u

tared u

e. Grey again. Flat. Lik

whispered. "

go of h

e altar stone gritty and ice cold under her skin, and

His voice rolled out over the cl

Quinn as my mate

hter got

u he was

her. On h

e reall

et out a long, mocking yip, and h

ed against the stone

t

ry breath scraped the raw pla

t.

Her legs shook so hard the hem of Maev

st

faltered. Ju

stung, hot and blurry, and she b

cry in front o

nced. He sounded almost sorry. "By t

er. Gentle smi

accept the Alph

ring wen

opened. Noth

e: A bond refused doesn't break, child. It rots. It eats the on

lattened again

ing, it eats t

she br

d his head.

ed. Her throat click

ear." He spread his hands to t

t in the shuffle of boots, the snickers, Bree H

ooked a

jaw. A flicker of gold. The man who'd fallen asleep with his head i

ver her hea

him. "Please. Look at

side him and slid

n't pu

la

cracked acros

a was shoving through the front

was in that cup, she sme

caught her

deon! Gideon, you

foot of the altar. His jaw was rigid

dn't

m. "Gently," he told the warrio

g tracks in the dirt. She was still shouting

nds balled

's shoulder. Head tilted. Pa

r her to m

for her

ought, I stay tied to him. An

ed harder agai

he kn

tience thinned by one

eath. It shook

Quinn,"

her throat and said it again, louder, so it carried

nn, accept yo

d left her mouth, the g

ke a green branch. Not a tear thi

traight down i

. Cramping. A deep, wringing ache low in her pelvis that she recognized, bec

. Not them. Pl

listened. Past the laughter.

th

wasn't Maeve. She didn't hav

d. One slow no

er, panting, sweat c

e there.

rian called. "Th

crashed ba

watching

cushion. The Luna's crown. Kaelen's mother

erself imagine

our Alpha names his Luna. Ser

early flat

latinum hair. Lucius Vale beamed from the side of th

Ka

and on the small

alls, six nights ago, when he'd pul

before she had to

crowd surged forward to cheer the new Luna and didn't bother moving for her. Shoulders knocked

e. You don't stop. You

n," she whispere

ed the bo

closed aroun

a fr

d under it, faint, something sour, li

tched for the people nearest them. "

Elara into

cious. The new Luna comforting the re

g through the thin green fabric, in

eek brushed

w. Deliberate. B

tions," Ser

in Elara's

l what you'

em, low and flat, and press

e.

ng, and smoothed the wrinkle

, healer. You

lided back up th

eads of the crowd, she watched Sera lift two fing

ad-shouldered wolf in Crimson Ridge

liance talks, Elara had splinted the arm of a pup he'd

look at

rees, down the narrow dirt pa

s cot