ina

ged shadow against the stone wall. His golden pupils churned with a

er glinting on the iron barbs of the whip, and Haven's

shing forward and searching Deacon's face, he

stare remained nailed to my pale face, his throat

gh and stripped of its usual mockery. "You threw away your pr

already watche

hat I had once stood helplessly on the other side of a tragedy I should have prevented? In my previous life, I had trusted Jens Wolfe with a devotion so blind that I mistook

ned. I could still remember the helplessness, the horror, and the crushing realizatio

carried it back with me, lodged deep i

f I failed to convince him now, he would walk into the sam

aight, ignoring the sharp dizziness in

e did not retreat. He let me close the gap unti

ability flow freely through our open bond. With our souls linked by the goddess, he could feel t

my voice cracking as tears spilled over my

s. I was crying because the memory of losing him had never stopped hurting, because I had spent what felt like an eternity wishing for one more chance t

cold armor around his eyes dev

sed my foolishness, telling me to spike the wine so you would lose your temper at cour

ted. I had helped set events in motion without understanding the full horror of what I was doing, and by the time I saw the truth,

ad haunted me through death itself. This time, I would face the tr

tching the heavy fabric of his tunic with white-knuckled des

ung at his sides, curling into fists so tight

His wild Lycan power swirled in the tight tunnel, violent and suffocating, y

tted against my mother?" he growled, but the deadly edge

ough wet lashes. "I only want you to live. As long as you stay alive, you can lock me i

g his punishment, or spending the rest of my days paying for what I had done, I would accept it. I had already learned what it meant to live w

esistance he had left. The harsh lines of his face

ross my cheek to brush away the wetness. The gesture

, gravelly tone, an unmistakable s

a wall between our hearts, and the terrible things I remembered from the life I had already lost. But I knew better than to mistake this small gestur

lyn shouted, stepping between us with her fists cl

ing in her direction, his Alpha authority flari

it her lip until it bled, staring at me with

, his golden eyes burnin

ing to the r

g. For the first time since I had returned to this moment in my life, I felt as though I had managed to push back against t

release of tension made the world tilt. My vision we

oped under my knees and back, lifting me

en. Cool air from the bedchamber washed into the tunnel, carrying with it the dista

authority of a warlord. "Lock down the fortress. No o

nchronized, booming response of

My L

stened to the steady beat of his heart. I had heard that heartbeat fall silent once

. And as long as I drew breath,