Vanc

years

the rogues fading as they fled from something larger, something that never revealed itself. I had lain there for what felt like hours,

xplained. He stitched my abdomen with fishing line and fed me broth until I could stand. The scar on my stomach was a thick, jagged reminder of that night, hidden beneath my clothes. The scar on my face-a thin, silvery line

later. I had been

ns numb and mechanical as I cleaned the garbage from the back alley of The Rusty Mug, a dive bar on the fo

ss my abdomen-a testament to the night I should have died. That one I kept hidden. I had survived, but Lyra, my beautiful inner wolf, had not. The trauma of the rejection an

bar's owner and a distant, bitter cousin of Isolde's, stood

minder of my fall from grace. It was her small way of cu

art tonight," Cara sneered, her eyes glitteri

rials. It was my only chance. A path to strength, to a po

k. Five years had taught me patience. Arguing with

ed. She had wanted a reaction, a spark she could extin

taunted, stepping closer. "You think you can just wal

gaze with a carefully blank express

y posture-the ghost of the woman I used to be

ill better than me." She snapped her fingers. Two hulking dishwasher

gth was merely human. They overpowered me in

face. "Since you're so eager to train, I

, dilapidated warehouse. The air inside wa

he Trials are over," Car

n the oppressive darkness. I scrambled to my feet, my hands running along

screaming until my throat was raw, but only silence answered. E

way out. My hands groped through the darkness, touching cold c

yes snapped open in the p

ack in the door, illuminating the corner. A small boy, no older than five or six, was huddled there,

. He was so small, so fragile. He reminded me of the child I'd nev

-threatening. "Hey," I whispered. "It's oka

huge, wary golden eyes. I noticed he was holdin

moved toward him. He flinched when I got close, but he didn't run. He seemed to catch my scent-

uched his arm, he tremble

nger a prisoner. I was a protector. And in this dark, forgotte

an emotion I thought I'd lost forever. "I won't