w him to graze her neck. He was suckling at her skin, a slow, possessive mark of a

d tightly over my stomach, trying to hold my internal organs together. Every time his teeth grazed her, a white-hot spike of agony shot through my own

ng through the hall. He didn't stop his ass

A warrior who crumbles at the

stomach turn. He took a deliberate step toward me, his heavy boots clicking against the

ed, loud enough for the fro

lly catching up to your delusions. You thought you could be my equal. You thought a nameless, rootless

feathers is still a crow."He stood back up, looking arou

ck. She doesn't deserve to be one. She is an Omega, the lowest of the low. A servant to the

ing the royal tiles any longer. In fact, scrub the floors where

lver hissed against my skin, dampening my wolf and sending a dull, sickening ache through my veins. As they dragged me a

re the stone was always wet and the air tasted of mold. Every breath felt like a shockwave of broken glass traveling down my lungs. I collapsed against the stone wall, t

orted thing. I lay there, shivering, my body trying to heal the invisible wo

the door made

myself upright, my back scraping against the rough stone as I tried to find m

al tunic, wearing only a thin black shirt that clung to his frame. He looked leaner and more danger

ped, my voice sounding like it

ate Lia's bed for a single night before coming to gloat over

He stepped closer, his movements fluid and silent. The space between us vanished until I cou

ce a low, melodic hum. He looked around the room, his eyes lingering on the st

fire wasted on someone who doe

derness that made me want to recoil and lean in all at once. The touch sen

he whispered, his voice low and dang

t piece for the board I am playing. You... you are a liability to my crown, June. You are a ghost story. You cannot serve this clan as my

against the shell of my ear, his

a fire that Lia will never possess. She is a statue; you are a storm. You cannot be my Queen, but you can very well become something more important to me. Something kept in

is dark, calculating eyes, searching for a hint of a joke, a shred of the man I thought the

e to be you