s already working the buttons of his shirt, her mouth trailing hot and insistent along his jaw. She'd walk

roat, and he was already reaching for

ai

away. His vision blurred, the room tilting, and for one disorienting second he wasn't in the room at all... he was

desperate, threading itself through

ce sounded very far away

had gone taut, straining toward something-someone-he couldn't s

ared before he'd even deci

d the room seemed to shudder with the force of it. Be

ely noticed

t somewhere else entirely, chained to a

ell anymore. Time had gone strange since the bond ripped

order. He had enemies on each side fighting for a share of

le he'd been the second her pain hit him, how sheer fury had b

urfaced through the bond, known it with a certainty that de

she w

He turned right when he reached the end of the hallway into a small passage that led to his chambers. Unlike other s

pushed it open once it verified. The scent that was unique to him flooded his senses

ed behind him. From the outside, he was the picture of cont

s chest rose and fell in measured breaths. And his eyes...

n by this? Surely that was not

e same space and were suddenly assailed by

.. this wa

urn to look back. Only Liora, his Beta had acces

dy for her observation and drawn facts toni

ey've called an emergency session. Our insider tells me Darius Bla

ng at a distance and envied th

was powerful. It was felt across three te

sight of her running through the woods, her face a mask of fear

no information." She pause

e, but Liora knew him well enough to see the tension in his shou

ur cracked for a moment reveal

suddenly. She was being hunted. She was on the verge of death Lio

ce and claimed her." Liora stared at Kaelen with understanding. "The bond

'd had any control over what happened. But

ped his soul around hers, not because the Moon Goddess willed it, but b

back to the present. "They'll convene within the hour and w

her. "And what s

t you felt a surge of power and went to assess the situation." He

e for

cold and calculated, every inch the Beta advisor protecting h

owed into slits. "Y

mega is a liability right now. She's untrained, unstable, and she's bonded to the most powerful Alpha of our

bringing her her

ing. "She's yours, Kaelen. You claimed her. Now it's your responsibilit

around himself, insulating himself from the weight of responsibility, the

to his life without warning. A woman who'd been broken a

his voice low. "If I bring her here,

ou'll stop them. Because you're Kaelen Drake, heir

*

ital bed by two masked wolves. Literally dragged. If she w

nding together with every movement, her back a canvas of fiery pain. The wounds had been cleaned a

e?" she rasped, her voic

e wolves growled. "Th

t. Although she was from a small to

decided who lived and who died, who enforced the

the wolf's grip tightened on

ehicle that smelled clinical. She couldn't see the driver's face. Couldn't see

de her a little more clear-headed. She sighed and sat

ince she blacked out. She did not ev

ajectory this night. From being c

had felt that clearly, it wasn't a matter of

. These hands were claws a few hours back

elines the first turning of her peers. The breaking and arrangement of bones, the extension

ing settled deep in her chest and his voice

the haze of that moment, she

a screeching halt. She gasped as the doo