Mag-log inI searched my mind for something to give him.There was nothing.For weeks, I'd managed to come up with an explanation for every question he asked. Sometimes I'd prepared the answer in advance. Other times, I'd improvised and hoped he wouldn't notice the holes.Now, standing in front of him, I could
Vane POVBy the time they carried out the last body, the great hall barely resembled the place where we'd gathered for a celebration; it looked more like a battlefield.Healers worked their way through the injured, tending wounds and speaking in hushed voices.Across the room, the host Alpha was tea
Cain POVMy hand stayed at her throat longer than it should’ve. We both knew it, but neither of us said a word about it.Razor wasn’t helping. He’d gone quiet, the way he did when he approved of something and was now waiting in anticipation.My thumb gently stroked the soft skin of her neck before I
She set it down quickly and hid her hand in the folds of her skirt.I watched her for the rest of the afternoon. She smiled when someone spoke to her. She laughed once, though the sound was faint. She kept her chin lifted and her expression composed, but the effort showed in every movement.By the t
Vane POVThat night, I couldn’t sleep, and oh boy, was I paying for it the next day.I spent most of the night staring into the darkness, thinking about my mother’s handwriting.Proof. She had said she needed proof.What kind was she looking for? I imagined all sorts of things. A name. A document. A
Vane POVI needed to find somewhere quiet, and I needed to find it now. Monica’s parting words left something cold and uneasy sitting in the pit of my stomach.The noise of the estate, laughter, music, a hundred conversations that I had no part in, had gone from a background hum to something closer
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
VaneI walked toward him. The heels made every step deliberate, the dress pulling tight against my thighs.A coffee cup sat on the edge of his desk, still steaming. Black, no cream. A stack of papers underneath.Cain was reading. Sleeves rolled, jaw set, a muscle ticking near his ear. He hadn't look







