ER

pha had ju

et spread backward through the hall in uneven waves. Glasses paused halfway to mouths. A few of the younger wolves

ked in

nd of precision that made everything else in the room look slightly overdone. He m

nt still

nough that only the people

ned. One of the senior warriors near the champagne table shifted hi

hair cut close. Even from across the room his eyes looked pale in a way that didn't belong to

carried that particular brightness she rese

id. "Silver Hollow. Oh

ut there was something more careful in it this time.

mpletely still o

ew the layout. But I felt Eric's shoulder brush mine when he shifted, and when I glanced over his eyes were loc

d. "In one night. Tell m

s," I

tched like he wanted to reach for my arm and thought

u telling me wha

. I could feel him fuming beside me, jaw set,

few feet from the

alized his eyes ha

und me. Directly. Like he'd walked through the

bout the way he looked at me, the way a person looks at a puzzle they've

ing again, stra

c said under

as Adrian approached. Not blocking

an. This is

wl that lived under most Alphas' words. "I heard Jax had been invited to Blood Moon territory

near the champagne table, watching this new arrival

?" Vikto

aze came back to me, and something in

hat I felt around Jax, quieter than what I used to feel around Eric before he'd ruined it. N

you," I

e asked. "I'd rather introduce mysel

't quite words. Viktor's eyes cut to mine, silently

," I

walking, trusting I would follow. Something about that con

stretched out beyond the glass. The music behind us blurred into something distant. My wolf, us

cs," I said, before he could start

cond the composed look cracked just

u got curious enough to crash a party you weren't invited to.

g that might have been

an they gave you c

used to hide behind a book," I said. "I don't thin

agreed. "

gment, an intention, made something twist low in my

re my mother starts pla

low, as it surprised him as much as it surpri

nd the noise, but something made me glan

ng there by the win

about it. It was quieter than that. Like he was looking at something he had lost

y," he

top

unnerving recognition, as if the name he'd spoken belonged to someone he alr

aving him there in the dark, still watching me like he had finally located the thi