-that the teacher would walk in and

e'd protect me. That wa

fore. Heard the things they

or whatever bullshit lecture he had planned today, maybe I could pretend

here

th sweat and bleach and embarrassment. I could smell myself-no one else pro

as blood i

me, just enough to whisper over her shoulder

ad there once, deep and jagged. I liked to trace the lines with my finger when I nee

ght

hed my

ne more minute.

a limp he never explained. He dropped a stack of papers on the d

Ava's stare on th

des the fact that I didn't have a wolf. That I might never have one. That my birthday w

didn't show-I was done. Off

ss members out. Others l

They liked to

ven see them. I was too busy thinking about how many more mornings I could survive like this. How many m

ad to give.

me, o

s the Beta's daughter. That means something in Silver Claw. It means power. It means immunity. I

to be Beta after their father steps down-

e

that

t some powerful wolf. He's the wolf. The one every girl in this gods-forsaken pack dreams about. He's twenty-one. Tall, broad-shouldered, with that midnigh

be honest, he

even the strongest. And here, in our sacred, rule-bound little hell, no wolf can take the Alpha throne without f

still waitin

ryone els

t all. For Leon, the whole pack is holding its breath. The longer he goes mate-less, the more pressure builds. Everyone

ission to convince everyone-includi

day's in

Mine

y could

s no matter the weather, ice-blue eyes that command attention, and a voice sharp enough to slice through steel. She w