로그인RONAN’S POVI wasn’t following Wren. I told myself that very clearly as I walked down the main strip of downtown, my hands in my pockets, the afternoon heat pressing down on my shoulders. I needed air. I needed to be somewhere that wasn’t the cabin with its particular smell of her that had embedded itself into every surface, every pillow, every corner I turned. I wasn’t following her at all! I’d just happened to walk this direction. Fox said nothing, which meant he didn’t believe me either.The downtown strip was busy in the lazy way of island afternoons, people moving particular urgency, shop owners standing in their doorways catching the breeze. I walked without destination, nodding at the occasional wolf who recognized me and fielding two attempts at political conversation that I extracted myself from with the experience of twenty years of pack leadership.My mind was elsewhere. We have forty eight hours on the island and we’d be leaving this island. We are going back to a reali
WREN’S POVHe stopped at the edge of my table with the courtesy of a man who understood his own power well enough to be careful with it.“You’re alone” he observed.“Camille had to leave.”“Mm.” He glanced at the chair across from me then back at my face. None of the presumption I’d expected, none of the easy entitlement that most alphas carried into every interaction like a briefcase. Mason is not the arrogant kinda alphas. “Would you like some company? I can just as easily sit at the bar if you’d prefer the quiet.”He meant it. That was the thing that caught me off guard. His genuine offer of the alternative, the way he left actual space for me to say no. I thought about it honestly for a second.I’d been avoiding him. Steering clear of situations where it would be just the two of us without the buffer of a crowd or Camille or even Ronan’s looming presence to hide behind. Because Mason was perceptive in a way that made me feel slightly transparent and transparent was not something
WREN’S POVThe restaurant Camille picked was the kind of place that made you feel like you’d stumbled onto it by accident and then immediately wanted to tell no one else about it.It sat tucked between a florist and a bookshop on the main downtown strip qith mismatched chairs painted in faded yellows and greens. There is a menu written on a chalkboard that someone updated in careful handwriting every morning. String lights hung in the windows even though it was the middle of the day. We slid into a corner table and ordered without thinking much much. A jerk chicken for Camille and seafood pasta for me with two glasses of something cold and sweet that the server recommended without being asked.“I needed this” I said, looking around at the lazy afternoon quiet of it. Only a handful of other tables were occupied, soft music playing underneath the sound of the ceiling fan turning overhead.“The food or the not being in that cabin?”“Both.”Camille smiled propping her chin in her hand. “
WREN’S POVWe found a bench near the shoreline on the way back, one of those weathered wooden ones that looked like it had been sitting there long enough to become part of the landscape. The bench has probably witnessed a hundred difficult conversations.Camille sat down without me suggesting it, which meant she’d been carrying this long enough that her legs were tired from it. I sat beside her nd waited.Camille was quiet for a long moment, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes on the water.“It happened three days ago” she said finally.I kept quiet waiting for her. “There was a group visiting. Wolves from different packs, just passing through the island on their way somewhere else. Alpha Mason was hosting them for two nights.” She paused, something working in her jaw. “I was helping coordinate the guest accommodations because Lena had called in sick and I was covering.”“Okay” I said softly.“I walked into the main hall with a stack of room assignments and I just –” She stopped and
WREN'S POV“Miss Camille” he said breathlessly, his eyes jumping between us. “There’s been an accident down at the east docks. Cargo worker, something fell on him. The pack doctor is away on the mainland until tomorrow and Alpha Mason’s beta said you’d know –”“How bad?” I asked stepping forward.“His leg. Something heavy. It’s—there’s a lot of blood.” His eyes cut to me. I was already turning back into the apartment.“Wren –” Camille started.“Do you have a first aid kit here?” I asked moving toward the bathroom where most people kept them.“Under the sink but it’s basic –”“That’s fine.” I pulled it out, flipped it open and assessed the contents quickly. Better than nothing. Gauze, bandages, antiseptic, medical tape, a pair of gloves at the bottom that I pulled on. “What’s his name?”“Who?” The young wolf blinked. “The injured man.”“Oh. Benny. His name is Benny.”“How far are the docks?”“Four minutes. I have a cart outside.”“Then let’s go.” I snapped the kit shut and straighten
WREN’S POVI woke up to my own skull trying to kill me. The sunlight coming through the curtains was like a personal attack. I pressed my face into the pillow and groaned. My head was pounding and my mouth is tasting like regret and stale champagne. Every muscle protesting the memory of dancing in heels for three hours straight.Ashley was completely unsympathetic in my mind. Wide awake and judgmental.“Don’t start” I muttered into the pillow and she huffed.I lay there for another few minutes waiting to see if the ceiling would stop spinning if I just stayed very still and breathed carefully. It didn’t help but it didn’t make things worse either so I counted that as progress.That’s when I noticed it on the nightstand. It was arranged with a neatness that was not mine with a glass of water. Two white tablets beside it. A small folded piece of paper that just said take these in handwriting I recognized.I stared at it for a long moment. He’s left me hangover medicine.He came in here
MASON’S POV Mason sat at the head of the long mahogany table with his fingers drumming soundlessly against the polished surface. The air in the room was thick with cigar smoke and the weight of unsaid words. His council members consisting of the six of the most cunning and ruthless strategists
RONAN’S POV The waves crashed against the shore in a steady rhythm but nothing about it calmed me. The air was crisp with the scent of salt and damp sand as I ran along the beach, my feet sinking into the cool grains with every step. I wasn’t running for the exercise but because I needed to cle
WREN’S POV The regret hit me instantly. The moment my lips left Mason’s, a sickening wave of nausea churned in my stomach all cold and relentless. I stumbled back the world tilting violently beneath my feet. Mason’s hands shot out, trying to steady me but I jerked away as if burned. I coul
WREN’S POV The night stretched long and restless. I lay in bed shifting from one side to the other, my body heavy with exhaustion but my mind refused to quiet. Every time I closed my eyes, images of Ronan flickered behind my lids with his hands, his mouth, the way he looked at me when he though







