ontgome

Black granite floors stretched across hundreds of feet, flanked by towering pillars of fluted steel. Every thirty yards,

's territorial scent-dark pine, ozone, and the faint, co

ped in frayed black velvet against my chest. Every step I took sque

al

uscle block

tailored dress shirt. His neck was thick as a tree trunk, and his eye

his voice vibrating in my sternum. "Especially not stray wolfless girls

lower lip as I pulled the wooden box closer to my collarbone. "A p

t. "Mr. Harris doesn't accept deliverie

down,

from behind the s

glasses up the bridge of his aristocratic nose. His movements were fluid, precise, and devoid

over his left chest in salute. "Beta Declan. T

ed coat, my worn boots, and finally locking onto the velvet-wrapped box in

Declan asked, his tone polite on the sur

ing forward until I was arm

rived," I whispered, keeping my voice low enough that only h

tracted to pinprick

oss the barrier and took the velvet box from my hands. Its wei

hing. If you move more than three feet from that

to the private executive elevator at the rear of the hall. The polished brass doors slid shu

Harri

of the climate control and the distant roar of t

e-black synthetic disguise mask resting against the skin of my jawline, aging my features from seventeen and a half to that of a weathered, battle-scarred warlord in his for

chimes brok

harcoal carpeting, carrying a black

desk. "A young female presented this at the ground-flo

now? Another scam by the Guer

mouth twitching slightly as if fighting a bewildered smile. "Also, our surveillance picked up an incident in the midtow

s adopted daughter by claiming I already had a 'family' to attend to. And now, some stray girl had not only caug

lan noted, misinterpreting my silence.

ed the beast slumbering behind my ribs. I turned smoothly, crossing the vast

ger, I flipped open the bras

y lid sw

the shadowy corners of the penthouse in rich, oceanic hues. But my e

paper resting beside the gem. I picked it up. The h

d, and I give you th

ing Declan so badly he almost dropped his clipbo

as her one and only golden ticket back into the high society of Apex Metro with a verifiable, untouchab

ng a treasure that would drive every noble in the country into a blood-crazed frenzy r

ocketing the note.

smell so sharp, so intoxicating, that my entire

ain snow falling on wild, blooming whi

ched rhythm of a predator for seventeen years,

Boom

k erupted in violent goosebumps, an electric shock racing through every nerve ending until my

ysical

less emptiness that had tormented my soul since the day of my first Shift vani

oul's

y Lycan heritage snapped awake. His crimson fur bristled, his fangs bare

IN

red so loudly

ith the Tears of the Moon. It was entirely b

y raw, unfiltered Alpha aura blasted through the room, crackin

s turning white as my crimson irises flare

man. It was a guttural, scraping g

lobby, sir.

vibrating with enough biological force