tail. Dried herbs hung from the beams, casting long, eerie shadows in the faint light of a flickering lantern. A cluttered table sat in th

a practiced precision, lighting another lantern and sorting through the scattered items. "S

ng his hands firmly a

tugging at her lips. "Good. I'd h

was subtle but undeniable, like a second heartbeat. He could feel it pressing aga

living out here?" he ask

up from her work

not an

e," she shot back, pulling a w

e wall. "You've got quite the attitude for

nterbane. I'm not doing this because I care about you. I'm doing this because if your curse turns you into a rabid killi

ected, but he refused to let it

with practiced ease. The silence stretched between them, broken onl

not just about you. It's tied to something bigger, somethin

it," Ciaran said grim

n darkening. "Lucius," she repeated, he

know

lock drunk on his own power. If he's the one

," Ciaran said, his voice ha

alphas are all the same-demanding, arrogant, a

. "You think I don't know the cost? I've already lost more

can intimidate me. You may be an alpha, but in this cabi

ric, the air thick with unspoken w

his voice low and controlle

ook. "First, I need to understand the curse. Tell me every

a year ago, after the war with the Thornclaw Pack. Lucius cursed me as punishment for taking his territor

n feel the beast taking over, tearing through my mind, my body. I've tried everything t

xpression unreadable. "And your

ll moon rises. They think I can control it, that I'm strong eno

self," Selene f

unable to m

ver. "This isn't just a curse, Ciaran. It's a weapon. Lucius

in," Ciaran said,

to survive this, you're going to have to fight harder than

ng in. Trust. It wasn't something he gave easily, b

er it takes," h

thing almost like respect in her