LOGINAmanda saw the phone screen first.Her face went white. All at once, the color draining from her cheeks down to her collar. She took one step backward and hit the edge of her desk.I pressed play.The room held its breath.The footage was grainy but clear enough. Timestamp: 11:47 PM, two days ago. T
The woman across from me didn't flinch.I'd cornered wolves twice her rank with less pressure. Lila sat pinned between my arm and the chair back, clinic light washing her face pale, and she didn't look away.That pissed me off more than a lie would have."Your background is too clean," I said. "No p
The boy's face kept coming back.I sat in my office with the blinds drawn. Three days since the school. Three days since Ella had pointed at Luca and said what everyone else had been too careful to say.He looks like the King.The gala planning was underway. Lila had submitted vendor proposals withi
I stared at the blank screen. Twelve pages. Three hours. Gone.Around me, the room buzzed with nervous energy. Colleagues shuffled papers, adjusted projectors, rehearsed opening lines under their breath. Nobody looked at me.I closed the laptop. Opened it again. Checked the recycle bin, the auto-sav
"I'm sorry." I held up both hands, palms out. "Eli asked me to bring the file and your lunch. The door was open."I was still in my work clothes — navy blouse, black pencil skirt, flats I could walk fast in.Kael didn't move. Water still ran down his chest in slow lines, catching the light from the
Lila's POVElla's voice was still in my head. He looks like the King. I shoved it down the way I shoved everything down and walked into the office.It was my first day at this new job. I wanted to make a good impression.But soon I knew I somehow had already failed. Not sure why though.The office s
Lila's POVIt couldn't be him.I stared at the screen while Wendy waited on the other end of the line. King Kael's face filled the frame, and yes, the jawline was sharp and the hair was dark and the eyes were cold in a way that reminded me of Luca when he shut the world out.But half the wolves in t
Lila's POVThe doctor came soon.She was older, with steel-gray hair pulled back in a tight bun and hands that didn't shake. My father stood behind her in the doorway, arms folded, watching me the way a man watches something he's about to throw out."Please." I looked at the doctor, not at him. "Ple
Lila's POVThe bruises on my face had turned yellow, but they still ached when I pressed my fingers to them.I was still in the old t-shirt and shorts I'd slept in. Bare feet on cold tile.One month. One month since Maya drugged me, since Derek sent those photos, since my Gamma father dragged me hom
Lila's POVI woke up naked in a bed that wasn't mine.The sheets smelled wrong. Hotel soap. Cheap detergent. And underneath it, something warm and masculine that made my skin prickle in a way I couldn't explain.My body ached in places I didn't want to think about. There were bruises on my thighs th







