py as mist clung to the forest floor. Aria's breath clouded in the chilly air as she worked,

ed. Whatever battle he'd been in, it was unlike anything she'd seen , the wounds

out a blood-soaked rag in a nearby strea

down just as his human form began to break through the surface of his

hat a

ed to his forehead, strong jaw shadowed with stubble, skin bronzed and marred by

rom his forehead. She hesitated, then let her

hen it h

sp

ling low in her belly. Kade's eyes snapped op

et stor

falling away as though b

lf up. His gaze locked onto hers like

gravel, but beneath it lay a f

ile, a descendant of a bloodline hunted for centuries. That her mother had died in

g on binding a wound across his ribs.

urt, but enough to stop her moving away. The same spark leapt between them a

ent only the most ancient wolves could detect , and Alphas

now me," she

n death long enough to know what stands

was," she shot b

a taut string, neither able to cut it. Aria hated the way it mad

hering her things. "If you try shift

Kade growled, but his v

rtain the world bent to their will. She'd spent her life av

it too, something

dn't afford

supplies," she said s

ai

ssion had softened, the aggression

emanded. "Tell me

ing but found hers

No hint of

ver his tongue, as if te

t when he said it ,

tted, though it seemed to pa

he said, and vanished into the

That

irring branches, distant howls carrying messages she could no longer deci

d fe

bo

out by elders, but something

with a man who could destroy ev

sounded at the door. Not a knock, precisely

d turned

that signal

r

night before stepped insi

found

rance. "He won't survive

gone by dawn. If the Council finds him here, the

he bond?" she

it breaks. Or pray you're

e that, he w