(Harper’s POV)I woke up in Elias’ arms as he was carrying me into the pack house. I was wrapped up in his tuxedo jacket as he snuck in through the back door, through the now darkened kitchen and up the backstairs. The ball was still going strong by the sounds of it, although I had no clue what time it was. We made it to Elias’ room without being spotted, and he smiled at me as he gently put me down on the sofa and kissed the top of my head. I watched as he headed to his large chest of drawers and pulled out a clean t-shirt. He came back over and slipped the jacket off me and helped me with putting the t-shirt on. My whole body ached and felt heavy. Even lifting my arms to concentrated effort.Once the t-shirt was in place, Elias settled on the sofa next to me and pulled me onto his lap. I curled into him, suddenly feeling exhausted again.&nbs

(Harper’s POV)I woke up still in Elias’ arms. I felt warm and comfortable and smiled as I snuggled further into him and closed my eyes to go back to sleep. I ran my thumb down my ring finger of my left hand by instinct and my heart jolted when I didn’t feel the ring there. Somewhere in the back of me, Maia shifted around. It was common for our wolf's side to disappear for a few hours after the first shift, so I wasn’t worried that I hadn’t heard from her. I could still feel her and knew she was happy. And so was I. I had never felt more content, more complete than I did at this point. It was like Elias filled up an empty space in me that I really didn’t even know existed. I couldn’t understand it. It was never like this with Colton. Urg! Just the thought of that weasel was enough to put a bad taste in my mouth. I was so happy that Elias knew about his plans to attempt to take over. And even more happy that Elia

(Elias’ POV)“Fine, we’ll do it the hard way,” I said as I handled the rough handle of the scalpel. This was no ordinary scalpel, though. The blade was coated in silver and soaked in wolfsbane to maximise pain. It was one of the most effective tools I owned and required the least effort. I wanted so desperately to get this over with. The last thing I wanted to do was torture the love of my life. But she betrayed me. Not only had she managed to open my safe, thanks to my stupid sentimentality. But a quick hack into her phone saw that she had sent images of the contents, contents that I didn’t want anyone seeing, to some contact of hers called Nathaniel. I had no idea why, but that name sounded so familiar.It hurt so much that she had betrayed me, but I just needed her to admit that she was The Circle. Then I would finish this once and for all and-“What?” the guttural growl inside my head asked, &l

(Harper’s POV)“Wait!” I exclaimed as one of the warriors held Elias with difficulty while another tried to put on silver coated and spellbound handcuffs. I pulled a top on quickly as I tried to get their attention.“There’s been a mistake,” I called, but no one seemed to be listening. I saw one of the warriors that I recognised standing to one side. “Paul,” I urged, “Please, we got it wrong,” I said, grabbing his arm and pulling him to face me. He just grinned at me.“Hey Kirby,” he said. “I knew you remembered my name. Good job, by the way. Nathaniel is seriously impressed. Was singing your praises the whole way here.“Nathaniel!” I exclaimed, and I saw Elias stiffen. “He’s here? Where?” I knew Nathaniel would listen to me. He would understand the mistake and that we had the wrong person. “He&

(Harper’s POV)“I’m sorry, what now?” I stared at Harry, dumbfounded. He flicked through some more pages of the book and then turned it to face me. I apprehensively looked down at the book. The page was titled “Bloodline” and there was a picture of a wicked-looking blade down one side. The writing was a little faded and handwritten, but despite all that, it felt so familiar and I could read it, like it was something I had read a thousand times before.“The Divine Order is made up of four bloodlines. One each governs one of the four base elements, earth, air, fire and water. Each bloodline is made up of guardians, one in each generation. The duty of the guardian is to protect the seal from demon interference, in addition to preparing and training the divine warrior.” I looked up at Aaron. I was starting to feel a headache coming on again. This, on top of everything, was too much. He smiled and turned