exploded

knocking a crystal decanter to the floor. Sloane came at her from the side, nails raking for her ey

yanking her head back. Sloane clawed at her arm. Chloe kicked and thr

the night wind blasting through the glas

el roared, pinning he

tened her

Her body tipped over the edge, the rec

er ears. Below, the glittering lights of Manh

ring impact against a lower balcony railing split the sk

lling. She

ough the blackness was not fear,

hance, I will make

ped her

rk air, but a suffocating, liquid

d her mouth, gritty and foul. The memory of impact-a snap in her shoulde

shing, clawing,

concrete and steel of Manhattan. A murky, swirling riv

wed her way upward, arms flailing,

igid air and coughing up

surrounded by a dense, unfamil

her body shaking uncontrollably f

. Not a single trac

r, pale, marked with small scratches

The sky had nearly gone. The shadow of the pines pre

slammed

never should have come back to the Clark family!" Then, a shove from behind. A sc

rn? She couldn

face was smooth, the scars gone, h

d been

s, like it was grieving for the her who had died. She s

for grief, for anythin

laugh tore out of her ches

asn't

anothe

l. Sloane. She mouthed their names, her nails dig

sh love again. She would have her revenge. She would make every single pe

e frozen ground, surveying th

predators lurking in the shad

ife, to make herself worthy of Axel, she had studied everything-combat, wilder

ose years of training had been m

make her his pe

ruined dress and tied it tightly around the

alled the rescue team's route from her first life and bega

ature plummeted. The wind howled, and the ca

primal fear, but her ey

erself. It wasn't a statement.

rom the bushes ahe

holding her breath. Her fingers closed

re violently. A dark

nst her ribs. She knew this

l confirme

hours of training in her past

cked on the threat, scanning for a t

ve. Revenge could w

r vision. She had to rely on her he

ith a thick trunk, and began to climb, he

ent agonizingly slow. A piece of bark broke off un

ed the c

rk shapes shot out from the undergrowth, c