Everyone on board is looking for me. I know I need to move fast. I shift into wolf form so that I can run more quickly, carrying Arnold’s notes in my mouth until I skid to a stop outside the door to the engine room.I shift back so quickly that it makes me dizzy, then launch myself through the door and shut it behind me. The noise of the angry shifters searching for me is drowned out by the roar of the ship’s engine.I unfold Arnold’s instructions, looking around to find the dials he mentioned. Everything in here is so complicated, full of pipes and wires everywhere. Finally, though, I locate the dials, each with a red “reset” button on top. I press those, then, remembering what Arnold said about needing to get out of there fast, shift back into wolf form and make my escape.Sure enough, red lights and sirens start sounding throughout the ship. The chaos only increases, and I can hear frantic footsteps and irritated shouting all throughout the ship. A door slams nearby, and I

NASH“Nash! Nash, please! I didn’t betray you, Nash, it was all a lie!”I stand over Sarah as she begs me to let her go, but I don’t make a move. “You ran off with them,” I say through gritted teeth. “You abandoned me.”“No,” Sarah pleads, “I didn’t! They kidnapped me, Nash, I would never leave you.”“That’s not what Regan told me,” I say. “She’s lying, Nash, please!”“You left me,” I shout, feeling tears welling up in my eyes. “You left me, and she stayed. The last few days, it’s been her, helping out with the pack, looking after them while I’ve been in bed. Where were you?”“They trapped me,” Sarah says. “Nash, you have to believe me.”“I don’t have to do anything you say!” I wipe my eyes angrily with the back of my hand. “I read your letter - you never even loved me. Now that you’ve been captured, you’re just trying to trick me into letting you back.”Sarah is sobbing now, but I won’t be convinced by the performance. “They forced me to write it,” she

I hold my breath as Nash approaches, flanked by Regan and Arnold. I’m rocking Stella in my arms, so it’s obvious that I’ve been untied, but I still don’t stand up or move or do anything to startle Nash.Juliana meets them halfway, speaking quickly and excitedly, waving them down toward the beach where I’m sitting with the other prisoners.Then, Nash is standing over me, looking down with a mixture of affection and hatred that seem to be at war on his face. “Juliana says there’s something wrong with the baby,” he says.I lift her up so Nash can take her into his arms, but instead he crouches down beside us. My heart flutters at his scent, powerful and mine. My love, my mate, my Alpha. Even if he thinks it’s over between us, that everything I wrote in my letter was true, my body knows otherwise.“What’s her name?” Nash whispers.“Stella,” I reply.He doesn’t say anything more, his brow furrowing as he looks down at the baby, almost as if he’s examining her. I realiz

After a few minutes of vicious, overlapping argument between everyone, Arnold puts his fingers in his mouth and lets out a high pitched whistle that startles everyone into silence. Many of the Arizona shifters who had still been asleep on their makeshift beds sit up, rubbing their eyes and looking confused.I hope they feel half as frightened and helpless as I felt, waking up in a cage made of silver bars with Malcolm and Brandon standing over me, threatening Nash’s life.“What, specifically, are you asking for?” Arnold asks. I’m grateful to him for taking over these bizarre negotiations - he knows a lot more about werewolf law and lore than I do, and I doubt I would even be able to talk about the notion of losing my baby without dissolving into screaming sobs.“Our proposal is as follows,” Brandon says. “The child will return to Arizona with us, to be raised as a member of our pack.”“Only the child?” Arnold asks.“Its mother is welcome to accompany it in order to care

We send Regan away with the Arizona shifters, after Arnold gets them to promise that they’ll never come back to our territory. They seem like they keep their word - Arnold said he did a ritual to seal it, so we can be sure they won’t come back - and things get quiet again around the San Diego pack house.Arnold moves in with Layla at her clinic and spa, and soon there are all sorts of new experimental treatments at the spa. Amanda especially likes one that uses seaweed and always comes back from the spa smelling like sea spray and showing off her glowing skin. Greyson takes all the other guards and soldiers from the pack there every week for massages, and they all swear that they’ve gotten faster and stronger because of it.Nash and I still prefer the hot tub, which Layla infuses with all sorts of magical herbs that leave me feeling relaxed yet energized. My regular soaking sessions at the spa make it possible for me to juggle parenting a small child with the duties of a Luna, es