"It's Boris, I just got up to go look for him and he was already gone!""And his belongings?" asked Daniel. "Don't overreact. Explain."Matthew raked his fingers through his mussed hair, agitated. "I was the last to see him before he went into the room you lent him. And he said he was going to sleep. He didn't leave through the door either, he left through the window. Otherwise your men would have seen him. The one with the birthmark over his eyebrow already left the back way to see if he can find him, but there's no trail to track! Your people can't find him."The accusatory note in his voice didn't go unnoticed. Daniel narrowed his eyes. Who was Matthew to criticize when Boris was his guest, not theirs? He was the one who should have been keeping proper tabs on the old man since he had dragged him along without even consulting Daniel or Beth. He had been so insistent that the man could be useful, but what now?Matthew could be overreacting indeed, high-strung as he was. But if the

They left Matthew stunned on the patio. Or rather, Daniel left him stunned on the patio as he yanked Beth bodily back into the house to pull her down the hallway. His fingers were digging into her wrist so hard they hurt, and she scrambled to loosen his grip when she regained enough of her senses to understand what was happening."What are you doing?" she hissed. "Let go of me! Daniel!"But he said nothing, and no matter what she did and said, he refused to loosen his grasp. They were already nearly to the front doors, and how they hadn't run into anyone, she didn't know, but she wasn't going to let others see Daniel manhandling her like this. She wasn't going to let others see anyone at all manhandling her like this.At last, she shoved at him with her other hand, catching up with a lunge so she could overtake his long, swift strides that outpaced her own. He was not going to drag her around. But her strength was nothing compared to his, and all she succeeded in doing was making him

Daniel knew too little of what had happened then. His mother had mentioned it once this morning but his only clear memories of the disaster from back then was that Warren refused to speak of it, ever. Brian and Carlo had been too young to go with the pack warriors to fight then, and Warren himself had barely reached adolescence. But Heether boys learned to fight young, and their father hadn't thought twice about taking him to fight the latest rogue incursion at the border of Silver Nation. It was how every generation of a Heether Alpha's son grew up, learning to carve a victorious path through blood and bone.But it wasn't victory Warren grasped then. Half the pack had returned silent and ashamed, and no one spoke of it since. Daniel had been too young to understand anything beyond that. But now...now he pieced together the story, the half Margaretta had told and this other side of it from a victim that had been left behind in the chaos.Was that what this was? Retribution at last?

It was insane to want this. Even if she was in this younger body again, she was almost a decade older than Daniel and should be acting like it, not moaning under his heavy weight as it crushed her with breathless strength into his bed. No - that was just aesthetics - the truth was that she was still thinking of what everyone else would say if they found out. Her, the widow of Daniel's brother in the middle of a brewing war when the pack needed leadership most, her! receiving Daniel's every thrust of his hips as he ground upon her with their clothes in the way. It had barely been an hour since she had received Daniel's confession and told him to be patient, and she might have given him something to cling to when she didn't turn him down, but this was too fast. She had needed time to convince herself to be reasonable, and not to do something stupid like let Daniel grope her over his sheets while she writhed underneath him and grew damp between her thighs all the while.But those thou

Shit. Shit! How could she have been so clumsy! Beth scrambled to get out of bed, but Daniel's quiet signal and firm grip forced her to settle back down. He motioned for her to stay there as he got up instead, sliding off the bed as he headed for the door. He grabbed a robe folded on top of the low dresser, shook it out, and slid smoothly into it on the way, and when he opened the door, he was clothed and decent again. Mostly."Teo, what is it?""Daniel! You're usually downstairs before the pack gathers for dinner, but you were missing. I came to get you.""I'm fine. I'm not hungry tonight.""I couldn't find Elizabeth either. She was supposed to be helping with the arrangements...""Beth isn't in charge of that. We talked about that before.""Well, I remember, but Daniel - she's better suited to this kind of thing. You shouldn't go around with her so much. Leave her here at the pack house so she can help the other women do - you know, woman business, not going around doing dangerous t