ett

t arrive; it detonat

ady blowing up my phone, their mes

ted you? O

idel

, explai

the screen, my jaw clenched tig

rcing a scoff. "She's trying to h

oice dangerously quiet. "This isn't a bluff. This is a declara

lamming my fist on the desk hard enoug

r was split by th

THE NORTHE

ai

es cracking and reshapin

e perimeter! War

erwhelming, choking the crisp forest air. This wasn't

my jaws clamping around its s

anded, the Alpha voice booming i

inctual. Aria was th

ysical wound. It was deeper, searing through the very marrow of

down my flank. I snarled and ripped it apart, but the f

s the

as K

t. The distance, combined with her absolute

ing to clear the sud

ed, the sun was setting, casting long, bloody shad

human form trembl

nne

se. She had a small bandage on her

She threw herself at me,

ms felt lead-heavy. I l

ing there. Quiet. Uninjured but terrified. An

y voice hollow, scrap

Alpha. We have six critical. We need the Luna to o

"Aria, can you han

t lines. "Me? Oh, Bennett, look at my arm! I'm injured. I'm in sho

nst my chest again. "I j

illed with a silent judgment that scream

away, burying it de

sey

of modern sculptures in

ping against my heart. Painfu

l pricing gun clat

I had befriended, looked over, conc

ll ache that had been there for three years-the constant, low-l

th, filling lungs that sudd

d in my pocket

u safe? We we

e last attack. I remembered the back of

y: *I am not your Luna. I am s

ed the

lay in bed, scroll

austed, covered in grime and blood. She looked pristine, the tin

e toxicity is gone from our lives so we can

dry, rasping sound

whispered to

ion seemed sharper. Stronger. The

ou didn't lose the toxicity.

am of him. I dreamt of a white wolf running through endless fields of