They didn’t ask me to stand beside him.They didn’t put me in the frame.My chest tightened.This was about him.Only him.What did that mean for me?Before I could think too hard about it, I heard the familiar, measured footsteps echoing down the hall.Pierce.He strolled toward us like he was arri
AIDENThe kitchen was too clean.Shiny black counters. A spotless chrome sink. Not a crumb on the floor or a single dish in the drying rack.It didn’t feel like a kitchen anyone actually used. More like something from a magazine.Aiden sat stiffly on one of the bar stools, feet not quite touching th
ELENAMy knuckles still stung.The taste of blood hung in the air—his, not mine—and the man I’d clocked in the mouth earlier had stalked off in a fit of pique. Probably to get backup.If I wanted to make my move, now was the time.The other one, the taller rogue with the cold eyes, was still watchin
I caught Pierce’s next punch, twisted his arm behind his back, and slammed him to the floor with enough force to rattle the bones in both our bodies.“You leading the rogue factions now?” I shouted, my voice like gravel and fire. “You attacking peaceful packs? Families?”He laughed.Actually laughed
ELENA“Where’s Aiden?!”The question ripped from my throat, wild and raw. It wasn’t a question, really. It was a scream. A plea. A command wrapped in terror.My voice echoed across the wreckage of the room—the overturned furniture, the broken glass, through the blood that still hovered in a haze ove
And there—down the shore, maybe twenty yards away—Aiden.He was being dragged.His heels left thick, broken trails through the sand, carving desperate lines that told me he’d tried to fight. His arms were wrenched behind his back, his small fists clenched.His hoodie—his favorite one, the one he sa
DEREKI’ve heard Elena scared before.Once when she woke up from a nightmare, gasping like she was still trapped underwater. Another time, because a mouse had darted across her foot when she was in the Silverclaw stables.But I had never heard her like this.Not like now.The sound in her voice was
DEREKIt all happened too fast.Flashes.A shout behind us—rough and unexpected. Another rogue, charging out of the jungle like a spark dropped in a dry forest.Aiden jerked.The rogue holding him shouted something I didn’t hear—Then Elena screamed.And there was blood.Aiden slipped free, tumbling
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