LOGIN"You're sure about this, Miss Solange?" Detective Miller asked, glancing at her.
She nodded firmly from where she sat in the passenger seat, her fingers twisted tightly together in her lap. The antiseptic smell of the hospital was still thick in Solange's nose, but out here, in the back of the unmarked police SUV, the world smelled like something else entirely.
Her now sensitive nose could now pick up a variety of scents like damp earth, stale exhaust, and a faint, electric trai
“You’ve been acting like a caged animal since morning,” Adrian said, his eyes glued to the Age of Ultron on the TV screen.“Aren’t you too old to be watching that?” Alistair asked, ignoring his statement.“Mind your business, old man. "There's no age to superhero movies," Adrian scoffed. “And stop pacing. You’re pissing me off.”Alistair rolled his eyes as he cheered when a character appeared on the screen. The man could literally do the things they were doing but was still cheering them on like it was some magic.Something was wrong.He walked over and stood at the floor-to-ceiling window of his penthouse and stared down at the city sprawling endlessly beneath him.The city below was a hive of millions of lives, a chaotic mess of noise and motion that usually didn't bother him.But today, something was wrong.There was a persistent, nagging itch in the center of his chest that made his skin feel too tight. He adjusted his collar for the tenth time, his eyes scanning the horizon as if
“You know,” Mira commented, trying to sound casual, even though she was about to touch on an issue her boss disliked. “Now would be a good time to post something on our business page.”Solana paused, staring at the open suitcase on her sofa. “We posted this morning.”“I mean, like… post yourself.”“I don’t want to have this conversation again,” Sol replied, her voice stern.“I’m serious.” Mira stepped closer, lowering her voice. “They want you, Sol. Not just the designs.”Solana’s expression didn’t change, but something behind her eyes hardened slightly. “I am the designs.”“Not to them,” Mira said. “To them, you’re a ghost.”That part was true. Her brand’s page was clean, curated, and faceless.She had intentionally kept her face off Lim Studio's social media pages. While other designers were busy becoming influencers, Solana had stayed in the shadows.She let the clothes speak, and the mystery worked. Creating a mystique that the fashion world was now desperate to solve.Who is Sol
“You’re late,” Alistair said, not bothering to look up from the report in his hand.The boardroom fell silent.His marketing head, seated across the long table, shifted uncomfortably before clearing his throat. “I’m so sorry, sir. There was traffic on Fifth—”“Excuses,” Alistair cut in coldly.That was enough to shut the man up.Sunlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind him, throwing sharp lines across the polished table. The entire city stretched below in an array of glass towers, steel bridges, and endless movement. New York hummed with power, but Alistair barely noticed it anymore. He had left his pack estate weeks ago to finalize the seamless takeover of two high-end companies Vance Group had just acquired.In the last five years, he had transformed the Vance Pack from a national level into a global empire.He had crushed the internal rebellions, stabilized the economy of the pack lands, and had even finally dealt with his uncle Silas. Two years ago, his son h
"You’re late, Lim," Travis, the Alpha’s lapdog, muttered, stepping into her path. He had been waiting by the entrance. He watched her with a mixture of annoyance and hunger that made her skin crawl."I’m not a full member, Travis. I don’t run on pack time," she replied, walking around him without stopping. The Bloodhound pack met in this clearing twice a week for general issues and socializing. And though she was a wolf and technically lived inside their territory, she wasn’t a member of the pack. She had made it very clear from the beginning that she was not going to officially join the pack. And used her status as a half-blood as a technicality that kept her from being legally bound to the Alpha’s command. Technically, the label “half-wolf” had no official meaning. The wolf community recognized two states: human or wolf.But Solana had insisted on the distinction anyway.If she wasn’t fully wolf… then she didn’t have to live by their hierarchy.The Alpha had argued about it at f
“Tell me again why the shoulders look like they could start a war?” Mira, her assistant who had become a close friend, said, holding up a jacket between two fingers as if it might attack her.Across the studio, Solana didn’t even look up from the cutting table. “Because the woman wearing it should look like she can start one.”Mira blinked, and then a smirk spread across her lips. “…I walked into that answer, didn’t I?”“Yeah, you did.”They both laughed, the sound rippling through the studio.Solana—formerly Solange—stood in front of a mannequin, a pair of tailor’s shears in her hand. She was draped in a charcoal-colored vest of her own design, her hair pinned back in a sleek, no-nonsense bun.She looked like a woman who had never known the back of a laundry room or the grime of a motel floor.She brushed her fingers over the seam running down the sleeve, feeling the tension in the fabric the way some people might feel the pulse of a living thing.“It’s too stiff,” she murmured.With
The next two days were the longest of Alistair’s life. He stayed in Vegas, haunting the streets where she used to walk. Fortunately for him, Caspian had been dragged by his father to resume college, so he could sit in her empty apartment, breathing in the last, dying traces of her scent until they were completely gone. The poor boy had been overwrought with grief, but was also relieved that Solange had been fine and decided that he would do exactly as she had charged him: study hard and become a successful architect so she could meet him again. If only it were that easy for Alistair, who was now feeling the full effect of his mate's absence. When Jason finally called back, Alistair didn't even say hello. “Well?” "I was able to get to the intake officer," Jason whispered. "I told him a benefactor wanted to provide for her. So he took your name to her." “Took my name to her?” Alistair repeated in confusion. “He didn’t give you her new information?” Jason hesitated again. “The







