LOGINSTELLA.I didn't know how long I sat there. Minutes. Perhaps longer. The cabin had become painfully quiet after Damien left. At first, I had tried convincing myself that everything was fine. Damien was strong. More than strong. Five men had attacked him the night before, and he had returned without a single injury. The man tied to the chair didn't stand a chance.Still, I couldn't stop worrying.It might get a little bloody.His words continued playing inside my head, over and over, until I couldn't ignore them anymore. I stared toward the door. What was taking him so long? What if—The door suddenly opened. I jumped.Damien stepped inside, and immediately I knew something was wrong. My heart stopped. His clothes were covered in blood. Not a little. Blood stained his shirt, his arms, his hands. There was even some splashed across the side of his neck.My entire body froze. "Damien."He didn't answer. His eyes found mine, and my heart began pounding. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Th
STELLAMy eyes opened slowly. For a few seconds, everything felt strange. The unfamiliar ceiling. The soft bed beneath me. The quiet cabin. Then I realized my head was resting on something warm and firm.I blinked. Once. Twice. And slowly looked up.Damien.My entire body froze. I was lying against his chest. One of his arms rested around me while my head was pressed against him, and somehow, during the night, my hand had found his. Our fingers were still intertwined.My heart immediately began pounding. What—I remembered falling asleep on the horse. Then the cabin. Then the waterfall.My face grew warm, and I immediately looked away. Why was I still lying on him? More importantly, why hadn't he moved?I slowly tried to pull my hand away. His fingers remained loosely wrapped around mine. I swallowed and carefully moved my hand again. This time, Damien's eyes opened.I stopped moving. His gaze immediately found mine. For several seconds, neither of us spoke."Good morning," he said.M
DAMIEN.The man froze. For one second, neither of us moved.His hand hovered over Stella's sleeping body, the cloth still clenched tight in his other hand. My eyes moved from his face to the cloth, then to Stella. She was still asleep, completely unaware, her arms wrapped around the pillow, her face pressed into it as she slept peacefully through all of it.The man slowly turned around. His eyes met mine.I smiled. There was nothing pleasant about it.His eyes widened. He moved. So did I.My hand closed around the back of his neck before he could make another sound. I dragged him backward, away from the bed, and he struggled immediately, his hands reaching for my wrist, his feet scraping uselessly against the wooden floor.Stella shifted.I stopped instantly.The man froze too, sensing the change in me. My eyes moved toward the bed. Stella turned slightly, pulling the pillow closer to herself, murmuring something too soft to catch. For several seconds, I didn't move. Neither did the m
DAMIEN.I moved deeper into the forest.Whatever had entered my territory was close now. Too close. I could feel its presence between the trees, moving with enough confidence to tell me this wasn't some frightened rogue that had accidentally crossed my borders.It was looking for me.I stopped. Five figures stepped out from between the trees, emerging slowly, deliberately.I stared at them. Five.My eyes narrowed. "That's a lot of company."None of them answered. They simply attacked. The first came at me from the left, fast enough that a moment's hesitation would have cost me my throat. I caught his wrist before his claws could reach me and twisted hard. He snarled in pain. I drove my elbow into his ribs and threw him into a tree, the trunk cracking with the impact.Another came from behind. I turned just in time, ducking beneath his claws before grabbing the back of his neck and slamming him into the ground. The others rushed me all at once.I smiled. Finally. Something worth killing
DEREKI had been waiting for nearly an hour.The meeting place was an abandoned hunting lodge deep within the forest, far enough from the main roads that no one would stumble across us by accident. I stood beside the window, staring into the darkness. My patience was wearing thin.I hated waiting. Especially when I knew Stella was somewhere out there. With him.Damien. My jaw clenched at the thought. Of course she had gone to him. She had always been stubborn, always convinced she could make her own decisions, as though she understood what was best for her.The door opened behind me. I didn't turn around."Well?"Silence. I slowly turned to face it. Three men stood in the doorway, their clothes covered in dirt, two of them looking exhausted. My eyes narrowed."You were supposed to be watching them.""We were.""And?"The tallest man stepped forward. "They left the mansion."My expression didn't change. "When?""Earlier today.""And where did they go?""The forest."I waited until he s
DAMIENThe rain had finally begun to ease. It no longer fell heavily enough to blur the forest around us, but droplets still clung to the branches overhead, striking the leaves with soft, rhythmic taps. Brimstone carried us steadily through the forest. I barely paid attention to where we were going, I was all focused on Stella. Stella had fallen asleep somewhere along the trail. I hadn't even noticed the exact moment it happened. One minute she'd been sitting behind me, her arms loosely wrapped around my waist. The next, her full weight had settled against my back.I glanced over my shoulder. She was asleep. Actually asleep. Her cheek rested against my shoulder, her breathing slow and even.For a moment, I simply stared. She looked different when she slept. Softer. The usual tension in her face had disappeared, that constant awareness, that tiny crease between her brows whenever she was thinking too much.Just peace. I had watched her sleep before, more times than I should probably a







