enne

rate, full of bitter whiskey

attress until the air in my lungs was nearly wrung out. The silver fever had re

e here, and not be

ed a woman who could make her grandson break his rule. My face, which looked like Serena, was the reason I had been chosen. If Benjamin really killed m

s that he had to s

g light swept through the gap in the curtains into the dim bedroo

side was anxious. "Border breach at

ainly. He propped his upper body up and narrowed his eyes at me. The self-control of a hi

s family, appearing in his bed while he was in the grip of the fever-with the

tting on som

t on the most fragile, helpless look. I reached out with a trembling hand and to

king. "Please... don't leave me al

edy five years ago instantly shattered his defenses, and the sliver of clarity

my silk nightgown, his scalding body pressing

His lips traveled to the side of my neck, searching for the position of t

I, with no wolf nature at all, could not withstand the r

ing his head up. Then I tilted my neck back and bit down on

a more primitive conquest in him. He let out a heavy, low g

t of control, using the silver fever as his excuse, he vented the madness and hatred he had suppressed over these five year

betting that he would not recognize who I was while the fever had him, betting that once sober he wou

at the long torment finally subsided. Benjamin collapsed heavily onto my sh

the pain of a body falling apart, and slipped out

sharp; if the position of the blood scent were wrong, he would suspect immediately. Last night had been brutal enough, but th

te sheets. A wound on the inner thigh could pass perfectly as the blood of a first night, an

d "evidence" of the consummation. Without this pool of blood proving I had become his mate in

t it back where it had been

ng arms. I stared at the sun gradually rising outside the window, felt his p

n the room seemed to fre

d met Benjamin's cobalt-blue eyes-fully awake, cold as ice. His large hand was clamped hard on my

very word steeped in poison, as if the madness of l