rix

eps with fury blazing in his dark brown eyes, grabbed my wet

to a low combat stance so I wouldn't fall, watching coldly as

ried to strangl

ng down her cheeks as she trembled like a wounded fawn w

around and glared at me

w dare you lay a violent hand on y

e lake and tore her shoul

bleeding on the grass,

you only have eyes f

eve a brief, di

ciplined. Even with Beta healing, she w

sibling affection made my stomach turn. Ignoring Daron's barking, I t

normal coagulation. I ripped a clean strip of linen from my inner hem, pressed my thumbs hard against three nerve-and-v

back to m

standing by the hedge, then followed them down the

ered cedar box from a hidden compartment beneath my floorboards. Inside lay dried

ged claw wounds, and wrapped her shoulder tight. Only when her pale cheeks reg

tasted copper. In this ruthless pack hierarchy, if I didn't secur

h an iris totem. Five years ago in the lawless black market, I had used my herbal skills to save Agatha, the

ither. So I picked up my phone and dialed the memorized eleven-digit nu

Beat

n audience with t

nd steady while glanc

egarding the Black R

rainage tunnel behind the estate hills and climbed into the

ere Agatha led me into a quiet greenhouse tearoom. The Dowager sat in a velvet armch

ace and marry Constantine Bo

its saucer, her sharp gray ey

rounds to the chest, he is a brain-dead vegetable who co

kno

gaze witho

una to stabilize their board and military defense, while I need a

kle, tapping her manicured fing

rl your mother dotes on. However, an edict from th

ack Ridge by sending a low-born commoner in place of a bl

the fraud, it will trigger a pack war-wherea

yes in thought for a long

to ward off his bad luck, I will speak to Alpha King

s a

y around the brass iris coin in my pocket

tate tunnel and pushed open my bedroom door, where the s

ust as Cheyenne stood up from my armchair, t

you been all

ioning me as if he still

at the door, my f

t of my

long strides toward me, a smug, self-a

the Royal territory-what, did you finally come to your