LOGINVane’s POVI swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. Sunlight slanted through the window, showering Monica in sunbeams where she sat against the window ledge.I forced my voice to stay even. “What do you want to know?”Her eyes flicked to the scars at curve of my collarbone.“You have scars,” she said, v
I reached for Ashen, but she was still silent, a void where her presence should be. A sharp pang of fear cut through me. I didn’t know the necklace’s long-term effects, but I knew what happened when a wolf was weakened.The connection frayed. Strength faded. The ability to shift, to recognize a mate
Vane’s POVThe hall went still the moment I stepped inside.The tributes were at breakfast, scattered across four wooden tables. Morning chatter died and eleven heads swung in my direction as I crossed the threshold in yesterday’s clothes and undone hair.Marcus shadowed me two paces behind. His sil
The cuts on my forearm had closed overnight. Three pale lines where my own claws had torn through. Werewolf healing didn't leave scars, but the memory stayed. My hands gripping my skull, my voice telling her to get out.She hadn't left.Razor was quiet. Not the drained silence after a feral episode.
I opened my mouth.Cain's eyes shut. His chest rose once, deep and slow, and the tension in his body went slack.The question lodged in my throat. Unanswered. Unasked.Was he the wolf from the forest? The one who'd pinned me? The one Ashen had sobbed over?It didn't matter right now. His breathing h
The lock turned from the outside.I sat up on the bed. It wasn't mealtime. The gray light through the window put it past sundown.The door opened. Marcus stood in the frame, his jaw tight."Your confinement is lifted. Temporarily." He didn't step inside. "The Alpha requires your presence. Now."I st
VaneI fastened the necklace before Cain could see what it was. The clasp caught on the first try. The pendant settled against my collarbone, cool and heavy for its size."Saying goodbye," I said. "To my family."His expression didn't change. "You're done now."He turned and walked out. Didn't wait.
Vane"I want your daughter."Four words, and every wolf in the clearing went still.Our Alpha's voice barely held. "Surely there's something else I can offer. Land. Resources. Wealth."I stood behind our Alpha with the rest of his guard. What remained of it. Twenty of us had died in the siege, and t
VaneI ran.No thought. No decision. My legs moved before my mind caught up, paws tearing into the earth, body low, every instinct I had screaming the same word.Go.The reasoning came second, tumbling in while the trees whipped past.He was here. In Darkmoon's territory. Which meant he was Darkmoon
VaneThe tribute house smelled like too many strangers packed into too little space.I'd been here since Cain's housekeeper dragged me from his hallway. Six rooms, twelve tributes from six different packs, some of them there for months. They whispered about rules, routines, which hallways to avoid a







