“No,” Bella cried sharply, willing herself into an upright position. The room was beginning to tilt on its side, but Victor seemed strangely unaffected. “That can’t be true.” She clutched her head in her hands and tried to stop the memories of the beast ripping the man’s arm off his body like it was nothing. A warm hand pressed down on her shoulder, steadying her through the wave of vertigo. “I’m sorry to be blunt, but there’s no easy way with this kind of thing,” Victor said in a gentler tone. “Unfortunately, even if there was, we don’t have time for that now thanks to my brother’s recklessness.” “That thing wasn’t him,” Bella cried. “You’re lying. He would never do that. Darian would never hurt me.” “Hurt you, no. If he had wanted to hurt you the other night, you wouldn’t be here, at least not in one piece. As for the ‘man’ you saw in the woods, he really did want to hurt you. I imagine he would have tortured you a hundred times over if he’d

He laughed. "I wouldn't call them clients. I get paid to run the dungeon, working in it is for pleasure. Come on." He knelt down on one knee in front her.Bella watched him warily. "What are you doing?""Get on my back," he said with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "I'm going to carry you downstairs."“She’s not riding you like a horse. You said we were going for a walk.”"We are. I just don't think you can manage the stairs right now. I'd carry you in my arms, but I thought you might prefer this."“I’d prefer to walk.” “Suit yourself,” Victor said, standing. He opened the door and they started down the hall. Fortunately, Bella didn't hear anyone else roaming about. She still wasn't sure she was ready to face the rest of the Wolf Pack after her meltdown and almost getting killed in the woods. If they didn’t think she was looking for an insurance claim, they definitely thought she was cursed.Victor opened the door and Bella squinted against the light. It felt good, b

Bella would have put up more of a fight, but the pain was so intense that even if the vial held fatal poison, it would be an improvement. In the best case scenario, maybe the red-tinted serum really would help. Reluctantly, she rolled up her sleeve and held out her left arm since it was accustomed to pain, anyway. Ulric's gaze was unexpectedly apologetic, but it darkened when he saw Bella's scars. His Adam’s apple bobbed, but he kept whatever thoughts he had to himself. "I'm sorry, but this has to go directly into her jugular vein." “Of course it does,” Bella muttered. "At least let me hold her,” said Victor. "Fine." Victor pulled Bella onto his lap, and she buried her face in his shirt. His scent was just as comforting as Darian’s, and her apprehension faded with his touch, even though she knew he was only stroking her hair to uncover her neck. She was too exhausted to care if Ulric saw those scars, too. The Alpha’s growl made Bella

"What does it mean to be called?" Bella asked, partly out of curiosity and partly because Foster seemed so eager to talk about it. He was a sweet little wolf, if a strange one. More like a pup, really.Foster brightened up again at the question. "Everyone hears Her call eventually. Some just choose not to respond for a while. It's hard to explain, but when they feel it, they just know. If they ever look up at the moon and it feels like the moon is looking back, that's Her. Selene. She usually comes to them in a time of need. For me, it was right after my first shift. I was terrified, and I didn't know what had happened, but she told me everything was going to be alright and led me here." "She spoke to you?" Bella asked hopefully. Aside from that strange detail, his story sounded eerily similar to her experience in the woods."Well, no. Not in words. It was just like her light was soaking through me. I could feel her taking me as her own, comforting me.” He hugged

"I'm sorry," Bella stammered, hoping Victor wouldn't mistakenly take her shock as a reaction to his scar. That would be the ultimate hypocrisy. “I didn't mean to stare.""It's fine. It doesn't bother me anymore."It used to? The idea that a man like Victor was capable of feeling self-conscious about anything was hard to believe.He reached into a drawer and pulled out a pair of thin, black leather gloves. Bella was transfixed as she watched him pull them on. Every move the man made was deliberate and sensual. She got the feeling he could’ve made taking out the trash look sexy and she resented herself for thinking it. She was also admittedly curious as to how he was going to do what he claimed to be capable of without touching her. She felt a twinge of guilt for being in this room with him and not Darian, but berserker or not, he was gone. He was also the reason she was in this mess. Darian was the one who’d marked her the moment he met her, taking away her ability to