n't waver from min

ng him like silent shadows, his gaze held mine with something I couldn'

wolf didn't flinch. She stood tall w

d, voice low b

"Aria. Aria

if testing the name on his ton

't a qu

"How do yo

jected wolf. And then..." He paused, his sharp eyes

sing the shift in his tone. But he raise

sked, my voice ste

Ronan of the Blackfang Pack. And y

caught. "E

n't come back from t

cing myself not to

see the muscles coiled beneath his tunic, the scar cutting across his collarbone. He was ol

he murmured. "Not jus

answers, only questions stacki

ched forward and

something flared between us-hot and wild, like a spa

orld

xplain: fire, blood, a shattered moon, and R

stumbled away too, shaking his head

s that?" I as

d darkly. "But I've ne

her h

rowled again

to them. "

pped, steppin

less. Which means you're vulnerable. Unclaimed land is no plac

anywhere with y

ou'd rather freeze or ge

sita

shade. But I know this-you're not safe. Not here. Not alone. Come

m, but she didn't fear him either. A

run. I shoul

d, I n

ted mid-run, bones cracking, fur retracting, until a lean

nan said. "

, Al

s he approached.

Wouldn't dream o

forest. As the sky shifted from gold to indigo, the trees

Alpha had killed his own father to take power. That

t, her

ved with ancient runes. The pack's territory loomed beyond-a fortress carved into the mountain, half an

ael's polishe

mething raw

iting for me

return, you give me answers. If you lie, you're out. If y

d once.

d me

stone walls, deep halls lit by torchlight, warriors training in o

m-simple, stone, with

l stay

s... a

If it was, the

m. "Why are yo

e something bigger is coming.

he

the bed, hea

t w

k, warm despite the chill. I closed my fingers around it. My

was in t

n that snowy clearing-on my

d in my head: You'

t the ston

sn't

anym

'd pr

er what

ed over me-sharp, unnatural. M

y chest. Something wa

g. Twi

lf ho

e mirror in the

oft brown-were

immered ben

ght between something

ock rattle

came through, tense. "

er-but my voice

ection

era

ror sha

I didn't see a br

omethin

ing da

ing ri