o

ne

e. No anger, no pain, just a suffocating silence t

rweb-like veins that now crept up my forearms. The necrosis was faster

laced a small, heavy sack on the floor-dried meat, a canteen of water, and a thic

you? I asked,

ed with a fierce, protective sorrow. "Kaden hasn't asked about you once, Aline. His mother... Rosalind to

y lips. "Let him believe that. H

anning my disappearance. I looked down at the small wicker basket at my feet. Fluffy, the stray kitten I'd rescued months a

sion settling in my chest like a stone. "Du

e of fabric. "Then you should leave with your head held high. D

ke garb I was forced to wear, but a gown of deep, blood-red silk.

led in to hide the deathly pallor of my skin. The crimson silk hugged my emaciated frame, masking the bruises and the blackening veins, giving me an illusion of

ate him. I was going to say goodbye

the loose floorboard near the window, ready

eats, expensive perfume, and the musk of hundreds of wolves h

er died i

ence. Hundreds of eyes turned to me. I saw Jared Cross, Kaden's Beta, drop his wine glass. It sha

in my legs. I walked through the parting cro

a A

the crowd. He was tall, with sandy blonde hair and eyes the color of warm amber

st list I had been forced to memorize years a

ghtly-a gesture of respect that nearly made my knees buckle. "B

, my voice steady despite t

extended a hand. "May I? It would be a

tes, for lovers. But I was leav

, I whi

gentle. As he swept me onto the dance floor, for the first t

aring out like a blooming rose. I even managed a small, genuine

ir in the r

f all the oxygen had been sucked out of the hall. The hair on my ar

I

f a physical blow, vibrating through the tattered remnants of the mate bond

my ribs. Slowly, terrified, I lifted

was

grey eyes were no longer stormy; they were an abyss of black rage. His hands g

olence. He didn't need to speak again. The command rolling off him in

comin