el

g Kaelen knew

his tongue, packed into the bac

g was the weigh

hrough the curtains of his bedroom. His

is ribs. Platinum hair

nt comple

his side, warm and sleepy, and

ing,

bed before she f

is stomach rolled, and for a second he thou

ked under her arms, and smiled at

d one

he tilted her head. The silver circlet glinted on the night

d at the

ht. Drums. Red moon. Faces

oth wall where the rest of

ut," h

n't move. But he

Kaelen. This is

u

ribs. His wolf, silent until now, let

ked down a

ses of his fingers. And his throat-he swallowed, and it fe

remember

waiting i

last night's clothes. He looked like he hadn't slept. Whe

say Alph

t happened,"

ows climbed. "

k like I'

im. Something sh

ly don't

deo

's voice was flat. "Called her up in front o

llway

N

ate and your Luna. Then you crowned Vale's daughter." Gideon's jaw flexe

I wou

ing ten feet

wall. He didn't reme

his neck. Of her scarred palm against his cheek. He'd pla

aim

o

ietly. "Then she walked off that

as alrea

age door

off its hinges and lying

up so fast his vision

la

kitchen table lay on its side. A chair was smashed against the

chair still standing, holdi

face was swollen purp

e came out half growl. "Maeve

man lowere

ng time. Her eyes were the

l," sh

lie t

m old. Old

e is

oice didn't rise. It didn't have to. "Not

me out like she w

s. His split knuckles cracked o

remember last night. Any of it

ickered in M

ched his face, slow and clinical,

r mouth,"

ha

our mou

it. She leaned in and

e body w

n said from the doo

r hand was shaking

she said.

at the western bo

clawing to be let out. Elara's scent was everywhere and nowhere. Rain and mint, smeare

phe

il elders behind him. His face was grey with worry. He

out since dawn. I

e is

eld out

n cotton lay across

om the altar while she walked up the steps toward hi

His fingers

lled l

it smelled of something else

gu

he tracks go west into the badlands. Two sets. Hers and a male's." He

not po

pping off at night for weeks

head sn

someone

him. Nobody knew that.

dy k

could say

er her," he sa

Ridge alliance is twelve hours old. Lucius Vale's daughter is wearing your mother's cro

care how

s voice softened. "Yo

's jaw

hoice up there, and she accepted it in front of the whole pack. She

p crumpled in

ccept

dn't f

before the tor

rian said quietl

e pines. Somewhere past t

opened

een fluttered d

he trackers

o back to t

tudy instead and locked the door behind him and stood in the m

ouldn't st

g gap, like a tooth pulled out by the root. Ev

now why it

d toward

rinkled und

looke

here it must have been pushed through yesterday. Cheap lined paper, torn

nywhere. She labeled every j

wn and pic

led of rain an

folde

a

e something to tell you. Something

It's good. I pr

ou. Find

E

s. His thumb pressed against the

oticed th

arters. He could see the origi

if somebody had opened it, read it

te rooms had been loc

people

i

ast night,

the study

en t

ss key dangling from her finger. Her feet were bare.

when you'd

rea

sound. "Someone shoved a love letter under my husban

t o

to know what her

ightened o

e looked at the note. Then up at him,

pregnant,

ent. Even his wol

gna

d across his coat on the riverbank, her

ed once, hard,

ady rising in his throa

And she smiled, slow and sorry, like

the note with one fingernail. "Bree Hollis heard her telling Mir

ath stopped

e mo

Quinn for the first

until her lips

pup," she whispered, "and she wa