ollow like two corpses

of the Cascades, miles from Blackthorn territory. The sky was the color

nd was stil

had let go sin

ised, silver-white scar shaped like a crescent moon. Every time the wind touched

k," she said qui

kno

ather will call it mercy when he p

alking. I t

't give him

violet eyes wide, lips parted like s

e whispered. "You'd burn t

out raw, honest, terrifying. "But right now I just need you alive long enou

tugged at her mo

ut

sed me

e ignition because humans are trusting idiots. Selene hot-wired it anyway, out of habit.

stop:

rumor, and a photograph taken twenty-three years

they should have been-feeding pigeons with hands

g of Selene's silk dress. A gift from the

he city

umans packed too tight-but underneath it was something else. Something an

igid in the p

ered. "The Hunger. It'

odies up, baseball caps low, anything to hide the glowing marks on our skin. Mine had starte

ike runaway

e a walking

yellow tape and a bored security guard who took one look at the hundred-dollar b

cended

skylights, purple glass crunching under boots, the ghosts of opiu

reathing g

"I can smell her. Ash and

the pigeo

cooing softly in a dead-end alley lit only by a single shaft o

y

n't age

ve been velvet. Her face was smooth where eyes should be, just gentle curves of scar tis

like smoke over gravel. "You brought

forward. "We're

geons took flight i

hild, I swallowed the moon to cage it. I tore my own eyes out so I

er blind fac

smell like devotion an

eth. "Touch h

pled, distorted, like heat over asphalt. "Rip out your ow

arred forearm wit

ide Selene so loudly

ws slashing out, black v

gasped.

ed witho

Before I decide to finish what

r

derground

eeper instead of out. The pigeons followed, a grey stor

elvet booths, shattered mirrors, a bar carved

olves

orn enf

Beta

dead. Grievi

oftly. "Your father

r net

st net on my back-burning, searing-but rolled, flinging it off before it could tighten. Selene w

scre

ked something

nt f

ed. Rowan shifted into a massive black wolf and met me head-on. W

er. Stronge

I was done losin

eleg and twisted until bone shattered. He howled. I use

net smoking against her skin, bl

back, human

mega," he spat. "She's

aked and bleedin

d. "But she's

ed at

ere fully

wo enforcers ba

whispered. "W

la

ne r

ted off her

broken glass, and the temperature

housand hungry ghosts. "You smell like gr

to shift aga

r held hi

ached for

ed betw

said softly.

kness fl

ed, fighting. "Ge

N

-cut tracks down h

e said. "Then everyone else

face in both hands. "B

tried

g straight through his shoulder, pinn

crea

wide-too wide-fangs lengthenin

ssed

ge

rowning and she was the o

nger s

ttered, the bar split in half, pig

retracted from

to my arms, shak

opped, w

viving enfo

n't st

drifted from

aid. "Love as a weap

o the ruined ba

lade That Cuts Moonlight. Forged from the first silver the

ene demanded

sm

man who made the bargain

scarred finger

there, half burn

olet eyes and

Blacktho

's anc

exactly like

hed at o

our entire life, little vessel. He is the bargain

round

e, siren

mething neither

kn

to

m

to my palm. A single black feather that hummed with power. "W

st

He's alm

r

ndoned tunnels, into the blinding

gan to collapse-stone screami

n't lo

four hours unt

owledge that the man who raised Sele

istance, church bells

laughing inside

ed just like