登入"Alpha, you need to let go of him," Marcus pleaded, gripping Alistair’s rigid forearm with both hands.Alistair did not hear him. The blood was pounding in his ears, and his wolf was snarling behind his eyes, wild and hungry and desperate for something to tear apart.Marcus did not have the hierarchical authority or the sheer supernatural strength to forcefully yank an Alpha away from a target. He had to rely entirely on desperate reasoning. Caspian’s face was already rapidly turning an alarming shade of blue from the lack of oxygen. His fingers clawed weakly at Alistair's wrist, and his lips were parting without any sound coming out."Sir, please!" Marcus urged, stepping carefully into Alistair's line of sight. "He is human, sir. He cannot handle this level of force. You are going to kill him."The word human finally penetrated the thick, feral fog clouding Alistair’s brain. Alistair blinked, his eyes dropping to the man he was pinning against th
Marcus stiffened as his alpha slowly turned his head to look at him."You guys know I can hear you, right?" Alistair asked, his voice hollow and exhausted. "I am not some rabid dog that you want to put down."Adrian sighed loudly over the phone. "Well, we are just being careful, Ali. We do not think that of you. You know that.""Yeah, I understand," Alistair muttered. He turned his back to Marcus and stared up at the dark window of Solana's apartment once again.Marcus ended the call and slipped the phone into his pocket. He looked at his Alpha, a rare shiver of worry trembling in his chest.Alistair Vance was easily one of the most steady, stable, and terrifyingly calm people Marcus had ever met in his entire life. Marcus vividly remembered the dark years of the pack. After the unfortunate, tragic death of Alistair's mother, the old Alpha had completely withdrawn into his grief. Alistair's father had practically gone feral, neglecting his son and his pack entirely.But Alistair had
"Marcus just reached out to me," Adrian said, his voice crackling over the phone line with deep, undeniable concern. "He is worried, Ali. What exactly is going on over there?"Alistair barely seemed to hear him. “Nothing.”“Nothing?” Adrian repeated. “Ali, Marcus said you’ve been out there for more than a day.”“Then Marcus talks too much.”“Are you listening to me?”Alistair dragged a hand through his hair and stared at the building across the street. “I need to speak to her.”Alistair paced the shadowed sidewalk beneath the glow of a flickering streetlamp. He ran a trembling hand through his messy hair. “I know you do,” Adrian replied, his voice softening with pity. “But you can’t keep doing this.”“Doing what?”“Whatever the hell you’re doing right now,” he hissed. “You’re sitting outside someone’s residence like a man waiting for a target to emerge from a bunker.”“I’m not waiting for a target.”“Then what are you waiting for?”Alistair said nothing.Adrian exhaled slowly. “Have
Alistair pressed the accept button on the steering wheel console and the call connected through the vehicle's Bluetooth speakers. Immediately, a chaotic wall of sound filled the quiet, luxurious cabin of the SUV. "What is going on?" Sterling shouted, his voice layered with pure outrage. "What does the lawyer mean someone else is stalling this will reading?" Portia shrieked at the exact same time, her pitch piercing and shrill. Their voices overlapped into a loud, indiscernible mess of complaints and demands. Alistair let them yell for a few seconds, leaning his head back against the leather headrest. A dry, humorless chuckle finally escaped his lips. "It is nice to hear both of you back together." "That is not the point of this call, Uncle Ali," Sterling snarled, cutting through the noise. "Stop deflecting and tell us what is happening." "Yeah," Portia chimed in aggressively. "Mr. Hayes just called us. He said an extra person has officially refused to participate in th
"Are you absolutely sure she is not in?" Alistair asked, keeping his voice as steady and polite as possible. Alistair glanced past her into the reception area. The studio was busy. He could see employees moving between the floors, clients being ushered toward fitting rooms, racks of fabric being pushed across the open space. Everything looked normal. Everything except the fact that Solana wasn’t there. Or at least, nobody was letting him see her. “Are you sure?” Annabelle nodded quickly. “Yes, sir.” Alistair let out a slow, measured sigh. He could tell Annabel was telling the truth. But then again sensing the truth could be a complicated thing. She could be telling half a truth or the version of the truth she believed. Given the disastrous way they had parted, Solana banning him from the premises was completely understandable. Still, he needed to see her. Just once. He needed to explain. Or maybe he simply needed to stand in front of her long enough to know she was al
Solana had absolutely no memory of the drive.She just blinked, her vision slowly pulling into focus, and realized she was sitting in her parked car directly in front of her apartment building. The engine was already turned off. The interior of the vehicle was completely dark, save for the relentless, blinding glow of her cell phone screen resting in the passenger seat.It was ringing again. Alistair was calling her for the seventh time.She did not reach for it. She simply stared at the flashing name, her chest rising and falling in shallow, erratic gasps.She was completely broken. Everything inside of her was fracturing into jagged, unfixable pieces. The revelation echoed violently in her skull. Her father was Richard Grey. He was a billionaire. He had known she was alive. He had known exactly where she was while she was starving in roach-infested motels, while she was being hunted by debt collectors, and while she was being sold on an auction block.And Alistair had known all
The moment the penthouse door shut, Alistair’s restraint evaporated.He pinned her against the door, his large, calloused hand sliding up to grip the back of her neck with a terrifying but delicious pressure, and he slanted his lips over hers again.He was rough, but in a calculated way that made h
"Sol! Table four needs a server," the manager barked. "And don't look him in the eye."Solange nodded and quickly hurried down the corridor to the VIP lounge of the Sapphire Heights, wrinkling her nose at the smell of expensive cigars and the heavy, humid scent of a desert storm rolling over the Ve
Solange felt a literal snap in the center of her chest as she stared at the heavy oak doors. It wasn’t the metaphoric ache of a breakup. It was a white-hot blade of agony carved through her ribs, twisting around her heart and pulling tight.She tried to scream, but the air in her lungs had turned t
Solange looked at him, her brows furrowing as confusion rose alongside irritation. If he wanted to insult her, he could have done it outright. “What are you talking about?” she bit back. “What smell? I literally just took a bath.” He shook his head; his eyes had a faraway look, like he wasn’t hear







