LOGINDraven's POVI rushed across the field with Bella in my arms, unwilling to put her down.My heart thumped in my chest, my mind running a mile a minute on what I could do to make sure she was safe.She had to remain safe.Someone reached out to pull her from my arms and I growled, baring my teeth, my eyes glowing red as my alpha call rose to the surface immediately."Alpha." One of the council's medics again, younger this time, his hands raised like I might bite.I probably would."We need her on the table," he said, nodding to the bench.I looked at it, my mind warring between holding her and protecting her until she was awake, and letting the doctor do their job.I set her down.The medical tent was too bright and too loud and every sound in it felt like it was happening directly inside my skull. I stayed at her shoulder, one hand still on her, and when a second medic reached for her wrist to check her pulse I felt something low in my chest go tight and ugly."Don't touch her.""Alph
Bella's POV I had three corners left. Ronan was already a stretch ahead of me, but it didn't really matter. I still had time, and I was determined to beat him. The problem was something was wrong with my bike. I could feel it the same way I felt the vibration underneath my feet. Half a length of road already behind me and the final bend coming — riding a bike I didn't fully trust anymore was a dangerous hazard, but I couldn't really avoid it. I was almost certain I knew where the problem was coming from. The rear had drifted wrong twice since the second lap and the last hard turn had made the issue even more apparent. It was a small fault now, but it was costing me tiny fractions of speed, and toward the end I would have a larger problem on my hands if I didn't work the bike properly. I pushed anyway. The greatest thing at stake here was winning this challenge and winning my freedom from Ronan and his pack — everything else was secondary. The left curve before the straight I
Bella's POV I woke up without needing an alarm. I wasn't sure I ever really slept in the first place, my eyelids felt a bit heavy. My room was still a bit dark but I could tell it was almost dawn,the sun peeking through the clouds was the earliest sign. I wasn't really how I had gotten back to my room though the pack night ritual had run out itself in long winding sequences. I remember at some point Draven joining us by the fire and then leading the werewolves into a midnight run before everyone had collapsed at any spot dozing languidly. I remember closing my eyes in the field and then the feel of warm fingers running over my skin, lifting me up from the floor, the scent of spices and smoked wood filling my nostrils. Draven. He was the one who brought me to my room. I lay still for a moment, listening outside for movement. Outside the camp was already coming to life, people moving around as they got ready for their day. Race day. The day would go on as normally as it used to,
Bella's POVThe moon was full, a pale white, looking ethereal shining over the treeline,it had turned the whole sky a shade lighter than usual, and I could see across the roads from a certain distance.I had seen it rising from the workshop window while I ran a final check on the bike so when the howl rose from a distance I hadn't been too surprised.A few minutes later and the sounds of noisy children and active adults had me pausing what I was doing for a moment just to look at it.A full moon night.There was something about a full moon before something important that was neither a blessing or a warning, and I hadn't yet decided which one this was.For werewolves this had to be the most sacred thing, the moment when we were closest to our wolves and to the Luna goddess.I would never understand what they felt, to shift into another form. I was not complete, it was one of my greatest flaws and Ronan's greatest reason for leaving me.Outside the camp a few pups raced past the garage
Draven's POVFrey was waiting in the main building, which I had expected.What I hadn't expected were the aides with him, I hadn't really seen them since I asked Thor to set them up in a room and watch them.I had no evidence to prove they were responsible for Ronan coming into my pack so I hadn't bothered with them in the slightest.I hadn't expected him to look for me himself. The look on his face when I walked in — not the usual neutral facade he wore like a second skin,something closer to discomfort would be more accurate– told me he didn't want to be here either.“Alpha Draven” he mumbled, bowing his head in a slight show of respect.“Representative Frey” I responded as I pulled out the chair across from him and sat gesturing for him to sit as well.He had a folder on the table, thin, with maybe two or three pages at most. I recognized them from the day he first arrived. He slid it across to me without a preamble."The agreement," he said." Luna Bella signed her portion three da
Draven's POVBella was already on the track when I got there.It wasn't super early, and to be honest, I had delayed on the way here because I wasn't really sure what to say when I saw her.But now here I was, standing in the distance watching her—helmet on the bench, bike pulled out, running a pre-check on the tires while she waited.She had the rear wheel off the frame and her tools spread across the tarp, working on something—I couldn't tell what from this far back off the path, her back to me.The set of her shoulders told me she had been working for quite a while. Long enough that being here likely had nothing to do with the race preparation.I thought back to yesterday's kiss. Was she here for the same reason I was? Unable to sleep at the thought of that simple kiss.I stopped at the edge of the clearing and watched her in silence for a moment before she heard me.She didn't look up when she spoke."You're early," she said."So are you."She turned a bolt between her fingers, ex
Bella's POV“An alpha should know when to be a coward and when his people's desperate pleas for justice should touch him!”“A highborn heir, a firstborn and rightful apparent to the throne should fight for his justice when it is being denied him!”“An alpha prince gets trials! He doesn't just get b
Bella's POVThe guards refused to let me enter the rogue encampments again. This was going to be the tenth time this evening."The Lord asked you to leave. Didn't you hear him when he told you that at the free plains?" one had snapped at me, his voice edged with irritation and something darker, but
Bella's POV I began to run as fast as my legs could carry me, even though I was wolfless. I was agile and had always secretly trained myself to be strong, even though I had no wolf. A Luna was supposed to have strength to defend the pack alongside her Alpha. I had done all these so that I coul
Bella's POVRonan almost fell to the floor as he coughed up blood, his body folding in on itself as if he were weakly—no, even weaker than I was ever supposed to be.“How dare you, Bella?” He snapped, his voice hoarse yet filled with disbelief. As if the idea of me rejecting him first was something







