clung to my skin like mold, t

t of focus. Stone walls. Rusted bars. Chains that

re

ned where the silver cuffs clung. My entire body ached, but it

nside me wa

I cau

t s

g

ke and pine and something wild, sharp and maddening.

hing I didn't

a

in soft and guttural. N

o, no

he figure standing j

beneath furrowed brows. An Alpha. Every inch of him radiat

looking str

t stepped int

e. My heart knew him. My soul screamed

expres

t me like I

said coldly, voice cutting through the silenc

ied. My pul

here was nothing to say. Because he was right.

f. Half-

omina

spered instead. "You

nched. He d

was alive, pulsing like a heartbeat betw

it like it s

at. "Like something vile

nch. I sucked in a breath,

tinued, stepping closer to the bars. "T

lin

rror of mine. I couldn't shift not with

laid

e hat

for this," I

her d

re more than this moment. But his eyes were hard stone. Cold flame. And yet... in

ething else u

ated

d this bond

assed. The

s a stain on the world. My clothes were torn. My skin bruised. Bl

ldn't

for

d quietly. "If I disgus

locked

ween us hel

enomous. "You crossed into my pack's te

rejec

ould mean," he said.

di

't sure how much of me would survive. I wasn't strong like him. I was

ill choose pri

. "Maybe that's

at me for

lo

s mask

or a s

oubt. Of something raw be

k a st

next, it was lik

" he said through clenched teeth. "But

inside m

use I wa

use I ne

to someone who looked at me l

ned to

dark corridor, with silver burning my skin and Nala's howl echo

self, chains cold

pered to no one. "You jus