LEEN

ad my aunt's most trusted warrior, a silent man named Marcus,

ars. Pulling up the long, oak-lined driveway, my heart ached. This place was suppose

ries of the great Alphas. I walked into the kitchen and could almost smell my mother's famous berry pie. Tears I didn't know I had left bega

't bear to live in a place so thoroughly desecrated. She would handle the transfer through the pack elders,

nted to keep: my mother's locket, my father's journal, a

the door, a car screeched to a h

hleen! My God, I was so scared. You weren't at the ce

of him, mixed with Ella's lingering perfume, was nauseating.

The force of it surprised us both. He stumbled back, his eyes wide with s

I said, my voice

quickly changed tactics, his expression softening into one of hurt

He opened it to reveal the moonstone necklace. The same

y of it sto

it," I said,

grabbed my arm. "Kathleen,

in the eye. All the pretense

winter grave. "If I died... if the poison finally took me... woul

ightly agape. For a second, I saw the truth in hi

ice thick with fake emotion. "You are my everything

vows. He was trying to break me. But he was about to find out