oe

y parents' house was filled

strict, a quiet neighborhood fa

her and father, my hands

teady. "I am going to quit my job

rk. It clattered loudly

at me, his eyes

I had sacrificed to

y way to stay close to

rl?" my father asked softl

ing a strange sense o

not ask any m

and held my hands, while my fathe

ower, but their love for me

n my narrow childhood bed

o the day Jaxon experi

first time at eighteen was a

side, wiping the swe

h tired eyes and told m

ment was the reason I pushe

xts until my eyes bled, just

rt only earned

me the Marking, the permanent bite on t

I sat alone in the bus

ignation letter to the Elder Council, was already f

ead, ignoring the loud chatt

lavender and sterile

from me, placing her si

ful face twisted into an

night," she whispered, her eyes

use. We were in the same room all night, ju

hat she

nner wolf to go c

been invaded, which usually drov

ling not a single ripple, a

ack's safety comes first,"

arly disappointed b

word, the heavy wooden doors

ll, muscular frame draw

storm of pine and rain

ble and placed a small, crys

n-glow berry cake, a desser

a," Jaxon said, a handsome

t me, his eyes f

oe has finally grown up. She isn't acting

phoned away, leaving only the cloying, naus

my throat, bringing wit

ad mad

his world had used my mate bond, m

st the bars of her mental cage, h

backward, its legs shriek

feet, my spin

ctly into Jax

k with tension. The entire

tting the ancient, sacre

t you, Alpha Jax

n fr

nished, replaced by a

itch as a sharp p

up immediately,

," Serena pleaded, her voice loud

ight. She is just acting out be

ly turned into a da

were a disgusting insect

was using a sacred ritual just to

hloe," he growled, his Alpha aura lea

disgrace to

bbing Serena's hand and pulli

e eyes of a hundred wol

and dumped my untouc

hall, the first wave

y had been carved out of my chest,

corridor, gasping for air as c

yself to k

Elder Council to s

archment to the head Elder,

o hand over your duties

pered, holding my bl

s cracking along fault lines I had never known existed. And