MasukThe diesel engine bellowed beneath the floorboards, shaking the rusted frame of the boat as Lucian shoved the throttle all the way forward. Black smoke poured out of the exhaust into the cold air behind us."How fast are those boats?" Brecken demanded, shoving past Lucian to look out the small rear window."Faster than this barge," Cade called out from the back deck. He was already unzipping a heavy black canvas bag he had dragged out of the bench storage. He pulled out two assault rifles and tossed three spare magazines onto the metal hatch cover. "They're light hulls. Dual outboard engines. They will be on our stern in under three minutes."I stumbled toward Soren, who was leaning against the small nav table, his forehead pressed against the cool glass. The scar on his forearm wasn't just glowing yellow anymore. The skin around it looked bruised, swollen, and black veins were spidering out from the mark toward his elbow.Every time his arm twitched, my chest felt like someone was ti
The silence in the narrow alley hit harder than the threat itself. Marcus stood behind the three High Tribunal Judges, his arms crossed over his tailored suit, wearing the calm smile of a man who believed he had checked every box on a board.Brecken did not step back. His shoulders remained squared, blocking Marcus and the judges from reaching me, but the tension in his spine had changed. Annexation meant the council would strip his alpha title by decree. It meant every pack member on Ironveil land would be disarmed, rounded up, or shot as a rogue if they resisted."You have fifty-eight minutes left," Marcus said, looking down at a silver watch on his wrist. "Though if you hand her over right now, Brecken, I might let you keep the southern timberline for your displaced wolves. You can live out your days hunting deer like common strays.""You do not have the military authority to enforce an annexation order," Lucian said, stepping up beside Brecken. His red eyes were dead and unblinkin
I leaned against the doorframe, my knees shaking as the warlock bond settled under my ribs. The connection had stabilized my wild witch blood, but the physical strain had drained my strength. Soren stood half a step in front of me, his bleeding hand wrapped in a kitchen towel as he watched the mouth of the alley. The brick wall at the corner splintered a second later as Brecken rounded the turn. Cade was right behind him with a shotgun held low. Brecken stopped five feet from us. His eyes flared as he took in the change in my energy. He froze, recognizing the shift instantly. Soren’s warlock frequency was now locked into my bloodline, completed and permanent."What did you do?" Brecken asked. His voice was a low rasp, his fists clenching at his sides."Brecken, wait," I said, pushing off the doorframe.He ignored me. He took a massive step forward, grabbed Soren by the collar, and slammed him against the brick wall. "You bound her," Brecken said, leaning into Soren's face. "You wa
The black obsidian spheres in the Elders' hands began to hum at a pitch that vibrated straight through my teeth. The sound wasn't in the air. It was echoing inside the bones of my skull, a high, piercing frequency that made my vision spin in nauseating waves.Beside me, Lucian made a low, vicious sound in his throat. His ancient speed was choked by the heavy warlock field. Every movement he made looked like he was pushing through wet cement, the pale skin of his face graying under the unnatural magical pressure."Lucian, don't," I gasped, reaching for his arm. "The field is tuned to suppress blood magic.""I have survived far worse than three bitter old witches, little wolf," Lucian snarled, his voice distorted and deep. He took two agonizing steps forward, his crimson eyes burning through the rain, his fangs fully bared."He cannot reach us, child," Soren's grandmother said coldly. She didn't even look at the Vampire King. She raised her left hand, and the obsidian sphere in her palm
The rain finally hit the windows, a sudden, heavy downpour that turned the gray afternoon outside into a blurry sheet of charcoal. In the kitchen, the only sound was the steady, rhythmic drip of water from a leak in the corner ceiling, landing with a dull ping into an empty tin can.I sat at the wooden table, my eyes fixed on the scratches in the varnish. The financial logs Lucian had shown me were still burned into my mind. Every memory I had of the Frost Pack, of the cold attic room, of the bitter tea my grandmother made me drink, was shifting into something unrecognizable. It was like looking at a picture frame and realizing the image inside was a cheap imitation.Lucian stood near the hallway door, his posture perfectly still. To anyone else, he looked relaxed, but I could see the slight tension in his neck. The air around him was cold, a physical manifestation of the sensory shroud he was holding over the house. He was working hard to keep my scent from bleeding into the wet stre
The plan didn't survive the hallway."The wind is blowing from the north," Cade said, pausing by the back exit with his hand on his tactical holster. He looked out the narrow pane of glass toward the gray sky. "It is carrying her scent straight toward the ridge. If you take her to the border, Brecken, Marcus will smell her before we even cross the tree line. The whole point of a counter-strike is the surprise."Brecken stopped, his hand still resting on the heavy metal door handle. He looked back at me, his jaw clenching as he processed the hunter's logic. His wolf wanted me close, but his tactical mind knew Cade was right."He is right," Lucian said, stepping up from the shadows of the corridor. "Aria's vampire scent is spiking because of the magical resonance from Soren's circle. To a wolf pack on the hunt, she is a lighthouse in a dark sea.""Then she stays here," Brecken growled, turning his full bulk to face the Vampire King. "With you?""I can mask her," Lucian replied, his voic
He didn't get to finish. Not because he changed his mind. Because halfway through the first sentence about my father, a sound cut through the house that nobody else seemed to notice.A heartbeat.Not mine. Not even his of course he didn't have one I could track properly, just this low slow thing th
Gareth was already in the car the light of the SUV kept flashing through my eye's. Chants kept replaying on my head. My witch side has been quiet but observing. Showing things that might take forever to figure out. My wolf curled inside me. My vampire side kept raging. An urge to something or someo
I lay there in the big bed staring at the ceiling for a long time after Brecken left. The t-shirt he gave me smelled like him. Pine and storm and something warm that made my stomach feel weird. I pulled the blanket up higher and tried to ignore it. My body still felt weak. Like I had run a maratho
I know everyone says omegas are weak, well we actually are. and personally my case is different my name is Aria Frost and i am about to let you in my world. I am what you call a Tribrid. Rejected and now four alphas would do anything to claim me. *** I stood there in the middle of the ballroom w







