el

d wall and gasped for air. My legs shook violently from what had just

ed on. I threw my arm over my eyes like a thief caug

my neck to wash away the heavy cedar scent. In the mirror, my face wa

ack into the on-call lounge and shoved my bloo

trutted in on high heels, reeking of cheap perfume and stale alc

inging to my hair. Her gaze locked onto a dark bruise peeking

my skin. "Well, look at little Miss Pure," Valerie sneered. "Begging

heaving. "Get away from me! I was

g fingers. As she flipped to the underground vault access page, her mocking grin

she whispered, then shoved

the sub-basement stairs. Five minutes later, she rushed back into the lounge cl

pocket. "You were never here tonight. If you breathe a word about switching s

ized shift-and terrified of my own shameful secret-I bit my lip

er-rue Draught from the back of my drawer. I dry-swallowed two bitter white

of herbs designed to suppress a she-wolf's reproductive cycle and he

wing golden eyes and that terrifying roar-Mine!

screen lit up with a final notice from the hospital billing de

ery mark on my neck, and took the bus back to the Pack Medical Institute. Stopping outsid

ric

abyss. My eyes snapped open, the dark gray irises cl

inner wolf had been stitched with micro-surgical perfection and packed with high-grade neu

against a square of bloodied gauze. A faint, pu

my ribs, replaying memories of a soft, resilient body beneath mine in the pitch da

Supreme Alpha of the Kensington Pack, losing control to The Hea

n a nurse uniform crept inside, drenched in

ha pressure that slammed her straight onto her kn

"A-Alpha Kensington! I'm Valerie Sullivan, the night-shift nurse on dut

Beneath the chemical stink, I caught a faint trace of the lily scent from

d. The name "Valerie Sullivan" was typed clearl

, rejecting the cowardly woman trembling on the floor a

ha never left a life-debt unpaid. I pulled

hin the pack's power, including the chief

oat. I turned my back on her and strode out of the vault into the corridor