Mari?August was so confused. Why in the world had Rider called her Pandora if her name was Mari? And why did that stupid cartoon make her so upset if Dora wasn’t her name?Like everything else when it came to Mercy, there didn’t seem to be any easy answers, just more mysteries. She was lying on his shoulder, asleep, and he sort of felt like he should pull his arm from beneath her and let her sleep alone, but at the same time, she’d seemed to want him to stay.Or maybe he just wanted him to stay.None of this was adding up, and he really felt like it was time to get some answers. Perhaps he should go over to Black Hole Moon and see what Rider would tell him. Maybe there was someone in that pack who could tell him what he needed to know. A lot of Black Hole Moon members were shady. Perhaps he could bribe one or two of them.Or he could just go get Rider, bring him back here, tie him to a chair, and get the information out of him.August was still imagining how much fun it would be to b

August had a problem.As the pack Alpha, he was used to having problems. In fact, he usually liked having problems. His ability to reason through a tricky situation and come up with a solution was always something he enjoyed, particularly when he came up with creative solutions that other people may have never considered. Having problems to solve gave him meaning; it gave him purpose.Yet, this problem was not one he was enjoying whatsoever. August needed to figure out a way to deal with this problem without making the entire situation worse.Sitting behind his desk, he tapped a pen against the edge, letting the dull thump of plastic on wood take his mind away from the thoughts that had begun churning days ago and were finally beginning to catch up with him, but the distraction only lasted a few seconds.He couldn’t stop thinking about Mercy.And it wasn’t just her predicament that was weighing on his mind, it was the girl herself.Last night, she’d fallen asleep in his arms, and he

“Where did you see her?”August spun his coffee cup back and forth slightly as he attempted to answer his mother’s questions. He’d been back from his run for a few hours. Working in the office after seeing the dark wolf watching him from the shoreline had not worked out well. So, he’d come home, thinking it would do him some good to speak to his mother.So far, he didn’t feel any better about it, though. Isabella was only asking him questions he didn’t want to answer.“She was out by the river, near the place where Mercy was found.”“And she was just standing there? Behind the trees?”He nodded. They’d been over this.“How do you know it was a female?” His mother was also drinking coffee, but her hands weren’t shaking like his were, so she was holding her cup up in front of her mouth taking frequent sips.“I guess I don’t know for sure.” August ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. Why was he so bothered by this? He needed to focus on the positive. There was another wolf

The lit to the box wouldn’t budge, no matter how much leverage Mercy used with her legs, pushing up from the floor, trying to get the top to open up. Frustrated, she sank back down to the ground, her arms aching.There had to be a way to get out of here!She was dreaming. That cognizant thought came back to her. She was dreaming--and she knew she was dreaming. So wouldn’t that mean she should be able to get out of here? Shouldn’t she be in control of what happened in her own mind?Looking up at the lid of the box again, she concentrated on it, willing it to move. “Open!” she whispered. “Open, now!” It didn’t move. A little louder, she demanded, “Open! Open right now, damnit!”The box lid still didn’t move. Mercy wrapped her arms back around her legs. Why was it that even in her own dreams she couldn’t overcome this horrific environment?As she sat there, fuming, she felt a tingling in her hands. Other memories came back to her. The television she’d made explode. The soda can she’d eru

The dreams were becoming more frequent, more intense. Every night, Mercy dreamed that she was stuck in that box, and then the shadow man appeared above her, and she screamed louder, and then she woke up. Most nights, it brought August running to her room, rocking her, until she was calm again. She’d usually manage to fall back to sleep, but it was always a fitful, restless sleep.Isabell had offered her some sleeping medicine. Mercy had been tempted to take it, but ultimately, she’d passed. It wasn’t that she didn’t think it would help; she was pretty sure it would. She just didn’t like the idea of it putting her into such a deep sleep that she couldn’t wake herself up, in which case she might end up stuck in the dream that had been tormenting her for weeks.Then one night, the dream changed. Rather than Mercy waking up the moment she saw the man’s face, she screamed, but he reached down, grabbed her hair, and pulled her out of the box by that hunk of hair. The pain radiated all throu