LOGINKNOX’S POVI have never run this fast in my life.Phantom’s paws tear through the Alaskan forest with a force that splits the frozen ground under me, every stride eating distance like the earth itself is shrinking to bring me closer to the thing my wolf has been screaming about since Zürich.Since Rayana spilled the truth and I left my mother’s letter crumpled in my jacket at the airport and shifted before the tarmac ended because there was no time for cars, no time for roads, no time for anything except the animal and the direction it was pulling and the single, annihilating certainty that I was already too late.I left Rayana at the Fairbanks airport with my security detail. She could barely stand, the coughing worse, the grey of her skin darker than it was in Zürich, and the last thing she said before I shifted was “bring her back, Knox.”She said it like a plea and a command at the same time, like a dying woman handing you her final wish and expecting you to carry it because she w
EMBER’S POVThe transformation is fluid, dark fur receding into bronze skin, the wolf compressing into the tall, bloodied, naked figure of a man looking at me with an expression so tender it makes the terror worse because monsters aren’t supposed to look at you like you’re their salvation.“There you are.” A whisper, soft and reverent. “My little flame.”He crouches in front of me where I’ve collapsed in the snow, my body shaking with the heat, the cold, the warring instincts of a woman who wants to run and a wolf who wants to surrender.His hand reaches for my face, fingertips trembling, hovering an inch from my cheekbone.“I forgive you,” he whispers, and the sincerity in his voice is the most horrifying part. “For the scratches. For the running. For all of it. I could never hurt you, Ember. Not you.” His gaze flickers toward the snowdrift where Queenie lies motionless, toward the tree where Nathaniel’s wolf crumpled. “Your friends, unfortunately, will not receive the same mercy. Th
EMBER’S POVThe frame groans, metal buckling, my window shattering inward, and with the broken glass comes the full force of his scent, and the heat responds to it with a ferocity that breaks something inside me.My core clenches so hard I gasp and wetness floods between my thighs and the ache that has been building all night blooms into something so consuming that my vision whites out at the edges.My breasts are swollen and tender against the fabric of the dress and my skin is so sensitised that even Queenie’s arms around me feel like too much and not enough at the same time.And the emptiness between my legs is a living thing now, a howling void demanding to be filled by hands and mouth and body.I can feel every pulse of blood rushing south, can feel the slickness coating my inner thighs, can feel my wolf surging toward the surface with one word on her lips that she screams over and over: MATE. MATE. MATE.“Something’s happening to her.” Queenie’s voice, high and scared. “Nathanie
EMBER’S POV“Every entrance was guarded when we tried to break into the cabins again.” Queenie is beside me in the back, gripping my hand, her face a wreck of guilt and desperation. “We tried every access point. Every road, every trail, every gap in the fence. Nathaniel finally found a break in the eastern perimeter when all of Rafael’s men got pulled back to the lodge. Something happened in there, some kind of chaos, gunfire—”“That was me.”Queenie stares at me. “That was YOU?”“Long story. Involves my wolf and a dining room full of Rafael’s employees trying to shoot each other.”“Your wolf did THAT?”“Ember.” Nathaniel, cutting through again. “I know you have every reason to throw us out of this car. I know what we did. I know what it cost you. And I am not asking for your forgiveness right now because we don’t deserve it and there isn’t time.” His eyes flick to the rearview mirror and back to the road. “But you need to hear what I’m about to tell you because your life depends on u
EMBER’S POVHe waves the question away like it’s a fly buzzing near his ear, already bored with the detour.“It doesn’t matter. What matters is this — if you genuinely don’t know where Gale is, then perhaps Knox will be more forthcoming. A trade worth the same value.” His eyes settle on me with a new calculation. “A mate for a mate.”“Logan, I swear to you, I don’t—”Logan snaps his fingers and two of his wolves step forward and take my arms, one on each side, grips hard enough to bruise, and the circle closes to a choking diameter around me.My legs are shaking and the heat is starting to build in my core, a slow rolling warmth that has nothing to do with the cold air.The exhaustion from whatever Sapphire did in the lodge is catching up with me now, draining through my muscles like sand through an hourglass.“You’re coming with me. Tonight. Right now. And you’re going to stay with me until you remember something useful, or until you find a way to contact your Lycan King and get the
EMBER’S POVLogan Reeves looks like demon wearing a man’s skin.The polished businessman I’ve always known is gone — eaten through by weeks of possibly not sleeping or eating.He’s thinner in the face, hollowed under the eyes, vibrating with an unhinged frequency.His wolves form a loose circle that tightens as I skid to a halt, and every single one of them is watching me with the flat, patient hunger of predators who haven’t been told whether to kill me or not.I try to step back and two of his men are already there, closing the gap behind me. The circle is complete.“Seems you’ve gotten yourself into a little problem.” He tilts his head, studying the torn dress, the bare feet, the blood, with detached amusement. “Just like you always do. Causing trouble wherever you go, at the summit, at the trial, at that circus of a family dinner, and now here, barefoot in couture in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness.” He clicks his tongue. “But it’s fine. It’s fine. This time, I’m not the vill
EMBER'S POVThe Council of Elders exists because power unchecked becomes tyranny.I've learned this in the past eighteen hours, piecing together information from Queenie's whispered explanations and Knox's terse answers.Centuries ago, a Lycan King went mad with power and nearly drove our species t
EMBER’S POVI stare down at Knox on his knees, my pulse slamming so hard I can feel it between my legs. He's grinning up at me like a wolf who's already tasted blood, gold eyes glowing, fangs just barely peeking past his lip.I fold my arms, pretending my thighs aren't already trembling."What do I
EMBER’S POV(PRESENT)We stay tangled together for a long time, neither of us willing to be the first to let go. His hand strokes through my hair.My fingers curl into the fabric of his shirt. The room is quiet except for our breathing and the distant hum of something mechanical — a generator, mayb
KNOX’S POVHe blinks, the picture of innocence. “I’m not sure I understand. I explained the purpose quite clearly at the beginning of the evening. Conflict resolution. Closure. An opportunity for all parties to—”“Bullshit.”The word is deadpan, and I see Logan’s head snap up, see Gale’s sobbing st







