ch. Why didn't you protect me? Why d

my eyes snapped open, terror gripping me

your fault... It was Mary who pushed

ightening as a suffocating wave of pain crashed over

eiling dissolving behind the sting in my ey

w utterly wea

n't protect the one th

rown in it, countless what-ifs flooding my mind. But the most damning question of all

now. I wasn

pushed my son to his death, and my husband and family wh

ven

d them a

rs spilling freely, but before I

xtraordinary Luna of the Blood

low, almost amused. The moment it reached

w that

ched when I saw him sitting on the edge of the bed beside me, only his back visible a

memory from before I pass

despair of watching everything ripped away, piece by piece, just as you d

g inside

ammed him back onto the mattress, straddling him as my hands wrapped tightly around his neck. My

der Blac

s older

an from. The very man I had tried to kill three times-th

rage from last night surged back, hot and v

working with Ethan and Mary, weren'

very ounce of strength into strangling the man b

, low c

eing strangled at all. And when I saw that amused glint in his eyes, like all

fore I

urr, long black hair falling effortlessly around him as he tilted his he

hrough my mind as I tried to process his words, but

ave told th

apped towar

staring at the scene before him. M

ut it wasn't his appea

s his

t confess a secret your wife doesn't know y

d man from

ling to piece everyth

the insane man above me. His hand reached for my throat, sending a sharp tingle down my spine but instead

ly any space between us, his breath wa

ith them, you would still be

played at the co

the world around us see

sn't j

like him joke, when h

him. Ethan and his mother knew be

an's older brother but they d

der's mothe

They said she went mad, that her mind had deteriorated rapidly, and not long after, sh

e new Luna along with four-year-old Ethan, a truth that

moment on, Al

the nearly extinct white wolf. He should have been the perfect hei

der was

's chest and laugh while watching how long thei

es believe they could live, only t

elt nothing-no kindnes

alled him

t he had inherited

er what they

ne fear

f him. He had kidnapped Mary, Ethan, and me. It was bec

within me, my gaze slowly shifted. It sharpened, fil

it? What do you

r him to go that far and still leave

r was a nuisance to the pack, that he was evil, that he needed to die and I obe

ing every time,

he had let me slip out of his hand

p had always bee

ad he don

d my chin, and before I could even react, he was off me, now

he blond man was no longer in the

concealed the hard lines of his muscles. He sat with one leg crossed over the other, long hair fal

said, his voice light, teasing... yet edged

, the smile on hi

nger brother, around your family. You were too trusting, too weak, to

ords, a bitter surge of em

h tears again. But before a single tear could

u are not weak in strength

chest, right where his heart was. My eyes widened slig

ar stronger than those who do. Your si

d onto mine, sh

so desperately that you believe proving your worth will make o

ile sha

to, and almost killed by those you fought

into fists, nails biting into my skin as I lowered my head, blood ti

s hands, a sharp, almost manic

an excitement that sent shivers down my

se flashing through me but befor

the bed on either side of me, his body looming over mine, muscles te

what they made you feel? Why not strip them of everything? Make them wish for death? If you agree... I'll help you. A new i

w my parents and brothers had treated me, how my mother-in-law had despised me, how my husband and si

nstant, something

gh me. The desire to make them feel

ubt he was a greater evil tha

ping me?" I whisp

t respond

off, as if thinking, before fl

s all he

h a devil or becoming one to

tter why he w

ent, everyth

obedient daughter, the wronged wife had died. In her place sto

something in my gaze had changed. The

r second of hes

as long as you help me g

as soon as I uttered those

dened like th