LOGINMy pace slowed.I was close.The grove opened ahead of me, circular and impossibly quiet. The ground was covered in dead moss. Stones lined the perimeter, carved with symbols so ancient they seemed to hum.And in the center, she stood.The dark priestess.Tall. Shrouded in a veil of black. Skin like
CASSANDRADerek knows.The thought pounded in my head like a war drum, louder than the creaking floorboards beneath my feet as I stumbled back inside my cottage. I couldn’t breathe. My skin was ice. I gripped the edge of the counter like the world might slide out from under me if I let go.He knows.
"As a matter of fact," I said slowly, "it was."She nodded. "That was from one of my favorite shirts. My mother was furious when she saw that I’d torn a piece from it."The air went out of my lungs.Her favorite shirt.I blinked, trying to picture that day clearly. Cassandra had been there—that much
DEREKI didn’t move.Didn’t nod. Didn’t speak.I just stood there, letting her see it in my face. Because yeah—it was me.Every call, every closed-door meeting, every favor I cashed in to fast-track the permits they needed before anyone could find a reason to stall or block it. I’d done all of it. Q
DEREKThe crowd had already begun to gather when I arrived.The courtyard in front of the new Rogue Foundation was cordoned off with velvet rope and lined with silver-and-navy banners. The city's emblem flew alongside Moonstone’s and Red Ridge’s on tall flagpoles, and a heavy length of ribbon stretc
DEREKThe growl of the four-wheeler under me did nothing to quiet the growl inside my chest.I’d been patrolling for hours.The wind whipped against my jacket, tugging at the collar as I tore down another ridgeline, the sun low and angry behind me. Dust kicked up behind the tires in plumes. My hands
ELENAThe trial was over.It should have felt like relief. The weeks of testimony, the brutal questions, the endless speculation about Maggie’s motives—Goddess, the weight of it all should have lifted. But it hadn’t. Not really.Instead, I felt heavy.I sat at the corner of the hotel bar, one heel h
DEREKI would deal with Cassandra. But not yet. Not before I took care of the woman in front of me.Elena sat on the bench like her bones might give out at any moment. Her skin was pale, almost ashen, and her hands trembled faintly even though she tried to hold them still in her lap. The wind caug
I had chased after him, or tried to. My body hadn’t responded the way I wanted it to. Every step had felt like dragging my soul uphill, barefoot and bleeding.By the time I caught up, he was already barking orders at the Captain of the Guard. Already demanding arrests. Already setting things in moti
ELENA“Because of… you?” I said, unable to keep the confusion out of my voice.Maggie’s face crumpled. Tears fell silently down her cheeks, leaving glistening trails on her pale skin.She nodded once. A tiny, broken movement."I’m Logan’s fated mate," she said.The world tilted sideways.I just star







