ВойтиLilith's POV The snow around us was painted crimson, steaming in the freezing air as the Northern Pack's warriors burst from the tree line expecting to find their Alpha standing victorious. Instead, they found his severed head lying in a pool of melting ice, his dead eyes staring up at nothing, and the three of us standing over him like we owned the whole damn mountain.Because now we did.Dozens of shifters skidded to a halt, their snarls dying in their throats as the reality of what they were seeing hit them like a freight train. Their Alpha was dead. His head was in the snow. And the rogues they'd been hunting had just become their new rulers.Malakai stepped forward before any of them could process it, and the magic of the Alpha kill slammed into the crowd like a physical wall. Shifters dropped to their knees left and right, their bodies betraying them as the blood-bond force demanded their submission. Whimpers echoed through the trees as grown wolves buckled against their will,
Lilith's POV The snow was blinding. Pure white stretching in every direction like the world had been erased and replaced with nothing but cold. My feet were numb inside Malakai's oversized boots, my entire body shaking inside his shirt that hung past my thighs. We'd been walking for what felt like hours through this frozen nightmare, following Vane's wolf form as he tracked the Northern Alpha's scent through the dirt and ice."Keep up, Princess," Ronan drawled from behind me, his bare feet somehow unfazed by the freezing ground. He hadn't shifted either. None of them had except Vane. "If you fall behind, I'm letting a bear eat you. I'm too hungry to fight it off."I spun around, nearly slipping on a patch of black ice. "If a bear eats me, it's going to choke on my pure, unfiltered hatred for you."He grinned at me…like…actually grinned. Like I'd just told him the funniest joke in the world instead of threatening him with my eternal vengeance."I'd expect nothing less from our littl
Lilith's POV The Northern Alpha's trucks blocked the narrow mountain road ahead, their high beams cutting through the heavy snow like searchlights. Malakai didn't hit the brakes. He didn't swerve. He just shifted the armored SUV into a lower gear and slammed his foot on the gas."Brace," he said, calm as hell.I barely had time to grab the door handle before sixty miles per hour of reinforced steel plowed through the blockade. The impact was violent, bone-jarring, the kind of crash that made my teeth rattle in my skull. The pickup truck we hit spun off the icy cliff like a toy, disappearing into the darkness below. Our own radiator exploded on impact, steam hissing through the crumpled hood. The airbags deployed with a deafening crack, filling the cabin with white powder and the acrid smell of burnt rubber."Did you seriously just ram them?!" I gasped, coughing through the dust, my ribs aching from where the seatbelt had locked up.Malakai kicked his jammed door open and the freezing
Lilith's POVThe silence in the dining room was so heavy I could barely breathe. Arthur Sterling stood there in his perfectly pressed suit, looking at me like I was a piece of property he'd just successfully offloaded. Silas leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers against the mahogany table, enjoying every second of this disaster.Malakai didn't sit back down. He was standing so still it was unnatural, his eyes locked on Arthur like he was calculating exactly how much force it would take to snap his neck without getting blood on the expensive rug.Arthur cleared his throat, adjusting his cufflinks with that smug little smile that made me want to scream. "Lilith, don't look at me like that. This was for the best. The Triad was becoming a liability to the bloodline. Silas and I just... trimmed the fat."Ronan let out this sound that wasn't quite a laugh. It was more like a jagged, feral snarl. He didn't even look at Arthur. He stared at the window, his eyes flickering from hum
Lilith's POV The rain was coming down so hard I could barely see three feet in front of me. The private airstrip looked like something out of an apocalypse movie, all gray concrete and screaming jet engines. My hair was already plastered to my skull, my borrowed coat doing absolutely nothing against the cold.Malakai grabbed my arm, his grip desperate in a way that made my stomach drop. "You are not coming, Lilith. My father isn't some cartel boss. He's the actual devil. You're going to the safehouse."I yanked my arm back so hard I almost lost my balance on the wet tarmac. "Your father bought my debt to start a war with you. If you leave me in a safehouse, he'll just send another hit squad." I had to shout over the roar of the engines. "I'm safer on that plane."Vane walked past us, throwing his duffel bag into the cabin like he was trying to punch a hole through the jet. He looked back at Malakai, his split lip pulling tight. "She's right. The old man is a snake. Keep her where w
Lilith's POV The Maybach pulled up to the warehouse and I honestly thought I was about to walk into a crime scene from one of those true crime podcasts I binged during finals week. Instead, I walked into something way more unhinged. Vane was casually kicking a discarded weapon away from some unconscious guard like he was nudging a soda can off the sidewalk. But the real show was happening in the center of the room. Victoria. In immaculate white Prada boots. A trench coat that probably cost more than my entire semester's tuition. And a compact Glock pressed directly against Dominic Russo's temple. The guy was zip-tied to a rusted shipping crate, bleeding from his nose and looking like he'd seen God and wasn't impressed. "Oh, good," Victoria said, not even lowering the gun. Her eyes landed on me. "You brought the attack dogs. Tell the big one with the jawline to stop blowing up my crime scenes." Vane scowled, wiping rain out of his eyes. "You were in a minivan, Princess. I did y
Lilith's POV The sound of running water fills everywhere, echoing in the bathroom. Steam fills the air until it's almost heavy and thick, the scent of expensive jasmine clogging my nostrils…the kind my mother loved. But no matter how much perfume is poured, it still can't reduce the bitter, meta
Lilith's POV The room is suffocating and hot, like it's about to explode. Heat stings on my skin, my heart ramming in my ribs so hard I can hardly think properly. The silk ties are still wrapped around Roman's fingers and Vane? I can feel his long, masculine hands wrapped around my hip, pulling m
Lilith's POV One moment, I'm standing on the platform, the next, I'm being dragged out of the room. Vane doesn't lead me towards the red carpet at the main entrance or the hotel. Instead, he hauls me through the back service doors reserved for the workers, right past empty stacks of crates. His
PROLOGUE;They always told me the world was my oyster. Turns out I was just the pearl….polished pretty for someone else's collection.My name is Lilith. And no, this isn't one of those stories where I'm the rejected mate crying in the rain. I don't do rain, it ruins the suede on my Birkin. I was th







