Mag-log inI don't know how long I knelt there with a king's feral brother breathing slow against me and both of us shaking. Long enough that the screaming stopped. Long enough that the whole room went very, very quiet.When I finally lifted my head, every face in the doorway had gone slack with shock. The wol
Lucia's POVIn the end it wasn't a choice at all.I smelled the blood before I reached the door. That thick copper reek that gets into the back of your throat and stays there. Underneath it, the screaming. Real screaming, the kind that comes out of a body and not just a fright. My feet were already
Lucia's POVThe question just hung there between us in the dim. You care a lot about him, don't you. As if there were only one reason on earth a person might want to help someone who was suffering, and it was a shameful one.I could sense that the relationship between the brothers was somewhat delic
Something in him was burning. Low and banked, but burning.And there was a smell under his cologne I hadn't placed until now. Faint, bitter, green. Something brewed, not bred. It caught at the back of my throat and wouldn't let go.A chill walked up the back of my neck. I'd felt that kind of wrongne
Lucia's POVThe bread rolls in my lap were going to be my dinner. I'd already decided that much.I kept my eyes down and tried to disappear into the gold and the noise. It almost worked. Then the Queen turned that lovely, practiced smile across the table, and I knew the evening wasn't done with me y
Lucia's POVWalking into that hall on Marcus's arm was the longest walk of my life.The hall was all gold light and long tables, and every head in it turned toward us. I felt the looks land on me one by one. The servants stole glances and looked away. The highborn she-wolves didn't bother to hide it
Lucia's POVThe day of the trial finally came, and the sunlight was exceptionally bright.I stood in the doorway, watching Marcus roll his shoulder. His wound had healed completely. The deadly venom had been flushed from his veins.“You’re finally healed.” I couldn't help but smile, the weight final
Lucia's POVBy the second night, I’d stopped expecting the hut to be empty.I came up the path with my arms full and my back aching, and the warm glow of my own window startled me all over again. Marty was still there. Healing. Eating my food. Taking up my floor.And for the first time in my life, s
Lucia's POVI scrambled backward so fast my elbow cracked against the floorboards.The man didn't move. He just opened his eyes, slow and unbothered, and looked at me like I was the one who'd done something strange.Gray morning light leaked through the gaps in my cabin wall. I was still in last nig
Lucia's POVThe wolf's eyes held mine.I knew I should back away from the huge, broken thing in the dirt. I should run back to my pack and tell a gamma leader what I found.But something deep inside of me drove me to get closer to the wolf.I crouched closer, and the first thing I did was breathe in







