LOGINThe wolf stays away all evening.
It’s what I wanted. I told him to leave.
But as the sun sets and darkness invades the cabin, I resent him for leaving me alone.
Sleep doesn’t come easily. I’m restless. I don’t know how long I’ve laid here in this bed, and I kick myself for not asking him when he was here. My body aches. I touch the bandages on my neck, feel the rough stitches beneath.
The wound was bad. I’m lucky to be alive. A shiver runs through me as I remember lying in the grass, staring up at the moon, bleeding out.
Who fixed me up?
Was it him?
By the time Kalen returns in the morning with a basket of eggs and fresh bread, I’m ready with my questions.
“Good morning,” he says. He puts the basket by my bed and moves to the hearth. He adds wood to the flickering embers, stoking the fire back to life. “Nice to see you awake.”
His deep bl
LYLAThe force of Kalen's grip leaves bruises on my hips, but I am too consumed by the pleasure he is giving me to care. His tongue is rough and unrelenting against my skin, his fingers knowing exactly how to curl and stroke inside me.I feel his fangs graze the inside of my thigh—just a threat, not a bite—and the fear of it, the knowledge that he could draw blood and mark me forever, makes me wetter, makes me want to dare him to do it. My head snaps back involuntarily and I groan, deep and ugly, the sound echoing around the tiny, battered walls of his bedroom. I don’t care who hears. Let the whole block know. Let the entire Nightshade pack wake up to the proof that I belong to him, and he belongs to me.He drags his nails along the outside of my thighs, forcing my knees wider, and then switches tactics—tongue flicking fast and light over my clit until I’m ga
LYLAHe’s gasping now, every inhale broken, wet, almost sobbing. His eyes are blown wide open, the icy blue gone hazy and fractured at the edges, and he’s looking at me like I’m the only goddamn thing holding him to this earth. His lips part in a soundless plea, and he’s begging, not even sure what for—release, maybe, or forgiveness, or just the touch of another body to prove he’s not alone in this hell.I lean in and bite his lower lip, enough to draw blood if he shifts wrong, and he shudders so hard I nearly lose my grip. Instead I tighten it, drag my hand up and down his shaft with a slow, savage certainty, until I feel him start to break beneath me. I keep my eyes on his face, because I want to see it—the split-second when the armor fails, when the control is gone and there’s nothing left but desperation.And there it is: his head tips b
LYLAI smooth the cloth over a shallow gash on his palm, watching his skin twitch under the touch. “Liar. You came back because you wanted someone to pull you out of it.”He stiffens but doesn’t push me away. “I’m not sure I deserve it.”“That’s not your decision.” I toss the rag aside, grab another. “You didn’t choose the curse. You didn’t choose any of this.”He’s silent, but I feel him watching now, the weight of his gaze circling my face like a tether.I set the cloth down and take his chin in my hand. He’s never been more beautiful to me than he is now, ugly and broken and mine.“You’re not your father,” I say, making each word a punch. “And you’re not going to lose yourself. Not while I&r
LYLA“Then we break it together,” I say, low and certain, my mouth right above the wound. “That’s the only way forward. Cassie told me about the ritual.”His eyes snap up, confusion written in the cramped lines at their corners. “What are you talking about?” he says. The words are sharp but the voice behind them is desperate. Maybe he thinks I’m delirious, or that I’m yanking at fantasy the way a dog yanks at a leash, but I don’t care.“The Blood Moon Binding,” I whisper, holding his gaze, daring him to deny me.He turns away, losing interest. “That’s nothing but a fairy tale.”“It’s real. It could break the curse, Kalen. Make it…legal. Or at least survivable for us.”He gives a brittle laugh, the k
LYLAI look at her, searching for any sign that this is a trick, that she’s leading me into a different kind of trap. Cassie only meets my gaze with the same calm resolve she showed when she set out her knives and herbs, when she told me to sit and drink and wait for the ache to subside. Maybe that’s the only thing she can offer me now: the chance to choose our own ending, even if it’s likely to be tragic.It’s the closest thing to hope I’ve been offered since exile.I try to keep my voice steady. “And if we fail?”Cassie gives a wry half-smile. “Then I get to test out every anti-crazy wolf sedative I have, and we all go down in history as idiots who dared the moon and lost.”I almost laugh. Instead, I lean in. “Would you help us? If it came to it?”“I’d do more than help,” Cassie says. Her hand covers mine, warm and small, anchoring me. “I’d officiate. I’m the only one left in the territory with the words.”For a second, I let the contact settle the electricity in my body. Then I pul
LYLAI scan the spidery ink, reading fragments out loud. “‘May only be enacted beneath the full Blood Moon. Requires a binding of the fated, witnessed by Luna, and a mixing of spirits and flesh…’” My voice shakes a little, but I force it to steady. Every word makes the room shrink around me. “That’s why the council buried it. Because it’s a suicide pact for anyone dumb enough to try.”Cassie reaches for the book with measured care, turning the pages as if they might combust. “No one ever said the old ways were kind, Lyla. Just that they worked.” She taps a passage written in a different hand—sharper, almost angry. “‘Should the fated succeed, they shall be as one. Should they fail, they are doomed to roam as beasts, unclaimed by moon or pack for all time.’”The words crawl up my spine, cold and







