FAZER LOGINAlfonso's POVThe smell of gun oil was usually enough to clear my head, but today it wasn't doing shit.I leaned over the workbench in the armory, dragging a patch down the barrel of a rifle while Mateo tapped through satellite maps on his tablet. The screens threw blue light across the vests, rifles, and crates of ammo stacked along the walls. I hadn't slept. Every time I shut my eyes, I saw Ivy standing on that balcony with her hands gripping the rail, waiting for me to give her a reason to jump."The southern border is quiet for now," Mateo said, zooming in on the coastal gate where Cassian's convoy had left three hours ago. "Seraphina threw two suitcases at the gate guard before she got in the car, by the way. Said she'd have him flogged in public once her uncle takes the high seat."I snorted and set the rifle part down with a clatter. "Let her scream at the trees. What about Cassian?"Mateo's jaw tightened. He leaned against the bench and crossed his arms. "That's the problem. H
Ivy’s POVI didn’t wait for him to open his mouth again before I shoved past his bare chest and walked straight down the hallway, boots squeaking on the floorboards.“Hey! Where are you running off to, Princess?” Alfonso called after me, laughing. “We’re not done talking about the boot threat!”Oh, yes we are. One more word about his gibberish and I swear I'm going to throw up. “Go choke on a silver coin, Alfonso!” I yelled over my shoulder.I refused to turn around. If I did, he’d see my face, and right now my cheeks were burning. Future Luna. In front of a High Council elder. In front of four armed arbiters. In front of Seraphina.Tell me you're nuts without actually saying you're nuts. That was the definition of the stunt he'd just pulled. The man was insane.Who says that in the middle of a legal warrant like he’s ordering extra cheese on a pizza? We had a deal. I give him an heir, he keeps Luka alive and hidden, and then I disappear. Now the entire underworld thought I was mea
Alfonso's POVCassian looked like he was thirty seconds away from a vein-popping stroke.His face had gone a mottled shade of bruised purple, his jaw twitching so violently I thought his dentures might rattle loose. He clutched Callisto's printout like a live grenade, his knuckles trembling with impotent rage. The man had spent forty years playing political chess in the High Tribunal, and he'd just been checked in three moves by a barefoot mob boss and a cranky clan doctor."This isn't over, Alfonso," Cassian hissed, his voice trembling as he backed toward the open doorway. "You think you can play games with ancient bloodlines? We will reconvene the moment the full blood moon arrives. If that human fails to carry... if that womb is barren... I will personally strip your house down to the studs!""You're welcome to try," I said, lazily scratching my jaw. "Mind the steps on your way out. They're slick this time of year. Old men break hips."Callisto, still parked beside me, didn't look
Ivy's POVMy brain threw a fatal blue screen.Prospective... what now?!Did that arrogant, overgrown, muscle-brained dog really just stand there and tell a whole room of armed political arbiters that I was his damn Luna?!The audacity of this man! My hands gripped the cold stone of the balustrade so hard I thought the masonry was about to turn to powder. We had a business contract! A debt repayment! An heir for my brother's life! Nowhere in the fine print did I sign up to be paraded around as the supreme queen of his furry mafia empire!I literally tensed my calves, ready to stand up, lean over the railing, and chuck a ceramic dagger straight into the back of his stupid, gorgeous neck just on principle—Then my eyes flicked down to Snow White.And, oh God. I froze.The dagger stayed in my harness.The catastrophic devastation on that woman’s face was a work of art. She looked like she had just been run over by an eighteen-wheeler, reversed back over, and dumped in a ditch. Her mouth w
Alfonso’s POVThe cold floor stung the soles of my bare feet, but I couldn't care less.I stood at the foot of the grand staircase, shoulders relaxed, hands shoved casually into the pockets of my dark sweatpants. On the surface, I looked like a guy who’d just dragged himself out of bed to tell some loud neighbors to pipe down.Underneath? My Lycan aura was bleeding into the foyer in suffocating, invisible waves. The air felt thick, heavy as fuck, the ambient temperature dropping with every second this old bastard kept flapping his gums.To my left and right, Mateo and Oreo had their arms crossed over their chests, leaning against the pillars with synchronized expressions of boredom. They looked like bouncers outside a cheap club, just waiting for somebody to trip so they could rip the four armored council arbiters to absolute ribbons. Kracker was still perched high up on the exterior balustrade outside the double doors, blowing obnoxious pink bubbles around her gum, her rifle resting
Ivy's POVClick.The deadbolt turned, Alfonso’s footsteps faded down the hall, and I didn't wait three seconds."Sit pretty in this wing," my ass.I threw the charcoal duvet off, swung my legs out, and instantly winced at the dull, persistent throb deep between my thighs. My muscles felt like they’d run a marathon, but I aggressively shoved that thought into the trash where it belonged. Now was seriously not the time to be reminiscing about how thoroughly that man had ruined my posture a few hours ago.I ripped my duffel bag open, tugged on a pair of dark cargo pants, jammed my bare feet into my combat boots, and laced them tight. I grabbed an oversized black hoodie, pulled it over my messy hair, and made sure my ceramic dagger was secured against my ribs.I’m Ivana Solokov. I don’t sit on satin sheets twiddling my thumbs while a bunch of dusty, fossilized old men argue over whether to throw me in a cage. I’m not a hostage, and I’m definitely not some fragile little damsel waiting for







