The bloodied lump on the table had almost entirely regained his consciousness. “Where am I? What the fuck is this? Alpha Cillian?” Tange muttered, each statement panickier as he wriggled against his restraints. I walked slowly towards him, aware of my heavy boots stomping. I wanted him to be scared. He deserves to be terrified., In my flattest, firmest tone I tried to convey the same authority my father had. I might be young but there is no doubt I wield the power of life and death over my pack members. “Tange. It’s over. You’re getting one chance to tell me everything. I’m taking my wolf back regardless. I can do it with or without killing you.” It took some accepting that I had caused all that damage. That mangled, bloodied face with a nose that resembled crushed tomatoes was the sole product of my unrestrained anger. I heard the soft footsteps of Briss as he stood watch at the arched doorway. Tange’s eyes flashed between golden yellow, orange, and grey, two wolves battling for

It’s utter insanity. Everything, every event of the last twenty-four hours. From reuniting with Vez, the impossible blessing of my parents final guidance. Then to witness the pitiful state of my sister and Nikolai. There is no way I would have come up with this plan had I taken the other fork in the road. There is every chance my sister would have died if I had been so caught up in my own hate-filled rage. Especially, if as Zena suggested I was unkind or even violent towards her in the other version of events. Who would have been there to apply the herbs, salves and incense that give the two bloodied individuals in the back of our truck a chance to live. Everything about the plan is insane. Yet as I announced it I knew in my guts it was the best shot we had. Phillipe is cocky, overconfident. To kill his own parents, he is suffering delusions of invincibility. He will believe there is no way his plan can fail. So he will see the blood splattered chamber where Matilda died. He will s

I think it’s going to work. By the end of a long, tiring day everything was in place. We had confirmation Luna Helena and Alpha Alexander were attending. Luna Freya and Alpha Phillipe, the name like a curse upon my tongue, had also confirmed. Three of them were devastated, obviously. Sadly, the Ceremony massacre actually helped us in selling the lie. Over the past few months the nation had become used to the prospect of murder. Slit throats, assassins with syringes of wolfsbane, our new reality. Any other day I would have been ready to collapse on my bed. But I have Matilda now. The thought made my heart race and Vez antsy, to know she was merely a few feet away in the study. When I walked in bearing snacks and drinks, I had intended to just catch up with her. She was grieving, sad and thoughtful when I left her. The woman waiting for me in that study was a pure vixen. My footsteps woke her but the instant she saw me her eyes shimmered. Need, desire and love all swirled in those

Heading another Pyre was a sinkhole of guilt. Performing it for my parents had been traumatic enough, everything collapsing around me. This time, I felt like a circus juggler on stage. Especially with Phillipe’s beady eyes fixed on me.“That was a beautiful ceremony,” he offered flatly, leaving a crying Freya to approach me. The wiry, sour-faced Beta Patrick joined us, all of us dressed in black. “You have done your sister proud.”“And Alpha Prince Nikolai too,” I added firmly.“Well let us hope that now he is dead the random acts of violence across our nation will stop too,” Beta Patrick added stiffly. I noticed his bright green eyes flashed with silver shards. I wondered if that was a sign of a newly-gained wolf he was struggling to control. He managed not to lose his shit when Nikolai called him a pipsqueak and pushed past him, so why was he emotional now? /I wonder if Freya knows his iris, maybe we are becoming paranoid/ Vex warned.“Have you given any further thoughts to my sug

Beta’s Maddox and Adrian led me away, leaving a quietly distraught Helena and Alexander with the letter. Deposited in a library with huge vaulted stone ceilings, candelabras, and endless lines of bookshelves containing detailed historical records. Rise and fall is inevitable. I know in my bones Shadowlands is too young a pack to be cut down now. We will prosper. Finding out how Phillipe is protecting himself from harm is a big one. There is always the danger that killing Ruth would still leave him as Alpha, wielding power. “Mind if I read while I wait?”“No problem. It’s only the public record, anyway,” Beta Adrian replied, taking a seat by the door. Maddox kept his thick, tattooed arms folded. He wasn’t taking his eyes off me for a second.Random curiosity made me grab the books covering years when my father was a Beta here. He was head of the Beta Warriors and fought against the now defunct Five Lakes pack two decades ago. I read for hours about the lead-up to the attack, culmina