LOGINI straightened up. My heart was pounding. I looked around the room and for a single, disorienting moment, I had no idea where I was. The black stone walls, the red sky beyond the window, the dead air of this place—none of it felt right. None of it felt like mine. I felt like a man who had woken up m
Andrei’s POVThe collar of my shirt was pissing me off.I had fastened it twice already and it still insisted on sitting crooked, pulling too tight on the left side. I undid it a third time and redid it, slower, watching my hands in the mirror rather than my own face. My reflection had been botherin
Natalia’s POVHe didn’t hesitate.The moment I swung the rod toward him, his hand shot out and closed around my wrist like a vise. My arm wrenched sideways, and I felt the bones grind together under his grip, and the rod fell. It clattered somewhere on the stone floor, rolling away into the darkness
Andrei’s POVThe room was warm. The bed was soft and plush, the pillows made of feathers and velvet. Everything smelled familiar, the kind of scent that you recognize from a past life but can never put a finger on its source.Home.The woman was laying next to me, just as she always did. Amber hair
But I would do it, because the alternative was my children going through whatever came next, and that was not something I was willing to consider.I wasn’t certain yet. That was the only reason I was still trying so hard now. Because there was still a small part of me that thought that there must be
Natalia’s POVThey came for me after what felt like a full day. I say felt like because it really could have been any amount of time, or none at all. But someone did bring me some slop to eat at some point, so that had to have meant that at least a full cycle had passed.I was on my feet before the
Natalia“I can’t believe you actually went to dinner with him,” Damon said as we walked through the front door of our home. He wasn’t angry, but there was a tightness around his eyes that betrayed his jealousy. “You know what he’s like, Natalia.”“What was I supposed to do?” I hung up my coat and un
If I told him the truth about Max and Jane, he would never let go. He might try to take them from me. I couldn’t risk it. I wouldn’t.So I lied. Again.“The accident,” I said, forcing my voice to remain steady, “it… the baby didn’t survive the impact. By the time Damon found me, it was gone.” I swal
DamonI checked my watch for the third time in the past fifteen minutes. Natalia had been gone for too long.She’d mumbled something about needing the restroom after our toast with Alpha David, but that had been nearly half an hour ago. Something wasn’t right. Was she ill, perhaps? If that were the
NataliaI woke up to the warm sensation of sunlight streaming through the curtains. And for a brief, blissful moment, I thought I was back in my own bed in Ashmoor.And then my eyes opened and took in the familiar-yet-unfamiliar surroundings, and it all came rushing back.The banquet. The drugs. My







