I crouch down and try to make myself look as small as possible. I feel a lump of tears in my throat, but I refuse to let him see me cry, as I plead again. “Ryan, please don’t do this. You don’t want to do this.” My teeth chatter and I shiver as the frigid wind swirls around me. I look over the side of the deep ravine. The river at the bottom is raging dark red in the moonlight with giant chunks of ice and snow swirling in the current. Blood River. If I try to jump, I’m going to die on the rusty rocks just below the surface. If I were in wolf form maybe I would have a chance. Maybe. That’s not an option now. I turn back around to face my fate. "Please! Please don't do this, Ryan! Dagger, please let me talk to Ryan!" I beg for mercy. The wind gusts hard against my bare skin, chilling me to the bone. I am shivering violently, wishing I was somewhere warm. I hug myself, in a hopeless attempt to protect my naked body. Dagger takes advantage of my distraction and takes a step forward, lowe

I lean into Bronx and snuggle into the crook of his arm, draping my arm over his chest. He takes his hand and weakly pats me. “Baby, I need you to hear me out. Okay?” His voice is still scratchy and quiet. “Bronx, you need to rest.” I protest. “Don't worry, she put plenty of morphine in that drip, I'll be asleep soon, but I have to get this out first. Please.” I sit up so I can look him in the eye. “I fucked up, Kas. I should have told you what was going on.” He tells me all about his theory of my visions having to do with Ryan and that I needed to be distressed to have one. He thought it was going to be the only way to get ahead of Ryan and stop him from whatever he was planning after the packhouse fire. So he and Milo cooked up an insane plan to trigger a vision and set it into action. They knew the rogue attacks were a distraction being planned by Ryan, but they needed proof. "The last rogue we interrogated said they were waiting for you to shift so they could alert their mas

The next day, Bronx decides he wants to go downstairs for dinner. “Are you sure, Sweetheart? The doctor said you need to take it easy for another few days.” I ask as he is putting on a button-down shirt. “Yeah Baby. I have some apologizing to do. No. I have a lot of apologizing to do. To everyone. I’m not going to hide up here in my apartment. I have to face the music.” He says resolutely. He puts on a dark blue eye patch to match his clothes and looks himself over in the mirror. He looks handsome with his inky black hair slicked back and olive-toned face freshly shaven. As we walk into the dining room a hush falls over the crowd. I give Bronx’s hand a reassuring squeeze and he leads us to the front of the room. He stands in front of our table and faces the dining room. He looks out over our pack, takes a deep breath, and eats crow. He fully admits that he got carried away with trying to protect me and he was wrong. He assures everyone that things will be different moving forward

My mouth drops. “I-is this the entire dress shop?” “Yes dear, your fiancé said you were a little nervous about other customers in the shop seeing some burn scars, so he paid for me to close the shop for the day and bring everything here. That way you’re in the privacy of your own home. Who am I to say no if Bronx Mason personally calls and says he is getting married? This is a beautiful mansion by the way, so many employees!” “Oh, thank you, ma’am. They're like family. I can't imagine what we would do without them.” I say still in awe as I look around my living room. She is clearly human, so we can’t let on that we’re werewolves. I'm not sure why she is so impressed by Bronx personally calling, but he is well aware that I don't care anymore if people see my scars. It's just a cover story. I am more comfortable with my body nowadays, but it is such a sweet gesture by him. Now I don’t have to have anxiety over the real reason I was worried about going to her shop. I don’t even want to

We run through a maze of hallways and stairwells until we reach a random door. She pulls a key out of her pocket, unlocks it, and pulls me inside. We're in a small, modern studio suite. She locks the door behind her and pulls me over to the loveseat. “Please, sit. Umm, they told me your name is Marco?” Her voice warms me from the inside out, but she doesn’t have a French accent. She is from somewhere else. Sitting down, I reach my hand out and take hers, I gently tug on it to get her to sit down too. She sits facing me. Her dark, wide set eyes are hypnotyzing. I could drown in those pools of chocolate and be perfectly happy doing so. She is so damn beautiful. ”Uh, yeah, Marco Sanchez. I heard them call you Musu?” “Yes, I’m Musu Goba.” Her full lips smile shyly. I notice she is wearing lip gloss, making them that much more enticing. I want to feel her lips on mine so badly, but I control myself. My heart is pounding in my chest and Clash is racing around in my head like a maniac. “