incoln Shaw's shadow guard, I de

-faking pill. The shopkeeper, a grizzled old wolf with eyes like chipped flint, explained it'd make my pul

winter nine years ago, when I was just a pup of seven, starving in a famine that tore through the pack lands. To keep my little sister Julia alive, I sold myself t

incoln's carri

rough the great pack like a storm. He loomed over me, his black cloak

?" His voice w

sperate, clin

, your life b

a dagger. Over the next nine years, he forged me into hi

by my side for three sleepless nights. Or when he taught me to write, his warm breath brushing my ear. Or maybe it was that reckl

summer breeze, sometimes wild as a beast. He never promised me anything, and I never asked. He was a Beta, ruthless a

d a she-wolf bac

e, my blood turned to ice. It was Julia. My sister.

re a wealthy merchant took her in. But then bandits struck again, wipin

a radiant she-wolf, throwing herself into my arms, cr

ught the heavens had

rought in the best tutors to teach her music, art, poetry. When she said she was scared of the dark, he hung lanterns all

poisoned by Omeg

e'd give up the antidote if Lincoln sent me-his most

ation. The bodies carted out o

incoln, prayin

d, voice flat. "Then

as the darkes

hem back so he could hear me scream. He hung me in an ice cellar for three days, watching me thrash like a dying fish. The worst day, he had his wolves bring a va

ing at my hands-bones exposed, blo

my chin, sneering. "Lincoln gave up his best blade

answer.

rried for Lincoln for nine years fli

life was his, my death not my own. T

ath pill was

moment I stepped through the gate, Julia blocked my path, flanked by he

sugar-sweet. "Must be filthy after lett

r hands. "Someo

hit like fire, blistering my skin red. I stood there, unflinching. Pain?

't scream, her lips curli

ammed open. Lincoln stood there, silhouetted against the light, his black robe making him look

strode closer. "Let

baring my s

a jagged whip mark.

ke whip," I sai

o a burn mark

t ir

row furrowed deeper. Then he sa

ouse me with boiling wa

kened. "What

repeated, meeting his gaz

ow. She's been crying in her room, hating herself for what you went thr

is stare.

d me away. "Guard

he courtyard. The first whip cracked, splitting my skin. Lincoln watched, his f

th. I remembered being ten, shaking after my first kill, and Lincol

the one tea

ted my head, wanting one last look at him, but blo

bling voice. "Beta Lincoln, her pulse