to the soun

fists, and the storm outside

n't sle

r the th

ise was etched permane

e he hated her for opening a door

rough her tangled

was quiet.

ti

a

from downstairs

d her shoulders and moved

aw made he

, blood dripping from his knuckles. A man in a leather j

guards rushed

rimeter," Damien barked. "H

-we don't know, sir. He

n snapped. "If he gets ne

breath

e

e steady despite the way her he

if he hadn't realiz

ooking for you,

or spat blood. "Sh

n him-and everything

o

he

t

till recognizable. She hadn

never fo

a

once promised to protect her... an

w him," she

you're Mrs. Blackwood? You thi

ve ten seconds to leave this ho

you think she is. Ask her about th

t flinch. "F

ave hers. "You can't

m out into the storm, le

Damien didn't say

l sh

explain," s

"You need to st

Hale. Amara was my mother's name. I changed it a

acci

for once, the walls bet

th. My family's name was destroyed overnight. He died from the stress. My mother a few months later. The house bur

tightened. "W

hidden," she said, her voice trembling now. "And I needed

hed like a bla

o me," he s

both

ime-not as the woman in the wedding contract, not as the tr

gone to the third fl

e let me think you did

d louder. Something passed betwe

ntil I figure out who that m

rotecting

" he said stiffly. Then added,

nked, s

alking away, shoulde

up the stairs, "Jax was wrong about one thing. I

t like

the only thing keepi