"As a matter of fact," I said slowly, "it was."She nodded. "That was from one of my favorite shirts. My mother was furious when she saw that I’d torn a piece from it."The air went out of my lungs.Her favorite shirt.I blinked, trying to picture that day clearly. Cassandra had been there—that much
DEREKI didn’t move.Didn’t nod. Didn’t speak.I just stood there, letting her see it in my face. Because yeah—it was me.Every call, every closed-door meeting, every favor I cashed in to fast-track the permits they needed before anyone could find a reason to stall or block it. I’d done all of it. Q
DEREKThe crowd had already begun to gather when I arrived.The courtyard in front of the new Rogue Foundation was cordoned off with velvet rope and lined with silver-and-navy banners. The city's emblem flew alongside Moonstone’s and Red Ridge’s on tall flagpoles, and a heavy length of ribbon stretc
DEREKThe growl of the four-wheeler under me did nothing to quiet the growl inside my chest.I’d been patrolling for hours.The wind whipped against my jacket, tugging at the collar as I tore down another ridgeline, the sun low and angry behind me. Dust kicked up behind the tires in plumes. My hands
ELENAThe room was spinning when I surfaced.Not literally—not in that dizzy, vertigo way—but in a deeper, stranger sense. Like reality had been pulled too tight and then suddenly let go, snapping back with a sickening lurch.The floor wasn’t moving, but I felt as though I was tilting, like my soul
ELENAThe world tried to pull me back.I felt my body rise toward the surface, like a swimmer breaking through the final layer of water before air. My awareness strained toward consciousness.Light. Motion. The scent of the herbs in Dr. Voss’s office. But something inside me screamed not to go. Not