la

f my own failing heart. Strength bled out of me along with the warmth pooling on the dirt floor. My cons

about to let

n of rus

n, spilling a rectangle o

m-faced servants. Behind them, a familia

. The pac

last desperate flicker

, blood-smeared hand towards him. "

he sight of the blood. He took a step f

he looked down at me, her face a mask of false

r, were glitteri

o a frigid whisper. "The Alpha has given his

ng form on the floor. His lips moved, but no sound came out. He w

at made the last ember of h

er since the moment I was born-it flickered. For one desperate, stup

d final, pressed into m

no da

link w

andoned me to this. He had personally, deliberately severed the bond. In the e

t a scream or a sob. It was something more final. The sound

now what must be done, Doctor.

m the hallway. My mother, Genevieve, burst p

shrieked, her eyes fixed on me.

does not deserve to be the Alpha's grandchild. Genevieve, you will

away, her desperate cries for her daughter and her grandchild

ht in my wor

r had sanctioned the mur

a sickeningly sweet scent of death. She savored the utter despair on

of black velvet, lay a si

strangled whisper. "Wolfsbane!

abortifacient in small doses, a lethal tox

simply... cleaning up a mess. It is the Alpha's w

is eyes filled with a mixture of pity and fear. Finally,

mile. She pinched my jaw, her l

wisted my head away. The bitter root fel

ac

ce of it snapping my head back. "Insolen

rms and legs to the ground. Another forced my

the dirt from it with a delicate finger. He

nous lullaby. "Once the little problem in your be

ty, bitter-smelling

cking against the ha

," she c

ed over my nose,

ook over.

, searing a path down my

t was ins

b. It was not the cramping from before. This was a thousand

my lungs. My back arched violently, lifting me off th

acefully to her feet. She smoothed the front of

he said, her voice calm and even. "You may '

, was a mask of pure, ecstatic satisfaction. She was not a