로그인The council room was full.Not just the usual faces — Corvin, Sylvia, Garrett, the senior members I'd gotten to know over the past months. There were others now. Wolves I didn't recognize. Some of them watching me with curiosity, others with something that looked almost like hope."House Marchetti sent representatives," Corvin explained, gesturing to a group of four wolves near the window. "As did House Thorne and House Vasiliev."I looked at them. Looked at the way they straightened when my gaze passed over them."Why?"The oldest of the Marchetti wolves stepped forward. A woman in her fifties with steel-gray hair and sharp eyes. "Because Seraphina Varen has gone too far. Kidnapping an Alpha — a mated Alpha — is a violation of every code we hold sacred.""She's making all of us look bad," a younger wolf added — House Thorne, I thought. "The human world is complicated enough without wolves starting wars over rejected marriage proposals.""It's not just about politics." This from a mas
Training with Garrett was brutal.Not because he was hard on me — though he was. But because I wanted him to be harder. Wanted the pain, the exhaustion, the focus it required. Anything to get out of my own head."Again," I said, wiping blood from my split lip.Garrett raised an eyebrow. "You've been on the mat for two hours. You need a break.""I need to be better." I raised my fists. "Again."He sighed, but he came at me. Faster this time. I blocked, ducked, countered — muscle memory from weeks of training starting to kick in. He caught me with an elbow to the ribs and I grunted, stumbling back."You're getting sloppy," he said. "You're tired.""I'm fine.""You're not." He dropped his hands, stepping back. "El. When's the last time you slept more than two hours?"I didn't answer."When's the last time you ate something that wasn't coffee?"Still nothing."You're going to get yourself killed." Garrett's voice was gentler than I'd ever heard it. "And then what? He gets rescued and find
ELOWEN5:47 AM.The shooting range was empty at this hour. Just me, the targets, and the steady rhythm of gunfire that drowned out everything else.Breathe. Aim. Squeeze.The bullet punched through the paper silhouette's center mass. I adjusted, fired again. Heart. Heart. Head.Breathe. Aim. Squeeze.I'd been here since four. Couldn't sleep anyway — every time I closed my eyes, I felt echoes through the bond. Pain. Fear. Something else I couldn't identify but made my skin crawl.Breathe. Aim. Squeeze.The magazine emptied. I ejected it, slammed in a fresh one, and kept firing."You know, most people wait until the sun's actually up."I didn't turn around. Knew that voice. "Most people aren't me."Rowan walked up beside me, two travel mugs in her hands. She was wearing sweats and an oversized hoodie, her hair piled in a messy bun. Dark circles under her eyes that matched mine."You weren't in bed when I woke up." She held out one of the mugs. "Again.""Couldn't sleep." I took the coffe
I don't know how long I lay there.Hours, probably. Long enough for the arousal to fade into a dull ache. Long enough for my muscles to cramp from the position, for the cold metal to leach all the warmth from my skin, for the silence to press in from all sides.The guards came eventually, like Seraphina promised. Tipped water into my mouth while I choked and sputtered, then left without a word.After they were gone, I reached for the bond.El.The connection was fainter than before. The wolfsbane they'd dosed me with during the session was fresh, working through my system, muting everything.But she was there. That distant pulse. Steady. Strong.El, I'm so sorry.Could she feel what had happened? Could she sense the echo of Seraphina's touch through the bond, the way I sometimes felt echoes of her emotions? The thought made me want to vomit.What if she knew?What if she could tell that my body had responded to another woman? That I'd gotten hard for someone who wasn't her, had nearly
She was right.I hated her for it, hated myself for it, but she was right.The next hour was a masterclass in manipulation. She alternated between sensations — ice and heat, feather and needle, soft caresses and sharp slaps — until I couldn't predict what was coming next. My body stayed in a constant state of heightened awareness, nerves firing at every touch, unable to settle.And through it all, her hands kept drifting. My chest. My stomach. My thighs.Circling. Teasing. Never quite touching where some traitorous part of my body wanted her to."You're fighting so hard," Seraphina observed, her fingers tracing the inside of my thigh. "Clenching every muscle. Grinding your teeth." She laughed softly. "But your body doesn't lie, Alaric."She was right about that too.I was hard.I didn't want to be. God, I didn't want to be. I was thinking about El — her face, her laugh, the way she said my name — trying desperately to hold onto something real. But my body had been starved and tortured
FAOI woke to the sound of the door opening.Too early. The darkness had barely settled after Seraphina's evening visit — or maybe I'd lost track of time again. Hard to tell when every hour bled into the next, when sleep came in broken fragments between the pain.But this was different. Multiple footsteps. Heavy boots, not just her heels.Harsh fluorescent light flooded down the stairs, brighter than usual. I squinted against it, my eyes burning after hours in total darkness.Seraphina descended first, her silhouette sharp against the cold white glow. Behind her came two guards — massive wolves in human form, carrying something between them.A table. Metal. The kind with restraints built into the frame.My blood went cold."Good morning, Alaric." Seraphina's voice was light, almost cheerful. "I told you we'd start your training today. I always keep my promises."The guards set the table in the center of the room, right over that rusted drain I'd been trying not to think about. One of
ELOWENThe shift had been a blur.Dancing, smiling, pretending everything was normal while my mind stayed fixed on the walk home. Carmen had noticed something was off, but she hadn't pushed. Mina had made her usual comments about my chest, and I'd laughed in all the right places. The tech bros from
ELOWENI was losing my mind.That was the only explanation. Stress, sleep deprivation, too much time alone in the woods — something had snapped in my brain, and now I was having a staring contest with a wolf the size of a small horse.Except I wasn't imagining it. I had photos. I had paw prints. I
FAOLANShe saw him.The curtain moved — a flutter of fabric, a sliver of golden light — and then her face appeared in the window. Pale skin, pink hair, those eyes he'd only glimpsed from a distance finally fixed directly on him.He didn't move. Didn't breathe. Didn't do anything that might break th
ELOWENThe paw print was the size of my hand.I crouched at the bottom of the porch steps, phone out, taking picture after picture like documentation would somehow make this less terrifying. The morning light was gray and flat, washing out the details, so I grabbed a measuring tape from the junk dr







