lle's

d to the space be

g gaze swept over my face like he could physically trace the origins of my betr

ate omega who'd bartered her rare blood for prote

ibrated through my bones

y despite the storm in my chest. "I'll give

sh. I stared at the medical equipment behind him-

deep in his chest, his wolf's amb

gaze, my chin lifting. "Turn me over to t

oss his face that wasn't anger or disdain. Something almos

bmission, my hunched shoulders and

e studied me, his scent turning

ged with something that might've been

e he'd ask about logistics before reasons. Efficie

My voice ba

decipher whether the fractures in my reso

judge's gavel: "Beta Aldrin

tilted o

it stole my breath, leaving the hospital suite eerily hollow. I blinked back

ickly, the divorce papers a

. For a fleeting second, I thought I saw something-anything-flicker in those golden e

ope with clinical precision. "The Council

burning like ice against my skin. Three years of stole

He turned on his hee

my pulse a ragged

ave expected anything fr

queen, her silk robe artfully draped to highlight every curve. The elderly h

lighting up-until they landed on me. A delica

gh. A thea

mance. "Zarelle's here. L

could order me. Thessaly's s

e bandage from

antiseptic and unbroken

ook the windows, his grip b

was pure melodrama

toward Calden, shoving the

ice cracked with the weight of a thousand unsaid truth

cked onto the trembling human doctor. The air thicke

pla

flinched as if struck, his fingers clutching at his lab coat. His eyes da

ly followed orde

. The doctor shrunk back, his pul

ach syllable dripp

cloying as she shifted on

pack's precious golden girl knew bett

the records falsified! Said you needed Luna Zarelle summoned!" His

f stunne

h the tension like silver through flesh.

or. "Resold. RH negative fetches...q

All of it!" Her manicured fingers twisted

nce. With a tap, I sent the da

e seemed deafening in

lmly, though my pulse roared in my ears. "But I

to a lethal whisper. "W

out flinching. "Ask

t porcelain facade-before she summoned another wave of calculat

deal is done," I said, turning toward th

mbled for the exit like a

c thud of knees

gasps as she collapsed in a swirl of silk. Her manicured ha

t like a si

ed, the barely perceptible tremor in his hands. Daelen. His lost

against him, the pictur

evator

ting the agonizing sec

le

command shaking the walls. Just th

hree years of bleeding for him, and I didn't even rate a

as that I had wasted t

eather. Calden's Bugatti crouched in its designat

I s

moke-colored. Bearing the

nament-a howling wolf wrapped in thor

s Zarelle Stormy-t

ore me knew better. "Welc