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
NataliaThe recording finished, leaving the small room in complete silence. Lilith’s admission was clear: she had been the one who drugged me during the banquet. She had planned to film me with that disgusting Alpha.She wanted to destroy my reputation and humiliate me.I looked directly at Andrei,
Footsteps pounded down the steps. Damon came barreling into the room with Grace on his heels, took one look at the scene, and both of them immediately went pale. Grace jumped into action and raced over, falling to her knees and checking Andrei’s pulse.“What happened?” Damon demanded, but I couldn’t
NataliaThe sudden movement sent my already pounding head into a tailspin. The room tilted, and I felt my knees buckle as the world went fuzzy around the edges.Strong hands caught my arms before I could hit the floor.“Whoa, easy there,” Andrei said, steadying me against the counter. “When was the
NataliaI woke up slowly and languidly, my cheek warming beneath the morning sun filtering through the tall infirmary windows. The first thing I noticed aside from that buttery sunlight was a solid, familiar warmth pressed against my side and the steady rise and fall of breathing that wasn’t my own.







