LOGINThat vampire wasn't going to die hunting Marcus Dane and Elena Frost. He was going to come home. Eventually. When the hunt was done. I just had to trust that. Had to believe it despite seven days of silence. Had to— I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, sunlight was stream
I thought back. Past the recent years, past childhood, to the earliest memory I could find. "I was three," I said finally. "Maybe almost four. I was in the pack house garden—Mama's garden with all the night-blooming flowers. And I was trying to draw them but my crayons weren't the right colors and
My Cheating Mate Grace pov Seven days. Seven days since Uncle Cas had left to hunt Marcus Dane and Elena Frost. Seven days of silence. No calls. No texts. No updates through the vampire network that usually kept us informed. Just—nothing. I stared at my phone for the hundredth time that ho
Courtney's eyes went wide. "Not—not prison? Not exile?" "The Council recognizes your age, your cooperation, your genuine remorse, and the manipulative environment you were raised in," Madeline continued. "We also recognize the testimony of your victim, Grace Trent, advocating for rehabilitative co
The Council members conferred quietly. Then Madeline spoke again. "Grace Trent. Please approach to provide testimony." I stood on shaking legs. Connor squeezed my hand once before releasing it. I walked to the center position—standing a few feet from where Courtney sat. "Miss Trent," Madeline
"Did you know about the planned assault?" Christopher asked. "No. Not until after." She shook her head. "The Preservation Front contacted me three days before the attack. My father—" Her voice broke. "Thomas Vex was my father. I didn't know he was high-level Preservation Front leadership until Lor
Jeremy was quiet for a long moment. "I don't know," he admitted finally, and the honesty hurt worse than a lie would have. "I think I wanted to want you. Wanted to make the bond work because it was what I was supposed to do. But I never gave us a real chance. Never let myself see you as anything oth
My Cheating Mate Jeremy pov The house was too quiet. I sat in my car in the driveway, staring at the dark windows of the home Emma and I had shared for six months. The home she'd fled from. The home that still smelled faintly of her vanilla and honey scent even though she hadn't lived here in
My Cheating Mate Jeremy pov I wasn't fully asleep. The pain medication made everything hazy, distant, like I was underwater. But I could hear voices—Emma and Aria talking quietly, thinking I was unconscious. I should have let them know I was awake. Should have said something. But I couldn't.
"That's not true," Jeremy said, his voice breaking. "Emma, you were never—" "It felt true!" I shouted, the anger finally breaking free. "It felt like I didn't matter! Like I was just a means to an end, a broodmare with the right bloodline!" The words hung in the air between us, raw and painful.







