elt it

l hammering from the dream, from the moon, from the way Kael wa

doorway, moonlight cutting his face into lig

lly, voice rough. "The pack

orway, wondering if I'd imagined the fear in his eyes -

rdroom - stone archways overhead, a modern glass wall along one side, rows o

e stares land on my skin

uietly only I could hear. "You're not wa

re not the one they're dec

sement I'd gotten out of him - and then his face smoothed b

ilver hair pulled back tight

r gaze slid to me, and the warmth in her voice disappe

in his tone made it clear this was a w

our. "The same Voss whose pack couldn't pay its debts. For

rmurs moved th

ed to tell me to stand even when I was small and scared and didn't

id, before I could stop myself.

l went

etween offense and surprise, like a st

she said. "A Lun

g," I said, "that I ne

ying second, n

ow, short, almost startled out of

m. A few pack members exchanged glances. No

a laughing matter. The pack deserves a true L

hard as stone, "doesn't answer to this

nt of me without ever physically moving, a wall of Alpha aut

he said. "That is the onl

me. He hadn't softened. But he had, without hesitation, put h

he'd said

didn't match the cold contract he'd handed me - cracks in the ice, sma

supply lines and border patrols. I stood beside Kael through all of it, playing the

e hall began to em

d cold, closing

-haired - had circled back, her face inches from min

s, the ones who want a fairy tale. But I have see

ip tig

re not one

opped. "I nev

she cut in, eyes narrowing to slits. "A p

od wen

me fro

ion curling at the edge of her mouth like she'd j

"I will find it. And when I do, Alpha Draven's

l burning where she'd touched me, and across the room, Kael watching us both with an expression