began at

their leader. They didn't speak to me. They didn't look at me. They just grabbed my arms and marched me t

d onto a

, with trees that stretched toward a moonlit sky and soi

ssible? We're u

ts were clever," a voic

s, his chest bare and gleaming with sweat. The moonlight caught the lines of his muscles,

o late. The wolf

l, it wh

p, I t

, keeping my eyes fixed on a po

ed toward me, slow and deliberate.

hy

to control what's inside you. And because I don't tr

ose enough that I could feel

t," h

ha

. Full

y on command. It do

e was flat, uncompromising. "

ed. Not with f

it,"

In the moonlight, the

nt of me; the next, he had my throat in his hand and my back agains

rial is in three days. If you fail, you belong to the Council. And th

hand was too tight

o and stepped ba

n't s

ward-not all the way, but enough. My eyes changed. M

e with an unread

e said. "No

ow

tions. If you're angry, the wolf rises. If you're scar

w do I

ething that m

ks below my mother's house. The salt wind in my hair. The feel

olf s

y teeth shrank. My ey

thing different in his voice now. Somethi

ned unt

reamed and my mind blurred with exhaustion. Niklas was relentless. Every time

ouched me, fire rac

it was just adrenaline, just the heat of tr

e wolf

, it

I ar

it ins

oc

is hands on my shoulders, positioning my body for a defensive stance

rembling,

m c

you'r

I wasn't cold.

tance between us. "That's enough for

ay without l

t, there

But when I emerged from my cell to find something to eat, I saw

have wa

idn

I sit?"

answer. I

f us spoke. The sounds of the stronghold-distant voices,

lly here?" Nikla

apped me.

he firelight, his eyes looked almost warm

look like you

a bitter sound. "I

needs so

ed at the embers. "I learned a long time

happ

o long I thought h

id at last. "Her

"You're

was flat, empty. "Killed thre

e seeme

ry," I w

f-blood who killed her didn't just take her life

why you

you, Elif. I hate what you represent. A reminder that th

ot lik

same blood. The same ins

to comfort him. Just to let him know

inche

t touch me. Don't pity

erve to

Love is for people who

into the darkness, leav

cell with his word

ple who haven't

came witho

somewhere older, darker. The trees were black and twiste

r of the clearin

overed i

atter how fast I moved, I couldn't

stant, like an echo from the bottom of a wel

ven know w

t me with eyes that were hollow and scared

t? W

f them..." His body began to dissolve, pieces of him falling

ab

mise

AB

up sc

was the same. The torch flickered in its bra

wasn't

ood in th

had just woken up. And his eyes-those storm-gray eyes-wer

eaming?" I asked,

stepped into the cell, and the doo

ho

r fa

im. "You hear

ould see the flecks of gold in his gray eyes, the

as a call. Your father is trying to reach you from be

ing to pr

ouched my cheek-just a brush of his fingers, barely there. "Eit

o you

t, something flickered across

After Liesel died. Every night for a

ou telling

me, and in the dim torchlight, he

tried to make you my enemy. But you're not." He walked tow

ned th

kla

sto

d. "For not lettin

But I saw his shoulders

" he said. "The wors

closed be

my heart pounding, and

was quiet now. No

I could have sworn I heard my

kızım. Don't tr

s too lat

read