hea

n wooden steps creaked beneath my feet as I climbed from the damp basement to the ground fl

ain doors - massive, carved oak panels that represe

eavy iron handle, a venomou

ou think yo

d over her chest. Her two lackeys, both burly female warriors, flanked

canvas bag. "Alpha's orders. With Grayson down, my father is temporarily handling pack affairs. He said no one is allowe

forward, reaching out to sna

gerous energy surged through my body. "Don't tou

ou'll cry at us? I'll bet you have something valuab

sion of pure, calculated malice. "No," I said, my voice dropping to

rough a Rejection Reversal. It's a chaotic kind of magic. It fills

es. I wiggled my fingers, letting them see the dark stains. "It

k, but I could see a flicker of hesitation in their eyes. The one

powder. It coats all my belongings. Especially the things that have been close to me for a long time." I paused, let

fter the attack on Grayson - when I returned, I found my meager belongings rifled

tammered, but her voi

I aske

ably. She scratched at her right forearm, her brow fu

er in the corridor. It was something I had hidden under my fingernail, a potent itching powder made from a particularly nasty vine, which

I had never touched the powder - because I kept it sealed in a small tin box, never opened. An

hed up the sleeve of h

r pale skin. It was a patch of raised, we

ing wildly at her arm, her long nails breaking the skin and lea

!" she shrieked, her

fear - rather, a caution in the face of the unknown. They were warriors, unafraid of direct confrontation, but this invisible,

e of the powder, predicted her reaction. But strangely, when I actually saw Jordin's suffering, the anticipated satisfaction did not sur

tired of this game

hem, and walked toward the heavy oak

felt like the first real breath I had taken in a

ing the door slam shut behind me, leaving behind the