LOGINSEBASTIAN’S POV The taste of her lingered on my lips like a forbidden elixir—salty from the sweat of her exertion, sweet like the honeyed essence of her desire. Isabella's body quivered beneath mine, the final tremors of her orgasm rippling through her like aftershocks from a storm we'd unleashed together. I captured her mouth in a kiss that was deep and languid, pouring every ounce of my hunger into it, letting her feel the rigid length of my arousal pressing insistently against her thigh. She made me so damn hard it bordered on pain, a throbbing need that demanded satisfaction. Her hands explored my back with a feverish urgency, fingers digging into the fabric of my shirt, clawing at it as if it were an obstacle standing between us and ecstasy. With a swift, desperate yank, she pulled it over my head and discarded it somewhere into the shadows of the room. Those green eyes of hers locked onto mine, smoldering with a raw, unfiltered need that mirrored the inferno blazing throug
ISABELLA’S POV I woke up suddenly with my heart racing and the sheets tangled around my legs. The room sat dark and quiet but something pulled at me hard like an invisible string around my ribs. Sebastian wasn’t beside me, the pillow still held the dent from his head and the sheets carried his warmth but he was gone. I sat up fast as I rubbed my eyes and glanced at the clock. Barely an hour had passed since he tucked me in. Where was he? I swung my legs over the edge of the bed and the cool air hit my bare thighs. I wore only his black button-down shirt and it hung to mid-thigh. My feet hit the hardwood as I padded toward the door and down the stairs without turning on lights. Halfway down I heard voices, low murmurs and one of them made my blood freeze. I stepped into the living room and saw Sebastian standing at the intercom panel with his back rigid and shoulders tight. The screen glowed blue and showed the lobby feed. A man stood there in a dark coat with silver hair catchin
SEBASTIAN’S POV I shut down my office at four-thirty sharp and slung my leather satchel over my shoulder and headed for the parking lot. The sky already bled purple and orange and the wind carried winter teeth. Students scattered across the quad like startled birds when they saw me coming as they had their phones lifted and their whispers followed. But I didn’t care. Let them talk, let them choke on it.My Maserati sat alone in the reserved row and I tossed my bag across the back seat and leaned against the driver door and waited for her. Isabella. My mate. My everything. The day had dragged like hell because every second away from her felt borrowed.Minutes crawled as I checked my watch, I pulled my phone and dialed. It rang twice.“I’m coming,” she answered breathlessly and laughed a little. “I’ll be down in two minutes. I promise.”I smiled despite myself. “I’m not going anywhere, baby.”I hung up and slipped the phone in my pocket and scanned the main doors. Students poured out i
CALEB’S POV The cold bit into my palms where they pressed against cracked concrete long after her footsteps faded. I stayed on my knees like some broken statue because moving felt impossible. Isabella’s voice kept looping in my head, sharp and final.You watched me beg.I did. I stood in that stinking basement with the silver chains clinking and her blood dripping on the floor and I did nothing. I told myself it was my duty, I told myself that Dad would be proud, I told myself she was just a job.Lies taste worse when you have to swallow them twice.My phone kept buzzing against my thigh. It was my father, Marcus, again. I let it die in my pocket.Eventually I dragged myself upright. My legs felt like wet sand. Students streamed past the courtyard arch and shot me weird looks but I barely saw them. I walked toward class on autopilot because if I stopped moving I’d have to feel everything and I wasn’t ready for that.I never reached the door.A hand clamped my shoulder so hard bone cr
ISABELLA’S POVI woke up to the smell of death still clinging to my skin.Adrian was cold when I opened my eyes. His chest had stopped moving sometime before dawn, and the hand I’d fallen asleep holding had gone stiff and heavy in mine. Sebastian’s arms were still locked around me from behind, his breath warm against my neck, but even he couldn’t keep the chill of loss from sinking into my bones.For a long minute I just stared at the ceiling, listening to the new thing inside me—a low, steady growl that wasn’t sound so much as feeling. My wolf. She was awake, and she was furious.Good, I thought, let her be angry for me.Sebastian stirred when I moved. He didn’t say anything, he just pressed his lips to the back of my neck and held me tighter. We stayed like that until the sun climbed high enough to make the room too bright to pretend we were still asleep.Eventually I sat up as my body ached like I’d been hit by a truck, but the wounds from the weekend were already knitting closed—f
SEBASTIAN’S POV I eased my arm from under Isabella’s neck and slid out of bed like a man trying not to wake a sleeping bomb. She made a small, broken sound in her throat and curled tighter into the pillow that still carried my scent. Moonlight sliced through the half-open blinds and painted silver across her bruised shoulder, across the faint claw marks healing too slowly, across the red hair that looked like spilled blood on white sheets. I pressed my lips to her forehead and lingered until I felt her pulse flutter against my mouth, then forced myself away before the bond dragged me back down beside her. The curse had been quiet for a few hours, a rare mercy, but I knew better than to trust it. It was always there, coiled in my marrow like a second heartbeat, waiting for weakness.The penthouse was dark and silent except for the low hum of the refrigerator and the city breathing thirty-three floors below. My bare feet made no sound on the hardwood as I headed for the stairs. The ai







