ra

air instantly thickened with Kaelen's scent-that suffocating storm of wet earth and sharp c

, taut and dangerous. Then, Kaelen reached beside him and tossed a thick, leather-boun

he comman

my stomach churn. Unrestricted access to Pack accounts. Full security detail. The title of future Luna. It wasn't a proposal;

the folder shut and threw it back at his chest. "I don't want you

s stormy gray eyes devoid of any emotion, looking at me as if I were a child throwing a tantrum. His s

the 45th floor, I was marched into his office-the Alpha's Command Cent

edge of a leather sofa. "You can't

his arms, his massive frame blocking the sunlight from the floor-to-ceili

ev

ile playing on his lips. "Not even to find

of my dead mother hung in the air

voice dropping to a lethal purr, "yo

I sank onto the sofa.

n public library in Queens to scour microfilms of fifteen-year-old newspapers. Three weeks ago, you tried to bypass the Pac

rets to his predatory gaze. I felt entirely naked, my soul stripped bare. Th

whispered, tears of absolu

, crouching before me. His large, calloused hands gripped

in my chest. "Sign the contract, Elara. Become my Luna. It is the only way you wil

lf. He wasn't just offering me a title; he was offering me the revenge I had craved my e

?" I ch

t jolt of electricity down my spine. "Because an Alpha," he

ng out of me. I didn't say yes, but my si

stood up. "Your phone," he d

cracked personal device deep in the lining. He didn't even look at it before tossing it into a desk d

. From now on, y

were only two contacts: Kael

" I pleaded, a pathetic last attempt to cling

r of a violent storm. The Alpha's Command crashed down on me, heavy and a

inalize the paperwork of my captivity, a sudden, violent wave of nausea rolled through my stomach, a sickening mix of terr