LOGINKIERAN The interrogation of Ethan for Ronan's location is happening in B-4, the concrete walls are reinforced with silver and steel, and the walls are not soundproofed so other prisoners can let others know that it'll soon be their turn.What's a little mind game between us soldiers and prisoners.A room built for breaking men who thought they were unbreakable.His scents hit me, resilience and rage are comimg from him, iron,blood and beneath it, jasmine it’s faint. Which infuriates me, three years of lies, three years of theft, and three years of treason.Ethan hangs from the ceiling restraints at the centre of the room, wrists shackled above his head, boots barely skimming the floor. His shoulders are filled with bruises, deep purple from the fight at the sanctuary, red welts fresh.Skin cut from where the restraints have bitten deep into skin, his werewolf metabolism healing him as fast as we injure him.Flesh knitting back together, blood slowing and pain renewing a perfect cycl
RONANMy boots hits the pavement as I run towards our apartment, in the Neutral Zone, my lungs heaving.I grab everything important to both me and Ethan because if we make it out of this alive, we might not be able to come back to the neutral zone.I run back out into the streets for the first bus into the elite district, paying the bus fare.Then the barracks comes into view for a few minutes, because it looks so intimidating.Up close the place seems like a physical entity, search lights sweep across the perimeter fence in slow, mechanical arcs.I slow my pace as I walk close to it, a shiver crawls down my spine , a long queue of civilian workers stretches toward the main gate, cleaners, mechanics, technicians, everyone standing. I see some of the workers from the Sanctuary, but Mina is nowhere in sight.We are standing under the watchful gaze of armed Alpha soldiers,no one talks or causes any trouble.The kind of silence here is one where one wrong move gets you buried.The air her
RONANBelow me, boots pounds against tile as soldiers flood the building, weapons click.The sanctuary transforms from a Rut centre to a war zone in a few seconds.“Seal the exit!” A top soldier yells. “Thermal sweep the upper levels,check the vents!” The last command slams into me filling me with fear.My instincts scream at me. “Move, run and hide.” But my body stays frozen.My fingers ache with the need to go back and help Ethan up, the jagged steel in the entrance of the vents has peeled the skin from my palm.Cold drizzled rains from the sky, outside the world has changed. They medics are shouting, a Red Pulse lockdown.Floodlight blaze across the sanctuary perimeter.Vehicles hum as their engine rumble low and hungry.Then the back door of a heavy tactical transport hiss open, my breath catches, I smell it before I see it.Two guards come out of the building, dragging a body, a massive, heavy, unconscious, broken , Ethan.My chest tightens as tears fall from my eyes.His head ha
RONAN The flash of gold eyes hits mine, the door swings open as he huffs his chest heaving, slow and unstoppable.Not the blue eyes that once softened when he whispered my name, fingers tangled in my hair or his breath warm against my throat.This gold burns with hunger and possessiveness, for a second we stare at each other.Close enough to touch, close enough to break each other's hearts.My lungs forget how to work, my heart stutters painfully against my ribs.A heavy metallic thud slams against the building.The floor jolts beneath my knees like an earthquake, then the light over my head flicker once, twice and darkness swallows everything, completely, and absolutely.The hum of electricity fades into a dying whining, Ventilation system cough and falls silent. I can't see my hands, can't see the door, can't see him too.But I feel him, the heat of him burns like a storm brewing in the room. Then “No!” He roars as he runs into the room and tries to grab me while I scramble out o
RONAN The locker room doesn't just shake as Mina pills me into it, metal creaks somewhere on the floor, dust falls from the roof, settling on my hair, shoulders, and my trembling hands.I press myself deeper into the farthest corner of the supply closet. The scent of industrial bleach burns my scent from being too potent, but does not hide the scent of fear wafting off me.I pull my knees tight to my chest and wrap my hands around myself, trying to make myself smaller.I'm safe except for the thin steel door in front of me.That's not Kieran out there, “fuck, I should have listened to Ethan,” I shot a text to him.HELP, EXTRACTION NEEDED FROM THIS WORKPLACE.Thud, thud I hear stomping through the building like a natural disaster.Then his voice comes out. “Whose scent is that?” the mirror over at the sink shatters with a sharp jagged crack through the middle.I squeeze my eyes shut, God he sounds exactly the same, but stronger, deeper and more dangerous, but still him.“THE SCENT!” h
KIERAN The scent I smelled in the hallway seemed like hallucinations more than the real thing now. One second, it's there, then it's gone. I stand in the middle of the hallway, my chest heaving, my claws a bit extended, every muscle locked tight, the employees frozen around me staring at me like a lion roaring at them.Betas kneeling as my scent makes them aroused, nulls not really feeling anything, and pressed up against the way like one wrong inhale might get them killed.But I didn't imagine it or him, but the logical part of my brain says he is a few miles away from me at the neutral zone.Fenrir snarls inside my skull, restless and pacing like an angry beast.Find him, Kieran.The manager steps forward cautiously, hands raised as if approaching a bomb that wants to go off.“Commander ....your suite is ready,” Her voice trembling. She knows what would happen if this goes badly.I retract my claws slowly, the metallic scarpe, but my body still feels hot and unstable, I need to be
RHEA I just saw them again, not just the wrist grab, not the shove against the wall, but the moment the world bent around them.I stood in the shadowed edge of the classroom doorway as my breath caught somewhere between the lungs and my pride.It was supposed to be over. That was the point of the
KIERAN Snow, that is what I wake up into, not at school but the pain of frostbite. It falls in an endless cycle all about me, no atom of colour, just pure, white snow.It gathers on my lashes, melts against my skin, my feet are bare, and numb, my shoulders hurt too.I look back, and there's blood
RONANAs the question lands, I don't react because I don't understand why that question was directed to me. Behind me, Kieran groans, low and strained.he hasn't given in to them, I feel him in my chest like a spine along my own.His heartbeat still beats in tandem to mine.Auriel tilts his head sli
KIERANThe lower chamber doors finish opening with a slow hissing sound. You can hear a pin drop from the silence in the courtyard.Auriel comes outside standing at the threshold, hands folded behind his back, expression almost pleasant like he won a lottery or something.Without hesitation. “Alpha







