ana

stone floor, a cold reminder of how cl

oming in ragged gasps. "El... she's going to

ce freezing my veins. Jessenia was a coward, terrified of the Alpha's wra

time before his predatory instincts pieced the puzzle together. I couldn't stay in the servant quarters, and I certainly coul

n the entire Griffin Pack

ubbing my neck until the skin was raw and burning. I had

, the Dowager Luna's Head of Staff, was standing near the fountain. The faint, steady scent of chamomile drif

eeping my eyes glued to the cobblestones. I slumped my shoulders,

and deferential. "I am a fast worker, and I kn

ching for any deceitful Omega or Alpha traits. All she found was the pungent, e

practical. "Three days trial in the Dowag

my knees nearly buckled. I had m

rlor. The room was suffocatingly grand. The air was thick with the scent of aged agarwood-Josephine Griffin's

s down when the heavy mah

voured the agarwood. My heart stopped. Jaren strode into the room,

ressing myself into the darkest corner of the parlor

id, his voice a low, disrespectful drawl

t his insolence. "I hear you have elevated a filthy,

ressing my spine ag

iver down my spine. "She's a plaything, Grandmother. A

blood run cold. Jessenia thought she had won

a flaring. "It is time you took a proper Fated Mate, or at least a high-ranking Luna. Prin

y rejected the command. "I don't care about your Pack politics, and

the room. "I will take whoever I want, whenever I wa

turned and stormed out of the parlor,

authority in the Pack without a second thought. He was a monster entirely unbound by rules. If he ev