a Lan

t seeing your own face in a photo

, but not from fear, my body was steady. It was my mind that felt like a c

harp jawline that used to earn me compliments and now made my reflection feel like a threa

on her shoulder. Posse

image, stuffed between aged d

meant ev

ead. Do not trust the one who walks in two skins

hat g

I had never met Alaric. I

s I d

hing had bee

hospital bracelet with a name faded beyond reading. Medical records half-burned. Photos with faces scratched out. On

I hea

w gr

inside th

benea

cle. The estate was quiet. Too quiet.

ly. I walked barefoot, silent as thought, toward the elevator

n't built

el. Nothing lit.

et and stared at the girl's face aga

wa

my room and nearl

mi

black slacks, no shoes. He looked h

n somewhere

been r

n't smell lik

lared. "You fo

't confirm. I simply

ked to the photo no

Not frozen, alpha still. The kind of st

id you g

li

hed. "He came

t answer m

't have the an

"That's not a look of confusi

hand slowly, reverently. His

last Crux bor

ru

Moon-chosen. Whatever

is sh

dn't

d, "What else di

ng you sh

Too close. I ref

ra. There are powers watching you now that will cut through my e

let me

e not

ng I'm some fragile

ng you would be e

rms. "Then wh

his voice brushed

you bit

yes l

e alarm

through the marble like a coming ea

our room,"

idn

s. Doors slammed. Men shifted mid-run into wolves. And

ed the c

guards, wolves, and bl

at the center. Not rog

ne-white robes soaked in

"You were never me

w and lethal. "You'

you, Alpha," she sai

refused

n lifted

my chest like fire u

hit the

ss, something emer

ar

alive,

n't b

n the bodies bleeding out behind him. It was on me, like I was a relic, an inhe

a midnight-black wolf collided with Alaric's guard. The priestesses didn't flinch. They s

ered something in

re was stitching itself into my veins, branding my lungs fr

was Elias, I think. I couldn

ld the second photo between

ly. "But you'll do better than she ever

you want?

his eyes. "To finish wh

ising from a fresh kill, snarling,

Alaric said. "You thought you

de, still in motion, his voic

not y

. "She was never yo

h moonlight and ancient symbols burn

inside m

idn't know I

wante