MasukI wake up to see that the ceiling above me is carved stone.Too white. Too clean. Too… wrong.“Where the fuck am—ohh.”I remember everything and sit up on the bed. “Elise is gone,” I mutter. “And my IV has been changed.”My shoulder feels stiff but I can sense it's healing. The faint scent of antiseptic clings to me—and something else.Pine. Smoke. Male.My hand flies to the oversized shirt I’m wearing. I climb out of the bed and walk to the full length mirror beside the bed to take a proper look at myself.The shirt brushes my thighs, barely covering my ass. The sleeves swallow my hands whole.Speaking of my ass, I look down.The black boxer briefs.Oh, Moon above—“Tell me he didn’t,” I mutter under my breath.“Dunno,” Nikola stirs in my head, voice still sleepy but edged. “But, it's his shirt, and his scent is all over you.”“Wonderful,” I mumble, tugging the hem down, as I feel my cheeks burning.If he changed me, I wonder if he took a longer look… not that I wanted him to.The r
Captain Blake’s voice fades into the background as I study the satellite feed flickering across the screen.The forest. The road.They are all empty.“The hunters were gone before we arrived, Your Majesty,” Blake says, jaw tight. “Someone tipped them off.”“I sent you because I trusted you’d finish it,” I tell Blake.His shoulders stiffen instantly as I hear him hold his breath. “We’ll find them, my King. I swear it.”I close the file with a flick of my wrist. “Find out who tipped them off.”“Yes, sir.”He hesitates before leaving, probably waiting for me to offer more. I don’t.Words are wasted on incompetence.When the door closes, silence folds over the room.Klaus lets a low, feral growl vibrating through my chest. “Pathetic. You should have gone yourself.”“I can't do everything, Klaus. That's why they're there.”I rise, and make my way to the corridors that lead to the bedrooms, only to have the scent I've been trying to ignore cut through me.The rogue. Her scent is feral, wil
What the fuck?Something inside me snaps. “I’m not your prisoner!”“No,” he says, and the word lands like a weight. “You’re a problem. And I don’t let problems walk free.”Nikola's hackles rise.“Calm down, Nik. The last thing we need is a fight.”My vision darkens at the edges as I fight Nikola's instinct to lunge at him.Nikola snarls. “Fine. But, he should stay away from us.”I meet his stare. “You’re too close. You should leave.”Without warning, he's right next to me, his fingers brushing my wrist as he checks the wound on my shoulders.Damn it, I didn't even see him move.His touch causes the bond to hit like lightning.A surge of heat, sharp and wild, rips through every nerve. I can smell his restless wolf beneath the surface.He feels the same reaction too and draws his hand back fast, as if burned. For once, his control slips and it's like the air between us shivers.“I told you to stay away. Do not touch me,” I whisper.“I go by my own decisions,” he says quietly, taking a f
“Murderer!!”“She's a psychopath!!”Darkness presses in from all sides. Then—screams. Children screaming..My mother’s voice cuts through the cold, sharp and broken.“Natasha!”My body jerks as the sound sharpens, cutting through the night like a blade. I’m standing in the middle of the clearing again. The air reeks of blood and charred flesh.I can’t move, can’t breathe. My hands are slick with something warm, and when I look down—my stomach twists. Blood. So much of it.Rough hands start pulling me everywhere. My throat burns from screaming.“She’s the one,” someone spits. “She killed them. The children.”“Monster!” someone shouts.My stomach twists. “No… no, I didn’t—”No one listens.Their faces blur in the smoke: my mother’s, the Beta couple’s, their daughter's, Valerie, smirking behind her tears.The pack circles me like I’m prey—people I grew up with, people who once smiled at me. Now their eyes are full of hate.My father and my mate stand at the front, their shadows stretchin
My boots crunch against the gravel as I carry the rogue out of the car, and into the mansion, the weight of her limp body pressing against my chest.She’s colder than she should be… and so light.“Take Elise to her room,” I tell Captain Blake beside me. “Doctor Zarina is on standby to check on her immediately. She’s shaken, not harmed.”He bows his head. “Yes, Your Majesty.”The door slides open with a hiss when I enter the healer’s wing, and I sigh at the sharp scent of antiseptic that burns my nose as I walk into my private healing chambers.I've always hated healer chambers. They're always too clean. Too still. Too full of remindersBright white light floods the room, along with the whir of machines.I place her motionless body on the cot before me. She looks so pale skin against white sheets, especially with her blood seeping through the hoodie.Her breathing is really shallow now.“Fetch the healer,” I bark, voice sharper than I intend.A man in a white coat hurries in, eyes flic
I can't believe I said that.This stupid rogue.I kneel while holding her limp body. Even while unconscious, she still wraps her hands tightly around El.Her scent... it isn’t like other rogues. There’s something cleaner beneath the blood. Wilder, older.Klaus hums in the back of my mind, low and intrigued. “She acted like one of us.”“She’s not one of us. She’s a rogue.”“Still saved the child and stood up to you.”A rogue risking her life for someone else. Impossible. It's rare for a rogue alpha to be so… caring.And this young. What is she? 20?I haven't received any report of such a young rogue alpha and that's a problem because I know of every rogue alpha in my kingdom.“My mate.”“Shut up, Klaus,” I snap at my wolf. “She's not our mate.”“The hell she isn't!”My men take a few steps back. Klaus’s aura is extremely aggressive and for the first time ever, I'm having trouble controlling him.Her scent is making Klaus push closer, pressing against my ribs like he’s trying to claw hi







