Elijah   Cheeks burning, Elijah untangled his frozen limbs from Lily’s gentle grasp. His heart was light in a way it had not been since his parents’ deaths. Speaking the horrifying truth of it had calmed him enough that his breathing no longer sounded wet or pained.   But as the sun inched lower, he knew he did not have the luxury of time tonight to delve any deeper. He had brought Lily here to give her this same nirvana that she had, instead, gifted to him.   The bond was taut between them, an iron fist holding them close. When Elijah felt as though he was drowning, the river water swelling over his head, water burning his nose, his throat, his lungs, Lily was there to breathe for him.   She’d called him Eli tonight. For the first time, she had blessed him with the sound of a nickname falling from her lips. Dropping a syllable meant so much when it came fro

  Atticus With smug, tired satisfaction, Atticus guided his wolves home. His body ached from the exertion of shiting, but it was a pleasant, muscular ache that told of a job well done. Idly, he stretched out his long, bulky limbs as they walked.Now that Lily was gone – and he brushed over that thought quickly, patched up the hole it left with memories of the battle won – every wolf able to shift had fought by his side. Save for four of his spies, of course – all of whom were otherwise indisposed in the searches for Lily and the Red Ripper pack. He’d lost three of his own in the fight. Atticus didn’t care. Not when they’d decimated Wild Ravine, thus securing Blood Moon’s reputation for the month ahead. The summer fights were more brutal, more bitter, more bloody; he and his pack needed to be prepared. Others in his pack wo

  Elijah In the two and a half months since Lily’s arrival, Elijah had never felt more settled in his own home. Spring had warmed slowly into an early summer, the colours blooming around the endless evergreen. He was beginning to feel as though his heart was as stalwart as the pines that surrounded him. It had stood strong through many struggles, but it had remained through all seasons. And, now, summer had returned – in more ways than one. Ithia leant across the ornate desk, hands flat on the table. “So?” Elijah grinned. “I think you mean, ‘So, Alpha?’” “You’re becoming unbearable,” Caslein muttered. “Yes,” said Ithia, examining her nails, “you are. And I hardly recognise you without that constant frown.” &ld

  Lily Lily felt as though her bones were rattling. With shaking fingers she removed the crumpled letter from the crumpled envelope, smoothing it out on the desk as she lowered herself into the chair behind it. She lit a much-used candle that had dripped and oozed wax down itself onto the tabletop. Shards of moonlight cut through the hastily-closed curtains, peering through the gaps as though it was as interested as she was by the contents of the letter that her mate had gone to such lengths to keep from her. Her breaths felt too quick, too shallow. Elijah gave her everything she’d ever needed but never known how to ask for. Though the sting of Atticus’s rejection had long since been soothed, the gut-clenching fear that this was all a fallacy, ever intimate moment they’d ever shared, made the pain of not being good enough wash over her anew. 

  Lily “There’s something I need to discuss with you.” Elijah propped himself up on his elbow. His hair was dishevelled from intermittent sleep, and his eyes were drowsy. Scrubbing a hand over his scarred face, he waited for Lily to rouse herself enough to answer. Lily blinked blearily back at him. She was drooped over the kitchen table, her hand numb around a now-cold cup of coffee. The ink of her notes had smeared across her palm and up her wrist like spilled blood. She managed to keep her gaze fixed on him for just long enough to ask, “What?” They’d spent the last week in a haze of plans and notes and maps, sending out scouts to get information and runners to relay it back to them. Lily had hardly had time to think in the wake of Atticus’s letter, and the deadly consequences she was sure it held