LOGINI leaned against the balcony rail, the cold mountain air of the Northlands biting at my skin. Landon’s phone wouldn't stop vibrating against the stone ledge."Your phone," I said, eyeing the flashing screen."Probably a telemarketer trying to sell me a 'luxury' cave," Landon grumbled. He looked like he wanted to crush the device under his boot."It’s persistent. Might be an emergency."Landon sighed, grabbing the phone and stepping further into the shadows of the suite’s balcony. He answered with a voice like grinding gravel. "Yeah? What?""Landon! I heard you’re in the city on business. Why didn't you tell me?" Lexi’s voice was high, frantic, and far too loud."I’m busy, Lexi.""Since you’re there, I need a favor. Cameron’s grandmother is failing. Her heart is giving out. Aaron is the only surgeon in the Northlands with a perfect success rate for this, but he won't take the case. Make him do it, Landon. He always listens to you."Landon’s eyes turned to flint. "You’re talking about N
The vibration on the nightstand was a serrated blade cutting through my sleep. I fumbled for the device, the screen burning my retinas.Cameron.Three years of silence. Three years of being his shadow, his silent "relic" wife, and not once had he ever reached out. If this had been yesterday, my heart would have hammered against my ribs with pathetic hope. Now? I let the call bleed out into the silence of the room.My first rejection. It felt like oxygen finally hitting my lungs.A moment later, the screen lit up again. This time, it was one of the Steele maids. I sighed, sliding the bar to answer. "Yeah? What’s wrong?""Sierra, where the hell is my cobalt tie? The silk one from the Northlands vault."It wasn't the maid. It was Cameron’s voice, a low, arrogant rasp that used to make my wolf whimper in submission. I felt a cold sneer touch my lips. "Check the leftmost slot of the second cedar drawer, Mr. Steele.""Get back here and find it yourself," he snapped, his tone thick with the
I called my second-in-command before the elevator doors even hissed shut. "Sierra Vaughn was just airlifted off Steele land. I want a tail on that bird. Find out which Alpha is funding this circus.""Do you actually care, Cam?" Lexi’s voice was a jagged needle. She clung to my arm, her scent sour with jealousy. "She left with another man the second you cut her loose. She’s probably been warming his bed for months."I shook her off, my jaw tightening until the bone felt like it would snap. "Shut it, Lexi. I have to report this to Naomi. If the pack elders find out I let a 'relic' Avanish into another Alpha’s territory, it looks like a security breach. Sierra is a nobody, but the Steele reputation isn't."Lexi gnashed her teeth, a low growl vibrating in her throat. She hated that even in exile, Sierra’s shadow loomed over the Residence.The Northlands blurred beneath us, a vast expanse of dark pines and jagged peaks. Freedom tasted like the biting wind whipping through the cabin.Thirty
"Track her," Cameron barked into his comms, his voice shaking with a vibration that wasn't just the helicopter’s rotors. "I want to know where that bird lands and who owns it."Lexi clutched his arm, her scent sour with fear and jealousy. "Why do you even care, Cam? She’s a traitor. She probably had this 'alpha' waiting in the wings the whole time we were mated."Cameron shook her off, his jaw tightening so hard a tendon jumped in his neck. "Shut it, Lexi. I have to report this to Naomi. If she finds out I let her favorite 'relic' disappear into thin air, there’ll be hell to pay. Sierra’s life is nothing to me, but my pack’s reputation is."Lexi gnashed her teeth, a low growl vibrating in her throat. She hated how Naomi Brooks always looked at Sierra like she was a queen in waiting.The Northlands blurred beneath us. Freedom tasted like the biting wind whipping through the cabin.Thirty minutes later, the helicopter descended toward the roof of a fortress-like structure overlooking th
I stared at the black screen of my dead phone. The Vaughn Great-Pack? Six brothers? My pulse thrummed, a frantic, rhythmic heat.“What kind of game are you playing now, Sierra?”I didn't turn. I knew the weight of that voice. Cameron stood at the threshold of the Steele Residence, his silk robe hanging loose, chest still damp from the shower. He looked at the wreckage on the driveway—my cheap clothes scattered in the dirt like roadkill.He stepped over a fallen sweater, his lip curling. “You didn't take a single piece of jewelry. Not one designer gown. You think playing the martyr is going to make me chase you?”I gripped the plastic trash bag until my knuckles went white. I hadn't touched his blood money. Not after he told me to kill our pup.“Is this for the cameras?” Cameron’s voice dropped to a predatory growl. “Trying to win back my grandmother’s pity? She isn't here to save you this time.”I said nothing. My silence seemed to snap something in him.“I was generous, Sierra. I gav
"Cameron?"The name hung in the air, bitter as wolfsbane. Cameron Steele didn't look at me. He was focused on the woman sobbing on the silk sheets of our bed—Lexi Hart."My hand, Cam! It’s making a crunching sound," Lexi wailed, clutching her wrist like it was a severed limb. "I can’t shift like this. I’ll be a cripple. How am I supposed to run with the pack?"Cameron lifted her onto the pillows, his touch gentler than any he’d ever wasted on me. "I’ll get a healer. You're fine." He turned his head, his blue eyes cold enough to freeze the marrow in my bones. "Apologize to Lexi. Now."Lexi was the high-blood heiress. The 'pure' wolf. I was just the omega placeholder he’d been forced to tether himself to after his near-death accident three years ago. If her family, the Hart Pack, found out I’d bruised their precious daughter, they’d hunt me for sport.My chest tightened. He used that tone—the Alpha command—but it didn't work on me anymore. "Apologize?""You laid paws on her," Cameron gr







