The Beast i

skin as she lay outside the Great Hall. Behind those thick oak doors, the music had st

mate was kissing her sister, an

eeth chattering so hard it hurt her jaw. "I

e frozen ground, but she didn't care. The pain in her chest-the jagged hole w

s in a storm. She looked back at the Silver Moon Packhouse. It was th

r voice a ragged sob. "I hope the Goddes

d began to limp to

lack

trees were alive. They said the things that lived inside were older than the Moon Go

ped another ten degrees. The wind died down, replaced by a sile

un

r heart leapt i

Her voice sounded small and

breathing and the distant howl of a wolf fro

d frozen twigs. Her vision began to blur. The cold was moving from her skin i

further," she l

clipped a stone, and the world spun in a dizzying circle of black

going to

ing as he draped a Luna's cloak over Selene's shoulders. The anger f

he thought. I'll be the nig

he smel

ive leather. It was a scent so powerful it made her inner wolf-the one that had never

hit the ground nearby

ced her e

feet away was

s blacker than the night around them, and its eyes weren't hazel

watched her. Its muscles rippled

le tear freezing on her cheek. "Do i

he sheer power radiating off the creature made it hard for Elara to brea

ra's face. It smelled like woodsmoke and iron. She expec

w, vibrating huff. It nudged h

are you doing?

cracking and snapping filled the quiet air-a sound that usua

, the wolf

e moon. He was naked, his bronzed skin covered in jagged white scars that looked like lightning

oken form, her bloody feet, and the "Rejection Mark"

n said. His voice was deep, like the rumble of

blurred movement, he was over her. He grabbed her chin with

are you?"

his thumb brushing over her bottom lip. "And

d fire returning for a second. "I've already

ngerous smirk. "You have fire. I like

though she was terrified, even though she was dying, she felt a pull. A magnetic,

whispered, her eyes wid

e dropping to a whisper. "And you

your slave

rms as if she weighed nothing. He held her against his bare, warm chest. "I need a

he saw a promise of power. She saw

to burn," s

round her. "Then we are go

le Elara had ever seen. The wind whipped her hair, but for the first time i

e Silver Moon hunting party

said, fear tightening her chest

, booming laugh that e

n't had a good hunt in decades. I'll send

oked down. Nestled in the valley below was a city of

over. Her life as a mon