“What are you doing here?” I asked, happy to see him but still surprised.I was almost certain that he had a million things to do for the pack and the territory. He always did. He glanced around the field.“What else does one do on a field?” Candido asked and eyed me. “In athletic clothing?”I pouted at him. “You know that’s not what I meant!”Candido grinned. His eyes twinkled with mischief, making him seem so young and carefree. It was rare to see him like this, but it filled me with joy and hope. Maybe I was just a little girl in his eyes, but he was comfortable with me, and that was a better start than being a beautiful woman whom he couldn’t trust.“My little girl wants to be on the rugby team,” Candido said. “Of course, I’m here to help.”I dropped my gaze. “Losing weight—”“You’re a werewolf, Hedy,” Candido said gently. “Do you even know why you gained weight in the first place?”I rolled my eyes. “Eating all that rich food you’ve been serving at the Estate!”Candido shook his

I couldn’t go back to sleep after that. I waited all night hoping that Candido would come the way he usually did when I had a nightmare. He always knew when I had a nightmare, but he didn’t come.When morning came, I dragged myself out of bed and down the stairs. Allen greeted me stiffly, but I had a feeling why. Candido hadn’t come home last night.He’d stayed at the Red Moon Pack. Whether that meant he was in a guest room or in bed with Sibyl, I didn’t know. I forced myself to eat breakfast and headed out with Team Gamma-2 to school. I got out of the car, hoping not to be bothered. Most people didn’t seem to notice I was in a dark mood, too busy commenting on my change of clothing or the latest rumor they heard.I trudged towards my first class. Bella walked out of the classroom and froze in the doorway. She went pale, scowled, and stormed off down the hallway as if I was going to chase her.“Hey, you,” Claire said, coming up to me. She put her arm around my neck and frowned. “You l

The sight of Francium staggering away, the bottle of pills he had and the whole situation haunted me for the rest of the day. It felt too close to home, to reminiscent of my time at Wolf Fang. Sure, I hadn’t been given poisonous pills, but if Francium was being poisoned, I had to help him for his and Claire’s sake.Claire may not have said much more than having a bad feeling, but I could tell how worried she was from the way she followed Francium with her eyes every time he was nearby. Maybe I could talk to Candido about it. Instead of allying with the Red Moon Pack, he could start building a relationship with the New Moon Pack or at least get them in line.I huffed. I still didn’t know if Candido had even returned from the Red Moon Pack’s capital yet, and I was scheming about how I was going to convince him to talk to Francium’s family. I shook my head. I needed to be focused on Moon Shadow’s investigation of the attack, the deaths that had happened, and so many other things.I got b

After I had cried my heart out, I returned to the Estate, found something to eat in the kitchens, and retreated to my room for a hot bath. I felt calmer, steadier like I could push away the sadness if I tried hard enough. Candido wasn’t home, so it made it somewhat easier. I didn’t have to catch the scent of his cologne in the hallway and think about what I wouldn’t have with him.I sunk into the bathtub and closed my eyes.My feelings aside, the situation with the former Alpha King was troubling. How had vampires managed to infiltrate the estate? Weren’t their guards? Secret passageways to escape by that only pack members would know? Wasn’t the former alpha king a great warrior?I frowned and sat up. Was Candido’s father actually the former alpha king? The title referred to the alpha of the biggest pack with the biggest territory, but the Full Moon Pack had been much smaller before Candido took over.The Full Moon Pack was one of the oldest packs, one of the first that was mentioned

I watched the investigation develop for an hour before it was clear that everything else would have to come from the autopsy reports. They found a total of thirty bodies. There were signs of a struggle, but none of the victims were vampires. Whether that was because vampires really turned into ash when they were killed or if they just escaped with their wounded, I couldn’t know. Every victim was drained of blood, but their wounds didn’t make complete sense.Some of them had neat puncture wounds. Others looked like they had their throats torn out by a wild animal that also drank their blood. Aside from how they died, who the victims were and how they died would tell me a lot. For now, all I could tell was that there were at least two attackers. Based on the attack styles, it was possible that there was more than one kind of vampire out there.The more I looked, the more I felt like the quick message I sent to Armageddon had been more like a pre-brief. He didn’t reply to me, but I didn’