Lana's P.O.V The issue with telling someone off when your kids are friends is that you still have to see that parent around whenever your children hang out. I tried to distract Maddie. I even offered her cookies and a movie to keep her inside. Unfortunately, she was sick of staying locked inside all the time, and all she wanted was to go see Sasha and Ky. I brought her to the kids' center and sat back on one of the benches they had posted around the gated playground. My hope had been to enjoy a relaxing day in the sun while Oliver helped the pack run patrol. He insisted that he wanted to contribute since they were housing us for the time being. Instead, I was dealing with the fuming rage of Nyla as she sat across from me on the other side of the playground. I wouldn't have a problem with it if she were actually watching her kids. But her black eyes and angry glare remained on me the entire time. I felt like I was going to be attacked when I least expected it. The girls squealed an

Lana's P.O.V. It was hard to sleep that night. Oliver was tossing and turning, unable to settle. It made me worried that something more had happened when he went to visit Nyla. He told me what had transpired between the two of them, the argument, but I couldn't help but wonder if it was more. Why was he so torn up if he didn't feel the bond and nothing had happened? According to him, the bond still wasn't severed as Nyla refused to reject him, and that news made me furious. It was the main reason why I didn't talk to Oliver about what Lottie had said. I had a lot of questions about him marking and turning me. But there was really no point in going down that rabbit hole when he was so clearly torn up by the thought of having the bond with Nyla severed for good. How was her leaving our lives, when he supposedly had no ties to her, impacting him so deeply? The next morning he went through the motions of trying to sneak out of bed to go run patrol. I kept my eyes closed as I feigned sl

Lana's P.O.V. My eyes squeezed shut as the feeling of dirt beneath my lids made it difficult to blink. The pounding in my head had me reeling, my mouth watering as my stomach rolled. I felt so stupid for trusting Nyla.Yet, any mother hearing the news that their child was hurt would panic too. It had been the first time I had ever been away from Maddie. My irrational rush of emotions and adrenaline had me moving to get to my child before I considered all options. Nyla was a snake, but I never imagined that she would be this venomous.I tried to remember what had happened and where James would be taking me. From the movement beneath me, I knew we weren't at our final destination, but I had no way of knowing what direction we had gone in when we left town.***A cold sweat had broken out across my forehead as James smiled menacingly at me. His eyes trailed over my body like I was his prey, and he was ready to tear the meat and flesh from my bones. He looked different than before. He wa

Oliver's P.O.V. I was in a rage. There was one scent that I couldn't get out of my mind, and it belonged to the one wolf that was unaccounted for. Nyla. Her stench had been in my bedroom, in Lana's dresser. She had taken Lana's clothes, but the question remained. Where did they go? I was searching the pack grounds high and low. Alpha Jones humored me, allowing me to comb through her lands and buildings. Anything that had even the smallest trace of Lana or Nyla's scent was torn apart. I knew I would have to pay for the damages, and I would, but I really didn't care at the moment. Alpha Jones demanded full cooperation in my search. As soon as I had regained control, she stepped forward. "She's not here, Oliver. One of my border patrols just advised that she left the grounds by car almost thirty minutes ago." Her confident stance was a show of power, but the empathy in her eyes told me that she understood that I was in pain. "She wouldn't. Not willingly. Not without me and not wi

Lana's P.O.V. It was strange being back in the cabin. After only two nights away, I was surprised to see the layer of dust coating everything. The small droppings in the corner were evidence that another rat had already found its way inside, which made me shiver in disgust. The deja-vu was unsettling. It was like we had never even been here. The broken glass of the front window crunched beneath our shoes as James dragged me inside, pulling me forward with his hand wrapped around my inner elbow. "So, this is where you've been hiding." He said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Fitting that you would live in a place like this. A used-up old house for a used-up whore." I let out a moan of pain as he pushed me to the floor. With my wrists cuffed behind my back, I collided shoulder first into the hardwood before rolling onto my stomach. I watched with my cheek pressed against the cold surface as he began to dig through the cabinets, growing more frustrated with the limited supplies h