era

not with fear, but with a sudden, cold

surprised her, and she stumbled back a step, her

ut I had spent three years managing the most powerful Alpha in the region. I knew how to wield authority, even if I couldn't growl it. "I don't get

er mouth opening to ret

e Resource Allocation Committee about your 'misuse' of the current housing allowance, and I can have you all moved to the barracks

meter barracks were notorious-drafty, crampe

d, though the uncertainty

," I wh

ind-Link*. She was talking to someone-Jarred, undoubtedly. I couldn't hear their mental conv

e spat, spinning around and s

breath I didn't know I was holding. My hands were shaking. It was a tem

che in my chest. I was at my desk, trying to focus on the quarterly budget,

voice purred, dripping

sting possessively on the wood. Brennan stood behind her, shrugging on his suit jacket

sie continued, turning her smile toward me. It didn't reach her

e territory, a place Brennan had taken me only once, und

n me for a second too long. "Kassie is right. Go

formality was a bla

said, my voice flat. I began pack

arm through his. She practically dragged him toward

left behind was suffocating. With the Severance Declaration sitting in the legal draft folder on my computer, I knew

this job, I lo

tiseptic. I found Dr. Elian Vance in his office, studying a hol

ing to the chair opposite

ripping the back of the

his temples. "However, there is a new protocol. A purification ritual involving Moonflowers harvested from the

y chest. "Five years? Elian, that's..

uble the current regimen, Alvera. And because it's an external import, it requi

stantly, replace

ost. Alpha a

th Kassie hanging off his arm, auditing

days," I managed to

o long," Elian

Ruby, was awake, staring out the window at the training grounds. She l

r. Now, it was empty, the sheets stripped. He had passed this af

er head. Her eyes were wet. "I saw

ing on the edge of her bed

stress. I see it on your face. You're working yourself to death for a

tion from Kassie, the threat from Gina-it all boil

y voice harsh, cutti

nked, s

lood obligation to her. I do this for *you*. You are the only thing I have in this world. If y

down her cheek

ning but dry. "You fight. You take th

el. It was

obbing quietly. "I p

o idea how to pay for it. As I looked at her sleeping face, I knew one thing for certain: I would beg, steal, o