We get back to the pack house and everyone is gathered, wanting to hear about our journey and anxious to learn whether we’ve been able to find Sterling.But I don’t feel up to any of that. I leave Sarah, Nash, and Greyson to explain everything while I go upstairs to lay down and try to forget that I just left half of my soul in a completely different plane of reality.Inside the bedroom, though, there are reminders of Sterling everywhere. It smells like him, and his clothes are still strewn around. I can’t be here. It’s too painful. I grab a few things and leave for Layla’s, settling back into the tiny bedroom she had set up for me when I first returned.Maybe things can go back to the way they were, I tell myself. There was a time when I didn’t even know Sterling. I was happy then, wasn’t I? I can find that again.I flop down on the bed and fall into a long, deep, dreamless sleep.When I wake up, there’s a mug of tea and a plate of food on my nightstand. Layla must

Isaac looks up at us, his eyes pleading. “I know we’ve been enemies to you, but Coello forced us into it. Now he’s gone, and we’re wasting away without our powers. We need your help.”I notice that, while Isaac speaks, Martell just stares down at his own lap. He hasn’t spoken or made eye contact with anyone since they arrived. He doesn’t seem to agree with what Isaac is saying, or to be very invested in getting our help. Nash starts having a whole conversation with Isaac, but I sit down next to Martell. Nash and Sarah have plenty of history with Isaac and Regan, but I’ve met Martell before, when he was training with Sterling in Santa Cruz.He looks absolutely miserable. The only thing about him that’s still the same are the tattoos on his arms. His muscles have wasted away, his brown eyes are glazed and haunted, his sandy brown hair is limp and flat against his forehead. In a hushed voice, I try to draw him out. “Hi,” I say. “Martell, right?”He shakes his head. “T

“Look,” I tell Jasper. “I don’t know where you’re from. I know you’ve been a mercenary, doing dangerous enough things that you had to take a new name. But you’re here now, with my pack. And we’re led by a Luna who knows what it’s like to be hated and exiled, along with an Alpha who fought his way back against false allegations and banishment. We give second chances here. We trust in the content of someone’s soul, not their past actions.”Jasper just tilts his head slightly, like he’s trying to make sense of what I’m saying. Then, finally, he drops his robe and steps into the hot water.“Welcome to San Diego,” I tell him. I can see the relief and gratitude in his whole body as he relaxes into the hot, aromatic water. We soak for a while in silence. I can tell that after my little speech, Regan and Isaac are feeling a bit uncomfortable, and I’m perfectly happy to let them have their space and quiet. After a while, they both clamber out of the hot tub, wrapping themselves in

Dessert starts off tense, but then baby Stella decides to start smearing her entire face with raspberry frosting from Layla’s cake. Everyone laughs at her silly antics, and soon the tension in the room dissipates.Later, Sarah and Nash appear in the doorway. They ask to speak to just Jasper. He glances over at me, pleadingly. “Mind if I join as well?” I ask. I can tell that Jasper doesn’t want to have this conversation without me by his side - the one person he’s really been able to talk to since coming here.“Sure,” Sarah shrugs. We go out onto the porch, and Nash begins. “It’s hard for us to trust you,” he says, “but Sarah reminded me that there was a time when it was hard for my pack to trust me, too. I don’t know everything about what you’ve been through, but now that you’re asking for a second chance, I can’t bring myself to deny it.”“Thank you,” Jasper says. I can hear relief, gratitude, and disbelief in his voice.“Still,” Sarah says, “there’s something

We keep talking during the drive. Isaac is driving, with Regan by his side in the passenger seat. Jasper sits in the back, with me, staring out the window. Once Regan is done talking, Isaac tells us his story. He was raised by a single dad, also a mercenary. He never grew up with a pack or anything like that. Isaac tells us about how he felt when he met Regan, a shifter with ties to a strong pack with a long history.Regan reaches over and takes his hand as he talks about what it was like to be around her at first, to want her desperately, to know that she was his mate, but too frightened to pursue anything. “I didn’t think I was meant to be with anyone,” Isaac explains. “I’d never seen my dad with a mate or anything like that. But I wanted so badly to be part of Regan’s life.”“We did a lot of awful things together,” Regan whispers, “but I can see now that we were just trying to be with each other, no matter what.”“Those shifters in Arizona,” Isaac says. “They wanted