When I see my sister again, I’m hitting her. She should’ve warned me how draining marking can be. I don’t know if I managed to do it right. I mean, I bit him without the intent of drinking from him. I knew that when a vampire marks a mate, they have to bite with that intent fully in their mind. That they are leaving their mark upon their chosen mate, sharing strength and memories. Maybe I shared too much strength? That might explain why I felt so out of it after. I remember pulling back and looking down into his eyes. There were tears in his mocha eyes. It was strange to see tears in his eyes or any man. I don’t even remember seeing involuntary tears in his eyes while he was treated for the burns. Yet I’m confident the last thing I saw before feeling the overwhelming need to rest was tears. Why was Khalid crying? Had I hurt him? Did I mess up the marking? They had better not have been tears from anything he picked up in sharing memories. If I could have marked him and not shared such

I won’t admit this aloud, and if anyone asks, I’ll deny it to my dying breath, but I’ve enjoyed spending these past weeks in this hotel with Khalid. It’s amusing to play house, so to speak when we are in public. I’m still going to get Diana back for doing this to us. Even more for the names she chose. I could deal with her registering us at the hotel under the last name López, but the first names are horrid. It took four days of hotel staff calling us Mr. or Mrs. López to find out what she gave as our first names. The hotel manager was calling out the name Ariel, and I didn’t realize he meant me until he tapped my shoulder. So, I’m Ariel López. Even though I have nothing in common with that mermaid. Seriously, she gave up everything for a dude she didn’t even know and then was tasked with getting him to fall for her in three days and didn’t follow the sea witch’s advice. Body language! Men are simple creatures. She could have had that prince eating out of the palm of her hand if she

If I were to send the talisman to Isis, I would need to send her a note. But of course, it couldn’t be something simple. I don’t know Dani’s sister or the vampires in her clan. So, I can’t trust them not to read the message. Also, I don’t want the werewolves to read it easily. So I wrote a note in the guild code so only Isis and maybe Aunt Sarael could read it. I wanted to use this chance to warn her of the dangers that remain in Bloodmoon. I could feel Dani’s confusion as she read over my shoulder. Well tried to read. “What is this gibberish? Are you playing Pictionary?” Dani questioned as I put the last symbol on the letter. “No, I’m using hieroglyphs that are part of a code that my sister and possibly my aunt will be able to decipher. I prefer to be cautious.” I shrugged. “Well, what does it say, or am I not allowed to know either?” Dani folded her arms. “Remember, I’m sending this to my twin sister. I need to be sure you aren’t doing anything that would put her or her clan in da

“Which yes, Auntie Sarael got a wolf when she and Uncle John marked each other, meeting the right conditions. But she can only shift on new and full moons. Her wolf is called Nova, and she’s really nice.” Isis explained. I didn’t think a human could get a wolf. “I see. Well, at least you have it if you need it, and you found Mother’s talisman. As for why I’m here. Given you’re even asking, they haven’t told you.” Khalid frowned. “Haven’t told us what?” They questioned in unison. I know why he wasn’t more specific in his message, but if he had been, maybe this wouldn’t be playing out like this. Then again, they figured it out in the end. Too bad it didn’t go the way everyone wanted. Caleb called me on our way here to inform us that the Bloodmoon traitor had escaped. “Wade escaped your Beta and Alpha,” Khalid said seriously. “What? That’s not possible. Wade isn’t smart, strong, or fast enough to get away from even one of them, let alone both. And I know they both wanted him dead.” K

“Oh, we are well aware of how that went. Looking down from the plane to see a swarm of hunters fighting my packmates as we landed.” Kurt snorted. “The plane door barely opened, and my mate rushed out to save her aunt from your cunt mother.” “I remember rushing to protect her. I remember feeling the pain of her being stabbed. I remember only seeing red and waiting to stain the tarmac with your blood for setting that lunatic free.” I could see his eyes changing colors, his demeanor changing as he was on the cusp of losing control. “I went feral at that point. I couldn’t get to you. I thought Isis was dead.” I’m confident the only reason he didn’t lash out was that Isis was using the mate bond to control his rage. “The only thing that stopped me was knowing Isis was still alive. That I hadn’t lost my world. You can have all the best intentions in the world, Khalid. But you ought to know crazy when you see it. Sakina was crazy. And you ought to have known she couldn’t be trusted.” He sho