ログインLouisa
When Dr. Ramirez said she could perform open-heart surgery in a pinch, she was not joking. Julian and several other men used my blanket as a makeshift sling to carry Shawn to the pack house as quickly and carefully as they could manage. There was no operating theater — only the one patient bed — and that was where they laid him. His skin was already turning a frightening shade of grey despite his dark complexion. He ha
LouisaWhen Dr. Ramirez said she could perform open-heart surgery in a pinch, she was not joking. Julian and several other men used my blanket as a makeshift sling to carry Shawn to the pack house as quickly and carefully as they could manage. There was no operating theater — only the one patient bed — and that was where they laid him. His skin was already turning a frightening shade of grey despite his dark complexion. He had lost consciousness somewhere along the way.“Luna, how are you with blood?”“Uh, fine?”“Good. You stay and assist me. Everyone else — clear out and give me room!”Everyone obeyed except Julian, who stepped back against the wall without being told twice.
ElaraI couldn’t believe Kaelen had just marked me without my permission. Not that my wolf had any objections — she seemed to consider it the only right and natural order of things. Kaelen had used instinct as his excuse.Was it instinct that had driven me to mark him back? Partly, perhaps. But the real motivation was something darker, something I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to examine.I paced my room and stopped at the mirror to look at my neck. Thank god it was clean and neat — nothing like the butcher job he had done on Louisa. Though I noticed, on closer inspection, that the bottom arch of the bite mark was incomplete. Missing teeth. I recoiled and felt a shameful flicker of satisfaction simultaneously.How could something feel so right and so wrong at the same
KaelenSometimes you have to adapt. Wasn’t that the hallmark of a truly great leader?The challenge hadn’t gone as planned. I had known from the outset that I couldn’t beat Julian in a fair fight — even at his age, genetics had never worked in my favor. I was too short. He outweighed me by fifty pounds, at minimum. My wolf, to my permanent disappointment, favored my father’s omega bloodlines far too heavily. But I had gone into the challenge with a plan: harass Julian’s wolf until he shifted, then retrieve the gun from my jacket and finish the contest with the silver bullet. Weapons were against the rules, technically — but once Julian was dead, that was a moot point. The winner makes the rules, and no one would dare question a victorious Alpha over the method.That plan collapsed when Julian bro
Elara“My daughter did what?!”My father’s roar carried through the entire house. I wasn’t sure which daughter he was furious about — whether he had discovered that I was hiding Mandi and her mother on our lands, or whether this was about Louisa. I crept down the hall to his doorway and was immediately hit by the scent of cotton candy. My mouth watered before I could stop it. Biological response. Entirely involuntary.I angled myself to see into the room. Kaelen was seated across from my father’s desk, mostly with his back to me, his arm in a sling. “She has colluded with Julian to take over the pack,” he was saying. “When I refused to give them full control, they attacked me. I was caught off guard, outnumbered — I had no choice but to flee for my life.” He sighed with co
JulianThe night was dark and cold, a killing frost threatening in the still air. Autumn leaves had scattered across the training field, and it seemed the entire pack had assembled on the grass, their breath rising in small clouds. The anxiety was palpable — I could feel it, hear it in the low murmur of voices speculating around the edges of the circle that had begun to form.Wisdom and experience against youth and physical fitness. Many of them hadn’t seen me since Kaelen’s ascension, when I had been so diminished I could barely stand upright. I wasn’t that man anymore. The months of running — literally, through the woods, away from Louisa and everything that terrified me about her — had done their work. My body had remembered what it was.And now I had something worth fighting for.
JulianFor all intents and purposes, I had signed over everything I owned to Louisa and our unborn child. It wasn’t a great deal — some personal investments, a sum in savings — but it was enough to let her
LouisaMrs. Kilstner’s kitchen was small and immaculately clean, though cluttered in the way of a lifetime’s worth of collected things — shelves of ornamental teapots, fancy cups, random figurines, and an entire cupboard de
JulianI surveyed the new gym space with bleary eyes. I could really have used a coffee to clear my head — except that, for reasons I was determinedly not examining, the smell of my formerly beloved dark roast was enough to send me to
KaelenShe screamed.In all the years I had known Mandi — given her a place in my room, let her sleep in my bed — not once had she fought back. Not once had she screamed.I won’t pretend I didn’t enjoy the fighting back. It made the end result more satisfying. But the screaming was a different thin
ElaraI pulled into the diner parking lot and found a space between a rusted Chevy pickup and a shiny Prius. Louisa and I had agreed on neutral ground — one of the nearby human towns, away from both packs, away from anyone who might be paying attention. I pocketed the keys and pushed through the sc