sta

oaned as I pushed them open, the sound slicing th

lyn's plate, an intimate, domestic gesture that made my stomach clench.

or creaked, the t

ch had been soft with affection, instantly hardened in

he adopted her usual persona: the fragile, unassuming widow. It w

reakfast table. I didn't sit. I stood at the head of the table, plant

loor. He started to move toward me, his hand o

untary recoil as if he were a venomous snake. Th

crossed his features before it was expertly repl

e low and devoid of any warmth. "I was looking f

hen-a microscopic tightening around Keaton's eyes, a fractio

udy until after midnight. Drowning in the Pack's quarterly financial repo

g with unshed tears. "Calista, you shouldn't accuse him like that. He

Is that what you were doing on the hood of his b

hed, just for a second, but his recovery was immediate. He

ay is getting to you. I've told you, we need to be patient." He took a step toward me, his voice dropping into a soothing, patroniz

he wave of his authority wash over me without

ice cutting through his attempted manipu

rd, detonated in

ding slipped from her other hand, plummeting to the Persian rug. It shattered o

shrieked, her voice rising with manufactured hysteria.

n, clutching his arm like a shield. Her body was wracked with s

th vanished, replaced by a chilling authority. "C

peated, the word

ommand. "She sometimes gets confused and calls me by his name. It's a sad, simpl

oing to stand there, in the wreckage of my life, and tell

st night, roared to life. It consumed every last shred of restr

mo

ps deliberate. Keaton put out an arm to block

a strength I didn't know I possessed. He stumbled

of Carolyn now. Her tear-streaked

sed m

heek was like a gunshot in the cavernous r

nt immediately began to bloom on her pale skin. A thin trickle of blood appe

k this time. The act was over. The tears stopped.

d, pulling Carolyn behind him, his eyes blazing with a fury that wa

g fingers. I met his furious gaze without a

ce steady and clear, "

attered cup, on the ruin of my enga