a P

tone building downtown that smell

e front row. Instead, I wore my second-best work blouse and stood next to a man I'd known for eigh

the cl

a Qu

ac

verc

eld his pen

losed. "I..

ge, clear letters. He didn't bother lowering his voi

a word. He didn't have to.

ully, he crossed out what he'd written,

squeaked. "Unregistered.

pt lookin

nd polished it with shaking hand

n took the knife and drew it across his palm with

drop," he s

humb so lightly I barely felt it. Our blood fell into the bowl together. The liqu

nded me a heavy cream-colored cert

Alexander Shaw

taken ten minutes

his watch. "I'll see you tonight. Eig

ing back

e knows, Nora. Not yet. I'd like to keep it tha

dn't ask wh

e folded in my purse. Every few minutes, I touched i

ied Luci

like Ohio. I was married to the future Alpha of Silvercrest. Mrs. Quinn would have laughed until

ber I didn't know, but I knew

side your building. Bring what you

hours. It was embarrassingly easy. Clothes, books, my laptop,

suitcases down the stairs and pushe

tanding on

es in his arms and the kind

"Baby. I've been

way,

I made a terrible mistake, and I've barely slept since you left. Forget C

I gripped the handle of my suitcase.

looked at my face

epeated. "It's

es

wh

n't a

elting wax. The roses fell to the pavement. His no

hat male from the hotel. You're carrying h

ut of

let me stay the night. And then you let a stranger have you in one? You're nothing but a wolfl

street. Toward a gray sed

I sank my teeth into the back

d, his face was half-shifted. Fur along his jaw. F

he growled, and his h

was human-fast, and he was a

ws neve

p. Car alarms went off. A dog started howling three buildings awa

waist and pulled me backw

oke. Cold

our eye

di

wrist bent at an angle no wrist should bend. Lucian's han

re pure, bu

up, because I'd never heard anyone sound so calm and so murde