DEREKI’d been through a lot of things in my life—rogue ambushes, pack betrayals, the death of my father—but nothing compared to standing there in a fluorescent-lit hallway, watching the woman I loved come undone in front of a stranger in a lab coat.Elena’s voice was low at first. Quiet. Her postur
DEREK"You are?" the doctor asked, his voice tight with disbelief.I nodded. "Yes. I’m ABX."Everything after that happened fast—too fast to make sense of.The doctor turned, snapping orders like gunfire. A nurse materialized from around the corner. Another tech arrived with a rolling cart and waved
My blood might be rare, but it wasn’t special. It couldn’t turn back time. It couldn’t stop what had already happened.But maybe—just maybe—it could give him one more shot.She placed the items beside me on a tray and looked at me carefully. "It’s wonderful of you to do this for that boy."My voice
ELENAWhen Derek finally emerged back into the waiting room, my breath caught in my throat.He looked pale. Worn. His shirt was wrinkled, his sleeve rolled halfway up, and there was a small bandage on the inside of his arm. But it wasn’t just his appearance that stopped me—it was his silence.I stoo
“I’ve never felt this helpless before,” I said.“I know,” she replied. Her voice was soft. “But even when he’s healthy, it’s not easy.”I turned to look at her.“They say that to have a child is to take your heart from your body and watch it walk away.”Her words hung in the air, quiet and full of a
ELENAI paced outside the hospital, one hand pressed to my forehead as the other gripped my phone so tightly I thought it might crack.The air outside was thick with humidity, the kind that clung to your skin and refused to let go. Somewhere in the distance, a siren wailed.The night should have bee
DEREKSix and a Half Years AgoThe safehouse was barely more than a converted hunting cabin tucked into the edge of the preserve—far enough from Silverclaw territory to avoid suspicion, but close enough that I could keep watch without losing sleep.I hadn’t planned on bringing her here. Hell, I hadn
Her hands were doing the same thing to me. Her fingers, long and efficient, were burning their way over my body. I imagined them leaving afterimages, like traces of light.I bent down to kiss a scar that ran through her eyebrow and then slid my teeth to the seashell curve of her ear. She moaned soft
The temperature in the room shifted.Not dramatically, but enough. Like a subtle drop in pressure before a storm. Erin straightened, her laughter tapering. I smoothed the sample fabric in front of me and didn’t look up right away.“Hey,” Logan said casually. “What’s so funny?”Erin glanced at me. “J
ELENAThe Moonstone packhouse was a flurry of motion and color. Fabric swatches fluttered like flags in a breeze as pack members carried bolts of cloth up the stairs. Someone was arguing loudly in the hall about whether “frosted lilac” was different from “lavender fog,” and a delivery of beeswax can
ELENAThe metronome was ticking again.That steady, deliberate rhythm that Dr. Voss insisted helped center my recall—though half the time, I wasn’t sure if it helped or just made me hyper-aware of how fast my thoughts were spinning.I sat back in the reclined chair, palms resting against the fabric-
“A silver claw?”I nodded. “Yeah. The first. The only. It seared his flesh every time he used it. Every swing hurt. But he used it anyway.”“That sounds… awful.”“It was,” I said. “But he made that pain his purpose. Every battle, every fight he walked into—he carried the silver claw. And with it, he
DEREKThe room still smelled like fresh paint.The new bedding hadn’t quite lost its store scent either—crisp fabric, a little too new, the faint chemical undertone of being unboxed that morning.But it didn’t matter. Aiden was already halfway under the covers, head turned toward the window, blanket
DEREKIt all slammed into me at once.The office, the old leather chair beneath me, the taste of whiskey still lingering on my tongue—and Maggie’s name reverberating like a bell that wouldn’t stop ringing in my head.Maggie. Pierce’s daughter.A rogue who had saved Elena’s life, who had helped her e
I gasped against him, and his tongue slid in—deep, claiming, desperate.I should have shoved him off. Should have screamed at him, reminded him what he was, what I was. But my body betrayed me.I kissed him back.Hard.My fingers curled into the front of his shirt, dragging him closer as his hands s
MAGGIE“Bastard.”It was the first word out of my mouth as I shoved open the grimy motel room door. The air inside was stale—sweaty sheets, old coffee, the reek of damp carpet and desperation. Logan looked up from where he sat on the edge of the lopsided bed, one foot resting casually on the ratty h
I froze, inhaling again, trying to find it.“Elena?” Derek’s voice was cautious behind me. I could feel him watching me, could hear the faint shift of his weight in the needles.I didn’t answer right away. My head turned slightly, following where I thought the scent had drifted. I took a step, then