Mag-log inBeatrice’s POV I was chained, suffering. Damp stone scratched my wrists along with the cold steel cuffs. I could hear Amanda’s screams, sharp and wild every now and then. She kept her shit together, tough as nails. Marc’s voice growled through the wall, thick with frustration, things weren’t going his way, obviously. “Don’t give up, Amanda!” I shouted with my hoarse voice echoing off the damp walls. I still felt so weak. My body was like a brewing mix—wolf and vampire unable to pick a side, unable to fully transform into either. I should be able to do both, right? I felt torn. The years of abuse from my father, Eric Stahl, his carefully chosen snickering words, boots stomping in disapproval and stepmother Clara’s cold glares and sister Isabell’s sharp tongue had made me suppress my wolf. Didn’t even know where to look for her anymore. The vampire in me? Buried in some bottomless self-pity pit I’d dug so deep I couldn’t find it myself. Still, my blood was boiling. Fr
Beatrice’s POV Velan opened the door too fucking early in the morning. Not even the birds were awake. I bet nobody was up but this psycho. The faintest sliver of light trickled in through the carved-out windows, barely enough to keep me from suffocating in the darkness. I was miserable, alone, and both me and Amanda on the other side were too tired to even pretend to have the strength to speak. So, I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. His footsteps echoed in the cave-like room, where the stone walls felt like my tomb. I could hear him approach, slow, deliberate, like he was savoring the moment. Then he was there, leaning over me. His fingers traced along my cheek, my breast, and my inner thigh, leaving a trail of revulsion in their wake. I fought the shiver that threatened to shake me to my core. His touch made my skin crawl, but I couldn’t move. I couldn’t escape. His breath was hot against my ear as he whispered, “Beatrice, you hybrid bitch, you’ll be mine, just li
Beatrice’s POV I wake up shivering, the cold chewing my bones, chains rattling around my wrists. My head’s a haze, my body’s howling—where the fuck am I? A cry tears through the dark, fierce and cracked, and my heart thunders in my chest. Amanda. She’s close, I can tell. Mabe in the next cell? I’d swear I heard her voice echoing, bouncing off the mossy stones. I’m alone, scared, and it’s so damn cold my breath fogs. Then footsteps, heavy and sharp, stomping closer. Voices slink through, Marc and Velan, those bastards, chatting like it’s nothing, as if they were old friends. Torchlight catches Velan’s face, my hybrid eyes suddenly flares up and turns yellow-green. His skin is sickly, pale with a faint yellow-greenish tint, like there is something wrong with him. I realized only my hybrid eyes let me see this, he hid it so well with a spell. What’s up with him? “Whip’s your tool,” he’s saying, voice slick and twisted as they enter the cell next to me. “Break a wom
Amanda’s POVI wake up a bloody mess, fur matted with dust, splinters and grime, and it takes every last shred of strength to shift back to human. My bones crack and ache, my head’s pounding—what the fuck happened? We were supposed to be sipping coffee at Mondwächter Urban Timber, laughing over stupid shit, not clashing with disgusting vamps. They’ve been getting bolder lately, creeping closer, and this, this is the pathetic result. I’m a captive now, stuck in some moldy, stinking dungeon beneath Charlottenburg Palace. Old dried blood smears the walls, the air’s thick with rot, and I’m fucked. I drag myself toward the wall, my arms shaking, trying to sit up. Then, footsteps. Heavy, sharp, echoing down the stone. My gut twists—Velan? That vampire prick’s probably coming to gloat. I brace myself, but the door creaks open, and my heart swells. “Marc!” I gasp, scrambling up with my legs all wobbly. “Get me out of here!” He’s my rock, the guy I buildt my interior dreams with eve
Brandon’s POVLuke’s voice still rattled in my skull, sharp as a blade. “Beatrice and Amanda, they’re gone, man. Vampires hit us hard. And Linda poor Linda can’t even scream while they’re tearing into her.” My blood’s boiling, my foot slams the gas, and the sleek black bentley lurches like it’s pissed off too. “Stay put, Luke!” I bark into the phone, gripping it so tight it might crack. “Defend the ranch I’m getting backup and picking up Linda before she bleeds out. Do you hear me? Hold the defenses until I am back!”“Brandon, it’s a shitshow here, a blood bath! they’re tearing us apart!” I hear Luke snarling.”I know, give me a few more minutes I am on it, hold it, damn it!” I cut him off, tossing the phone onto the seat. My head’s a mess. Amanda’s fiery sass keeps flashing in my mind, that bitchy spark, that soft shoulder I wanna bite into. Then Beatrice, alluring and sweet, a real honey-blonde tease and smelling like vanilla candy. I’m torn up, shredded between my lust for b
Luke’s POVThe afternoon hung heavy over the ranch, the sun dipping low, a burning smear on the horizon. The brown Mondfleisch cattle lowed restless in the pens as their shadows stretched long. Marc’s Jeep tracks scarred the gravel, dust still settling, but my ribs shrieked from his elbow, jaw pulsing where his fist had landed. Blood crusted my lip a sharp and bitter taste in my mouth. I slumped against the barn with ragged breath, when shouts broke the stillness, boots stomping and rifles clicking not far from me.“Luke! What the hell?” Tomas charged forward from the house with his rifle in hand, eyes squinting against the glare. Karl and Ellie flanked him, armed tight, as per Brandon’s orders from earlier, when he’d growled at me to gear up the crew. Smart move. They’d heard the yelling and commotion between me and Marc.“Still kicking,” I rasped, spitting blood into the dirt. “Marc lost it. Took a swing.” Didn’t say more. The girls—Amanda, Linda, Beatrice scorched my skul







