ainst her spine, but the thumb pressing i

mind where she stored her panic. She stared at the reflection of the city lights behind Michael

Two.

om in her bloodstream was a live wire, sparking against her nerve en

d his thumb over the hidden puncture wounds until her pulse rabbit-kicked against h

Jane," he

ed breath. It tasted lik

He stepped back, casually adjusting his perfectly tailored cuffs. The beast vanished, re

sational. "The Elder Council's financial ledgers are in disarray. I

d out of the room.

e smoothed her skirt. She walked over to the wet bar, poured

he went

room smelled of expensive leather, printer ink, and the lingering, heavy scent of pine

phantom friction burned between her thighs. Her skin felt too tight. She

oak door c

tely placed her silver pen down

walk

er curves, her blonde hair falling in loose, effortless waves. She smelled of vanilla and Ryan's arrogant, shall

red hand to her chest. "Oh, thank the God

lt nothing. "Hello, Elena.

-concern on her face melted into something sharper, something smug. She paced

rried about you. Being locked up with a madman. He's actually drafting a petition to the Counc

onto a stack of invoices. "That won't be

"Look at yourself. You were bred to be Luna. Now you're playing secretary to a psycho who drinks blood

s hands. Elena had a tiny

dn't yell. She didn't cry. Sh

" Jane asked. Her voice was co

rown entirely off

a small silver tin across the desk. "Your breathing is ele

ed the tin off the desk. It clatter

lost, Jane! You ruined yourself because you couldn't handle that Ryan wanted me. You

inches from Jane's. She opened he

Elena

se twi

ge older than words. Scent didn

ly, her chest rising, drawing in the air

still, her hands

ried deep in Jane's pores, was the heavy, suffocating scent of dark pi

a matin

ncounter. She was smelling the raw, biological signature of a feral knot. She was smelling a Sovere

backward. Her heel caught on th

p. She smoothed the

nds shaking as she pointed at Jane. "Ryan said he was a mo

a leftover. She looked like a woman who had walked

o feet from her sister, "is a boy play

ization crashed over her in real-time. She had won the Mating Ce

e eyes piercing right through Ele

dropping into the exact same lethal cadence Michael used. "But if you ever walk into my