— Viktor Morgenstar — “A family has tried to escape our Pack this morning. One of the border patrols caught them and they’re being held out in the forest.” What the fuck? I don’t like a lot of things, but one thing I hate the most is when people try to disobey orders because it means they are trying to disobey me. Who the fuck said they could just leave? I won’t stand for any of this. “Well, what the fuck are we standing for? Bring me to them,” I demanded of the two. They gave each other that same twin look where I know they’re communicating, but only they can understand what it is. “You got it, Dark Alpha.” Cal smiles before Cane starts to lead. A few minutes later, we’re out by the forest with only the moon for light. I feel rejuvenated as soon as I touch grass and feel the cool evening air. Something about it gives me energy. Whatever it is, it helps me get ready to face whatever bullshit it is I have to face tonight. “Please, please, let us go! We promise never to try and

— Leia Steele — One second I can feel the ground underneath my feet, and the next there is nothing and gravity is pulling me down, and down, and down. At one point, I concluded that I was going to die because how often do you see a thin and frail woman survive jumping out of a window? Not a lot, that’s for sure. But a second later I feel my knees on the ground and my hands are touching the grass as well. Grass! I’m touching nature after months of being locked up inside! But I don’t have the time to revel on that amazing fact because I am in a life or death situation. “What the hell did I say about running, Leia Steele?!” The shout came from above me and I don’t need to look up to know who it came from. It’s him, and he sounds way angrier than earlier. The panic in me worsens and this time, that feeling of resilience or the strength that was brewing within me was no longer there. Shit, I think I’ve just gotten myself in a far worse situation. I am so utterly screwed beyond reco

— Leia Steele — His grin grows wider and I am seconds from palpating out of nervousness on my seat. Scratch that, maybe I already am. He lays back down and takes his glass up to his lip and even with the glass blocking most of his mouth, I can tell he is still grinning. When the moonlight from the window hits him, I feel both dread and something else in the pit of my stomach. My eyes can’t help but take him in as he drinks. The sleeves of his shirt rolls up a little higher, exposing more of the black ink that covers both his arms and hands. The rings that can’t possibly be real silver on his fingers shimmer from the light as he downs his glass of liquor. There is something about this man that I have never felt nor experienced with anybody else in this Pack. He is haunting, but at the same time, soothing. I can’t explain it, but looking at him both terrifies me yet invigorates me, too. I can’t look at him without having a crisis, but it’s even harder to look away from him. He is

— Leia Steele —If anybody had told me that one day I would be lying down on a bed that was so comfortable I would think I was dreaming, I would have just laughed at their face and went back to scrubbing toilets and floors.But here I was doing exactly that, and after rolling around it and feeling the softness of the sheets and pillows all around me, it just seemed too real to be a figment of my imagination. This, whatever it is, is really, really happening. For most of my life I’ve wondered what it would be like to sleep on something more comfortable than a thin blanket or the cold hard floor, but now that I’m here, now that I’m on a real bed…I can’t for the life of me go to sleep. I’ve been twisting and turning on this giant bed for what seems like hours now and no matter how hard I try, my brain just can’t seem to shut all my thoughts off so that I could rest. Everything is in complete overdrive and I hate it. I hate this. I hate the Dark Alpha. I hate that I am somehow relat

— Leia Steele —Surprisingly, even to me, I don’t come out of the Dark Alpha’s room twenty minutes after Beta Calypso told me to.Mainly because I realized I needed to take a shower first and look as presentable as I could, but also because I was nervous as hell just thinking about meeting the same people who used to boss me around. “Are the clothes okay for you?” Beta Calypso asks after we step out of the room and I fidget nervously behind him.“I— uh, yes, it’s— n— nice…” I answer as I look down at the dress he handed to me after I finished showering.The thing is, it’s more than nice. I don’t know where he got this from but I don’t think there is an adjective possible to describe the most beautiful piece of clothing I’ve ever had an opportunity to wear.It’s a gorgeous green colored off the shoulder corset bodice dress that cuts off a couple of inches above my knee with a puffy skirt. I feel uncomfortable in it mostly because it’s too pretty, but also because I’m showing more skin