تسجيل الدخولSELENE I was now tied in steel chains in the center of my own bedroom. I could not do anything to free myself. I was incredibly weak. They had placed a metal collar around my neck to silence the wolf inside me. The silver burned into my skin, acting as a toxic barrier that cut me off from the wild, powerful part of my soul. The silence inside my own head was deafening. I felt empty and broken.I leaned my head against the wooden floorboards and remembered Silas. I remembered the terror in his beautiful dark eyes when he saw the wolves in the alley. I knew exactly what he was going to do. He was an environmental scientist. He demanded facts. He would investigate everything he had seen. He would search for answers, tell people the truth, and no one would believe him. Society would simply label him insane. That is exactly what I would say if I were in his position.I started thinking all these terrible things, my heart hammering painfully against my bruised ribs. I lay on the floor bla
I stood frozen against the damp brick wall of the alley. The cold moisture seeped entirely through my shirt, but I could barely feel it over the frantic drumming of my heart. The three wolves completely blocked the only exit. They were massive, defying every known biological law I had ever studied in my academic career. The largest one, a creature of shimmering silver and gray fur, took another deliberate step forward. Its amber eyes locked onto mine. There was a terrifying, undeniable intelligence in that gaze. It was not the blank, instinctive stare of a wild animal. It was a conscious, evaluating look that pinned me in place. I held my breath. I pressed my palms flat against the rough brick surface behind me. I waited for the teeth. I waited for the inevitable end of my life. Then, without a single sound, the silver wolf turned its massive head. It let out a low huff of air and simply walked away. The other two followed immediately. They melted back into the heavy shadows of the a
SILAS'S POVI turned to Selene, looking her dead in the eyes. I needed to know if this was a domestic dispute or a kidnapping. "Do you know him?""Yes," Selene said quietly."Do you want to go with him?""No." Her answer was firm but laced with a terror that made my stomach knot.I turned back to Garrett. "You heard her. Back off."For a split second, Garrett looked genuinely surprised. Then his expression twisted into disdain. He tilted his head as if observing a suicidal insect."Oh, that is adorable," Garrett said, taking another step forward. His voice dropped to a low whisper. "The human thinks he can..."His hand moved in a blur toward me. I did not even have time to blink, let alone raise my arms in defense.Selene reacted instantly, spinning in front of me and grabbing Garrett's wrist mid-motion. The movement was impossibly fast, faster than anything I had ever seen, and I heard a sharp crack like bone on bone as she stopped him cold. The force of the impact sent a shockwave o
"Oh mine, are you okay?""Someone call 911!""Do not touch them! They might have spinal injuries," a woman shouted from the sidewalk."I have got dispatch on the line," a man replied frantically."Did you see that? That truck came out of nowhere."Selene's face was buried against my shoulder, her body trembling. Her fingers dug into my shirt like claws."Selene," I said gently.She lifted her head, and for just a split-second, her eyes flashed gold. Then she blinked and they were normal again. Dark brown, wide with shock.My entire nervous system was screaming. What the fuck. What the actual fuck. Eyes do not change colors. I am seeing things. A stress hallucination. An adrenaline dump causing visual distortion. Except I know what I saw. I KNOW what I saw. Bioluminescence exists in deep-sea creatures, fireflies, certain fungi, but not in mammalian eyes. Which means either I am losing my mind or she is not human.I cut off the thought before I could finish it. This was not the time for
The first hour went surprisingly smoothly. I sat with three girls building a solar system model, hyper-aware of Silas across the room but managing to focus on the children. They were wonderful, curious, sharp, asking questions that made me think. It almost let me forget the disaster waiting to attack me.Then Silas asked, "Oh, forgot to ask, Mrs. Rodriguez tell you the setup?"I looked up from where I was helping Lucia glue Saturn's rings. "Setup?""Two-hour sessions, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Homework help and enrichment activities."I nodded. "What if we moved the tutoring sessions to Saturday mornings instead? Research shows children retain information better earlier in the day, and we could extend to three hours, maybe add breakfast—""Can't do Saturdays," said Jayla without looking up from her moon phase diagram. She was one of the older girls, maybe thirteen, with box braids and an air of world-weary competence. "I watch my brothers while my mom works.""I got basketball," added M
He was very handsome. But his eyes were extraordinary. Dark brown, almost black, and intelligent in a way that made me feel immediately exposed. Like he could see through my soul. My wolf woke up, like someone had hit a switch. "You must be Silas," I said. He studied me for a long moment, before leaning closer. I extended my hand, the way humans did. "Mrs. Rodriguez said we'd be co-teaching tonight?" He looked at my hand like it might bite him. Then, reluctantly, he took it. The moment our palms touched, the world shattered. I ripped my hand away and stumbled backward, gasping, barely managing to force my wolf down before I shifted right there in the middle of the community center. My vision blurred gold at the edges. My hands were shaking. Silas had dropped his coffee cup. The moment our hands touched, his knees had buckled like someone had cut his strings. The cup hit the linoleum and exploded, hot coffee spreading in a dark bloom across the floor toward where child
The apartment I wasn't supposed to know about was in Temescal, third floor of a converted Victorian that had been split into six units sometime in the 1970s. I'd rented it three months ago using my mother's maiden name, Selene Matthew, and paid six months upfront in cash. My father didn't know it e
He lifted my chin with his middle finger. "God, you're adorable when you're delusional. This isn't a negotiation, Selene. This is pack law. Your wolf will learn to accept me." My vision blurred. I realized, distantly, that I was crying."I dare you," I groaned. "I won't make you break me." "I won
Being part of the Derimigo family as an heiress was worse than death. My hand was trembling in front of many eyes staring at me.I had practiced this speech for two weeks. Two weeks of standing in front of my bathroom mirror at 6 AM, perfecting every smile and gesture that would make me look like







