an'

dience wasn'

s exp

t mean it wasn

very right not to. We had hurt her. We had b

sn't makin

don't trust us. I get it. But that doesn't

"And if I t

rsation, leaned forward slightly, his piercing b

ing for just a second before she quickly m

t laugh. "You really

tention back to Ivy. "You're not a pri

th anger. "That sounds li

t. You can fight, you can scream, you can curse us t

digging into the fabric of the cou

te. "Because yo

ht, her entire

e air between us was heavy, filled

ook her head. "That d

quiet but firm. "I

at working as she struggled

I sa

ds. The way her heartbeat stu

lt the

dn't want t

n't blame h

asn't going

was

prove it to her-wheth

's

to get ou

ng in my mind since the mome

n't going

, inescapable. Even now, as I sat in the room with them, I could

't going t

n't going

needed

needed

, I wou

d let them beli

ame-when they least e

, and I was

n't free either. Wherever I went, one of them was alway

in a different

making me too aware of their presence, of the way their scents

d them

staring out at the packhouse courtyard. Wolves moved around b

behind me. I didn't have t

iet today,

not looking at hi

You can keep pretending all you w

my jaw. "

ed. "You may not want to ad

aring at him. "All I

es darkened.

at me, like he could see p

ong here," I

red with something

ed in my chest. "

"That was before

is that? That I'm your ma

ut the bond isn't som

" I sho

over his expre

wer. Why should

the door swung open, and Kieran st

een us before settling his sharp blue ey

nore

me to collapse onto the couc

acknowledged the tension in the room, his piercing

ned. "No

e on, Ivy. We finally start treating

d rather starve than si

rkened. "That's

es. "Are you goi

le

nched. "No. But

Even if I have to

my heart poun

They weren't letting me ha

i

yet, I would make th

them in ever

hat they said, I wo

d, I was neve