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
NataliaI stared at the small glass bottle in my hand in shock. Andrei had pressed it into my palm with no audience this time—no crowd to impress, no show to put on.Maybe he wasn’t being as manipulative as I’d thought. Maybe—No. I shoved the bottle into my pocket and finished helping Damon into th
NataliaI sat there, stunned, just staring at Damon.“You want to mark me?” I let out a wry little laugh. “Why would you want to do that?”I thought we’d had an understanding—our relationship was fake and would always be fake. We weren’t in love. At least, we weren’t supposed to be.But Damon looked
NataliaThe sun was setting by the time Damon and I finally returned to Ashmoor. It was a relief to be home again, to see the familiar mossy stone walls of our pack coming into view, after yet another multi-day journey out of the territory. I hoped there wouldn’t be another one anytime soon.The twi
Andrei“Natalia…”My eyes snapped open as cold water splashed across my face, shocking me awake. I gasped and shot upright, water dripping down my neck and soaking into the blankets around me.Lilith was standing over me in the darkness, her face twisted with fury, an empty glass clutched in her sha







