Vanc

bones. Sparks, fierce and white-hot, still skittered up my arm from our point of contact, a sensation I had only read about in old lore.

im. My grip tightened, not enough to bruise, but enough to be an anchor. An absolute. The scent of r

rowning out the stunned silence of the training ground. I ha

el eyes wide and swi

symptoms I had ignored, the signs of his soul withering that I had once dismissed as we

eaks your most private, shameful secrets aloud. He shook his head in a jerky, frantic denial, but his body betrayed him. I co

yk

d on my shoulder. I didn't turn. My gaze was locked on

t with a mixture of confusion and public emb

was building in my chest. In the life before, I would have agreed. I would have shoved Elian a

between us that he couldn't possibly understand yet. Addressing my Beta-in-training, my future se

ur futur

e training yard shattered. A wave of whispers erupted, spreading through the assembled trainees like fire through dry grass.

em talk. Let

. He looked from my face to the gawking crowd and back again, hi

get him o

ng his path, shielding him from the dozens of prying eyes. The whisper

, my voice back to that low, pr

ing step back. "No, I-I can't. I h

ies are c

the massive stone building that dominated the compound. "The m

He saw a high-ranking Alpha breaking a rule that would bring punishment down on *his* head, not mine

but a soft, inescapable weight. "You are with me now. No one will stop you." I saw the conflict in his eyes, th

ic energy bled out of him, leaving a hollowed-out exhaustion in its place. His body slum

ad

touch Elian again. I didn't have to. He followed a single step behind me, a captive shadow