Vanessa woke up cocooned in warmth. Last night drifted afresh in her memory. But her legs were tangled in two blankets, pillows strewn across the bed. No Noah. Slightly disappointed, she already quit on the day. Wasn't Silas going to visit today? Yes he was. And her mood did a U-turn because the last she had seen him, she had been in her pigtails. Evan was lounging in the main hallway of Noah's house. He never found it fascinating the way others did and went over his brother's instruction. Someone named Silas… blah blah blah. He caught on pretty easily at Mikhail's escapist tendencies. Mikhail lied so well. Even better than Noah. Because Noah had to instruct and Mikhail had to get the work done. Of course he needed more tricks up his sleeve. So he was asked to fish for information while Silas treated him. How did he know Gregory Flynn? Mainly that. Flynn. Huh. Wasn't Gregory Flynn Vanessa's father? Why can't they just ask her? Unless… the last he saw her, she was so freely smiling a

She wasn’t in her room. Nor in the library, guest room, or any other rooms in this behemoth of house. His frustration amped up. First, she looks at him like he has hurt her in immeasurable ways when she was the one tending to Evan Ryder, innocent, caught unawares of his want and affection. Lust. Shameless lust. Even if she was innocent, a deer caught in headlights, she needed a good reminder of why he marked her. Of why he had chosen, allowed, and rejoiced in her earthly presence to be distracted when unknown threats creeped on them anew. He found her atlast, legs folded like a child, swinging in his mother’s garden, her thighs bare, feet covered only in socks. It irked him. She didn’t mean to seduce, yet she did. The moonlight caught in her hair, tempting him to fist the silky strands. That was how she was made, to wear a simple flannel, reaching just the curve of her bottom, and sit there, not a care in the world.Vanessa sensed Noah behind her, made no move to acknowledge him. Not

Three bodies, all male changelings, lay criss-cross atop each other. The hard time on trees had covered some of their limbs, indicating the bodies had been here for at least a day or two. The repugnant smell blanketed thin air. Noah came to stand beside her, hands in his pocket when he spoke."Why do they smell like that?" He didn't ask anyone in particular. "The ice doesn't dull the smell, does it?" Vasic hummed. He was kneeling next to them, opening and closing their eye lids as if he'd find something he previously missed."I can't smell anything but them. Who do you think would do this and leave it out here?" Simon fixed his eyes on Noah, expecting an answer somehow.Noah decided it was time to tell them. Simon adorned no tin foil hat to be fooled by his diplomatic, non-answer answers. "Last time this happened. It was five years ago. Rudrig decided to butcher three changelings who trespassed to set an example.""That's barbaric." Vanessa hadn't realized she had spoken out loud.

Soon as they reached the compound, Noah was half-dragging Vanessa, their hands held tightly together. "Simon." He said, as men usually did, a bye. Indicating that he and Vanessa needed to talk and he'd have to wait, no matter how long it took them to get to the bottom of this. She was seething behind him. If, he could find some restraint on his mouth breathing Neanderthal ways, she could meet him in the middle. "Noah. I am not going anywhere with you." She put her foot down, literally. He had to stop then.His eyes, black of abyss, reflected back her anger. Noah had practiced, with every fibre of his being, to blunt the edges of his need, his anger, his wants so they wouldn't spearhead a life crafted with care, each minute detail splayed for scrutiny. Not that anyone now told him how things under his control should be done. In the relative past, when he was still an Alpha in training, they had. And the lessons tattooed themselves on his very soul. Like it or not, Vanessa Flynn was

The door shifted an inch, a crack open, anyone inside could see she was standing there gathering straws of courage. She had let things sour between them. Why can't she apologize and set it right? Oh. Because now she knew something about Evan he hadn't told her. She was privy to a life event, that she was sure, shaped him to be the boy he is today."Come in already. You'll give me anxiety and look like a stalker out there." A voice so husky, not any less male, instructed from behind the door. She quickly climbed three steps and stepped inside.Silas occupied the weary leather chair, running his wrinkled hands on his faded jeans. She felt something tug at her heart, more guilt. This man had practically raised her where her parents had not shown up for the one thing they had to do-care for her. He hadn't aged a day. Momentarily Evan forgotten, she circled Silas in her arms, tucking his head under her chin. He let out a warm laugh. Delight poked at the edges of morose energy Evan had p