All Chapters of The Heir Comes Home: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

Someone Who Knew Her FirstJealousy had a scent.I had forgotten that.Or maybe I had only forgotten Damien’s version of it.It moved through the room like smoke after his control cracked. Dark. Sharp. Possessive enough to make the wolves nearest us lower their eyes without understanding why.I stepped back from him.One step.Then another.Not because I was afraid.Mostly.Because if I stayed close enough to smell rain on his skin, I might do something unforgivable.Like remember.The front door opened behind him, letting in a cold sweep of mountain air.A familiar voice cut through the tension.“Hey. There you are.”Every muscle in Damien’s body went still.My stomach dropped.Oh, perfect.Because apparently tonight had decided to become a group project.Corey Vale stepped into Hollow Creek shaking rain from his jacket, his sandy hair damp and messy, his cheeks flushed from the cold. He spotted me near the bar and smiled.Not carefully.Not like the others.Not like I was cursed, da

The Thing OutsideMy hand stayed on Damien’s chest for one heartbeat too long.Long enough to feel the truth under his skin.His control was not calm.It was a cage.And whatever lived inside it had teeth.I pulled my hand away.Damien let me.But the bond did not loosen.It burned between us, raw and furious, while Corey stood beside me and the whole bar pretended it was not watching the most uncomfortable reunion Black Hollow had seen since Mrs. Pike’s third husband came back from the dead.Long story.Not relevant.Probably.Maggie cleared her throat. “Everybody breathe.”No one did.Damien’s eyes stayed on mine.“You need to come with me.”I laughed, because apparently that was my default response to emotional distress and alpha commands.“Absolutely not.”“It isn’t safe.”“Again with the vague warnings. Do they teach that in alpha school?”His jaw flexed.Corey stepped in carefully. “Maybe we should all slow down.”Damien did not look at him. “This doesn’t concern you.”“Lena con

Broken Glass The window shattered inward. Glass exploded across Hollow Creek in a glittering wave, catching the weak overhead lights before spraying over tables, chairs, and the floor. People screamed. The storm rushed in behind it. Rain. Wind. Cold mountain air. And the thing that had been standing outside. It hit the floor on two feet, then dropped to all fours with a wet, bone-cracking sound that made my stomach roll. Its body twisted wrong beneath torn clothing, shoulders hunching, spine arching, fingers lengthening into claws against the wood. Not human. Not wolf. Something caught between. Something ruined. The smell slammed into me. Blood. Rot.

Corey BleedsCorey’s blood spread across the floorboards.Everything else disappeared.The rain.The screams.Damien’s roar.The creature crawling backward toward the broken window.All of it blurred until there was only Corey on the ground with one hand pressed to his side and red seeping between his fingers.Human red.Too bright under the bar lights.“Corey!”I dropped beside him so fast my knees hit broken glass. Pain sliced through my jeans, sharp and immediate.I barely felt it.Corey blinked up at me, pale beneath the flush of panic. Rainwater dripped from his hair onto his forehead. His mouth tried to curve.“Bad idea,” he rasped.I pressed both hands over his. “You think?”His laugh turned into a wince.“Thought it might work.”“You stood in front of a monster.”“Yeah.” His breath hitched. “Not my best work.”Blood warmed my palms.Too much blood.Panic crawled up my throat and grabbed hard.“No, no, no.” My voice shook. “You are not bleeding out on a bar floor. That is drama

You’re Coming With MeSomething the council should have killed before you were born.For a second, I forgot how to breathe.Not because of the words.Because of the way Damien said them.Not cruelly.Not like he believed them.Like he had heard them before.Like they had haunted him.Like some part of him had spent six years standing between me and a sentence I had never known had been written over my life.The bar tilted around me.