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
The feral wolf fought like it was possessed. It snapped and clawed without strategy or sense, just pure violence. But even in its maddened, unpredictable state, it was no match for two Alphas. I got my jaws around its throat while Damon pinned its thrashing body. Together, we forced it into submissi
Natalia & LilithNatalia“I didn’t touch her!” Damon slurred. “I don’t even know why I was in there—I mean, I was just—”I frowned, noticing the way Damon’s words blurred together, the way he swayed on his feet as he stumbled out of the women’s restroom. The crowd noticed, too, and began to back aw
“The rules are simple,” Andrei went on. “No shifting until you’ve spotted the elk. No attacking other hunters. And absolutely no bloodshed between wolves—this is sacred ground. Hunters, take your positions!”The crowd began spreading out along the tree line. Damon guided us toward the eastern sectio
Eventually, we paused at a small stream that cut through the forest, marking a natural boundary between our territories. Andrei crouched down to examine something in the mud—tracks, maybe—and I couldn’t help but notice the way his leathers stretched across his back, revealing the powerful muscles be







