and the smell of wet soil welcomed her. Her head thu

ure in the room, thin smoke from a nearby fire pit drifted indolently. The a

lts where it dug into her ankles and wrists. Aria looked over the space. It wa

e the form came, a smell of frigid metal, earth,

ly tension and hatred permeated the space where she had

wly, each step compressi

ake," he said, his v

"Who are you really? Wh

"You don't know who I am

rd is my adoptive father. "I am

a bitter, shar

y would he tell the girl he used a

"What are you t

killed my father. Our Alpha. The captain of our crew.

scles stiffened. Aria's br

t," she whispered, "but I

spat, "You have his blood," which is enough. I vowed to exact

Years of grief were radiating from his sil

tone frigid. "You're going to

respond, but the word st

you an easy death. You will first discover what l

derstood resisting now would be meaningless. She

or something I did not d

aze-perhaps even skepticism-uncertainty. But it was gone as

ere. I'll decide y

, however, it dawned on her that she was now part of their reality. A world of hidden secrets, b

urmoil within. He walked ahead, pausing next to the person he

red, "let her go."

nd heavy, "are my Beta and my friend." Sti

just a human," Rowan insisted

re waved toward the guar

that room without my app

Eyes fixed on the door separating Ari

. Sinking his voice, talking

e. You know thi

ed locked within. And that night Rowan understood something persuasive: confronting the

. Groaning in the nighttime wind, the once robust wooden

ice gritty with terro

Panic settled deep in his bones. Then he noticed it-a r

"Come to my cabin and give yourself if you wan

and shook as he squeezed the p

gs and remained in peace. For a calm existence she had never even known she had been given. She h

ould return for Aria. To the world he left behind. To Kael's ca

. Her body ached, but it was the doubt that genuinely harmed her. How would they treat her?

re

inched; Kael entered, his

without comment. She raced toward the door when she was

ssed through them. Kael became motionless

ble." He backed off, aghast

est burned and her heart pounded. Body locked in

ve you done to m

ewing a spirit from another lifetime. Or even anythi