ana

ence wa

o fit the cracks that threatened to tear me to pieces. Then I was undoing. I shook. I had fire

n the air, in my own skin, in every fiber of the place. A gor

Alexander's voice c

eady locked ahead, but I wasn't seeing him. I was

sank on my knees, and clasped my breast. "It's

ding, cutting through the tension at a sharp enough voice, but

had been clapped in the middle of a thunder shaft. I could hear the

, gentler now, kneeling in fro

though the scream that foll

l echoed from somewhere within me-not mine, but hers. Scarlet. Not fully awak

ng," I whimpered

t. A wolf, massive and ancient, stepped out from the trees. Its eyes were no

ake

th upon my body in a rush so fierce that I sa

and nearly before he touched

this feeling of being under the control of some

ood burning in my veins, flickering vaguely under my sk

am I?" I

e's dangerous, Alpha.

Alexander growled.

rmless," Darren mutt

prang out of my throat, savage, barbarous, animalistic.

st my ribs, snarling in frustration, her essence flooding into my lim

, she w

surge of power out and out of my ches

-

loa

less.

ackling windows. No grow

ce called from

oice came again, lower now. Fami

hing

ime it was a whi

n any creature I'd ever imagined. Fur silver as starligh

Blood Moon," he said. "Yo

e w

e beginning before the end. The bloodline h

. "No. That's n

. "And you were marked by the Red Flame at birth. The others only

hat is Scarlet? What i

f. But you... ar

en here, in this drea

t me sadly.

for w

ke a string around my limbs, dragging me from him. I made my

l try to control you. But remember: you are

-

snappe

dy ached as if I'd run for miles through t

ke!" someo

side me. His expression-relief mixed

ed?" My voice s

ing the hair away from my brow. "That energy su

ed. "I'm

d faintly. "You didn

ds. They looked normal no

red, "I

ilted his h

t from the Blood Moon." I met his gaze. "He told me I

n, but I caught the glint behi

eard of i

eal. Some say the First Flame was the origin of all Alphas. A

el like it's waki

as q

red," I