LOGINLyon came out of the trees with Brian half-draped against him, and the look on his face told me the night wasn’t finished taking pieces out of us.Brian was alive.That should have been enough.It wasn’t.His eyes were too wide, his face streaked with dirt, one hand clamped around Lyon’s jacket as if letting go would send him straight back into whatever nightmare had found him at Hangman’s Bend.“Dave?” I asked, my voice rougher than I wanted it to be.Lyon’s gaze landed on me, and for the first time since I’d met him, that big alpha confidence had something pained running through it.“He’s back there,” he said. “Small shed off the old service track. They’ve been hiding in it. Dave’s alive, but his leg is broken, and moving him wrong will make it worse.”Relief hit so hard my knees almost gave.“So he’s okay?” I breathed.Lyon didn’t answer fast enough.Arthur noticed too.“What aren’t you saying?” Arthur asked.Lyon looked from me to him, jaw tight. “From what they’ve managed to say,
My energy sparked beneath my skin, pushing out in little bursts that went nowhere. The thing behind me had my throat locked tight. Its arm was locked across my throat, hard enough to make every breath a struggle, and every time I tried to force power through my hands, the skinwalker adjusted its grip as if it could feel the energy building in me before I could let it loose. It had me imprisoned. Arthur had gone very still. The skinwalker’s foul breath brushed past my ear. “Stay where you are, old wolf,” it warned, its voice sliding between tones, never settling long enough to belong to anyone. “Or I will break her in two.” Arthur looked at me for half a second. “Please,” he said, his voice calm. “You don’t want her. Take me instead.” The creature gave a low laugh, which sounded wrong enough to crawl across my skin. “You offer yourself too quickly. She must be even more valuable than I thought.” “Arthur,” I forced out, but the skinwalker’s hold tightened and stole the rest of
“Remind me where we are going again?” Arthur called, his voice carrying easily over the engine.“Back to the crash site,” I shouted without slowing. “Hangman’s Bend. I wanna check it out for myself.”He didn’t hesitate, just swung onto his bike and kicked it to life, falling in beside me.I glanced over, something sharp and reckless rose in me.“Race you to the bend, old man. Let’s see if you still got it.”There was a flicker in his expression, not quite a smile.“I bet you still take corners too wide.”I looked over at him, grinning.“Just quit complaining and try to keep up.”I took off before he could answer, pushing the bike harder than I needed to, the engine roaring beneath me as the road stretched out ahead, narrow and dark, the trees pressing in on either side in a way that made the whole bend feel tighter than it should.The ride should have cleared my head, but it didn’t.Every thought circled back to the same place, to the same knot that refused to loosen no matter how I p
My eyes locked onto Luke the second he stepped through the door. Whatever he’d seen out there, whatever he’d found, it wasn’t good. “Rose, my office now,” he said as he walked past me. “Watch the bar, Hale,” I called over my shoulder, already moving. “What if the cops show up?” he asked, glancing up from the half-poured beer in his hand. Arthur was already sliding behind the bar like he’d been doing it his whole life. “I’ll handle the cops,” he said, his voice calm but carrying weight. “Just don’t start another fight; those patrons were still outside planning a coup.” “That wasn’t my fault,” I muttered, even as I followed Luke down the back hallway. The noise of the bar dulled behind us as he pushed the office door open. Once we were inside, I bombarded him with questions. “What happened?” I asked. “Did you find them?” Luke dragged a hand through his hair, pacing once before answering. “No sign of them,” he said. “Not a trace.” My stomach dropped, that hollow feeling settli
The bar was packed; thick, heady blues music rolled from the stage, punctuated by thick waves of laughter and clinking glasses. I was busy behind the bar, pouring drinks like everyone in here was about to die of thirst.No matter how busy it got, my eyes kept drifting back to those empty stools.It wasn’t right, and the longer they sat there untouched, the more it dug under my skin.My thoughts kept returning to Bianca; everything seemed to lead back to her. The part that pissed me off the most was why Kaelyn protected her; why couldn’t he see her for what she was? A crazy, psycho bitch.I turned, and irritation flared sharper when I saw Lyon and Hale sitting in those seats as if they had any right to them.“Hale,” I huffed, pouring a drink without looking at him, “shouldn’t you be worried about the cops showing up?”He didn’t even glance up, lifting his beer instead. “They won’t be in here tonight, guarantee it.”“Did you find your friends?” Lyon asked, his deep tone easy, but there
“Listen to me carefully, Rose. I want you. All of you. My blood is like a drug.”Kaelyn’s voice was low, but there was no softness in it. His eyes held mine, steady and unrelenting, and my body answered him before my mind could catch up, heat still coiled through me, restless and searching.“What you’re feeling right now isn’t your true feelings,” he continued. “It’s the blood. It creates a pull. It makes you think what you’re feeling is real.”“But…” I started the word catching.“No,” he said quietly, cutting me off without raising his voice. “You need to get control of yourself. When you come to me freely, when it’s your choice and not this…” His gaze flicked over me, taking in everything. “Then I’ll take you, but never like this.”My breath hitched, frustration and desire twisting together.“Your father is downstairs,” he added, his tone shifting. “He knows exactly what my blood does. You don’t strike me as someone who wants to disappoint him.”“Will you stay?” I asked, the words







