in it.” Her bold brown eyes narrowed. She stood up fast. “That bastard. I knew we should’ve laid lower—” The nausea hit me right in the middle of her sentence. My stomach flipped hard and sour. I dropped the coat on the floor and barely made it to the bathroom. I slammed the door open and fell to my knees in front of the toilet. Everything came up at once. Zea was right behind me. She gathered my dark brown hair with practiced hands
Tristan’s POV I let her go. I stepped aside on the sidewalk and watched Jasmine walk away, her shoulders tight and her steps quick but not quite running. My wolf pushed hard against my ribs, wanting to chase, but I held him back. Tracking a running woman was easier than detaining a frightened one. Right now, the hunt mattered more than the capture. I could feel the curse twisting in my blood, the dark fracture flaring at the edges of my control, but the instinct was stronger. She was already mine. She just needed time to understand it. I gave her a thirty-foot lead before I started after her. My body moved between the obstacles of Cresthaven’s back alleys without disturbing a single thing. No kicked cans. No splashing through puddles. Just silent steps on the cracked pavement. My silver eyes stayed locked on the shape of her ahead in the dark—her dark brown hair swinging slightly, the way she kept one hand near her jacket pocket where she had stuffed the wallet back. She glanced o







