There is a lot on my mind as I walk back to the camp. Aurora, her mother, the price of her gift. Porter's face when he talked about the possibility of losing his little girl to an early grave. The way her skin shone in the moonlight – smooth and silken.I touch a finger to my lips. I can still feel the warmth of her forehead there. My lips burn to taste her kiss again, but first–Something stops me in my tracks, the hair on the nape of my neck rising. I sniff the air, but can't detect anything untoward. But someone or something is closing in.Every instinct I have is screaming for me to fight, to tear the menace to shreds.I move as quickly as I dare through the woods and back to the campsite. I hear the battle before I see it, the snarls and clashes of steel. Gunpowder now reaches my nose along with singed wood and copper blood.Using every bit of stealth I possess, I sneak up on one of the attackers and break his neck from behind. He drops to the ground without a sound.In the moonl
Consciousness comes to me slowly. I drift into awareness from a cozy pink cloud of good dreams.I smile, reveling in the simplicity of my deepest desires. Evander was with me in the dream and he was my husband again. I felt his warmth, his care, and there was no doubt in my mind that as long as he was watching over me all would be well.The best part of the dream was that I felt loved. I have not felt that in quite a while.Stupid, silly, wish fulfillment fantasies of the lovelorn. If I ever write my memoirs, that'll definitely be a chapter in the book.There is a knock on my door and I relinquish the last remnants of my dream with a sigh.Real life always intrudes.There's only one person who would be knocking on my door at this hour of the morning. I call for my father to enter while I'm still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.He enters my room and I know right away something is wrong."Aurora, we need to go. There are skirmishes happening in the woods all around us. It's not safe f
"Evander, what are you doing!?"I can't believe what I'm seeing. Evander's malevolent grin is so far out of character for him, it's hard to believe this is the same man I married.My gaze shifts to my father who is struggling to regain consciousness after Evander knocked him out. My ex could be harsh at times, but I've never before felt such…evil."You're coming with me," my blood-soaked former mate tells me. He crosses the room in two great strides, then takes hold of my arm."We can't go anywhere!" I protest. "You're injured, all that blood, and my dad… What did you do to my father?"My brain is having a hard time keeping up with all that I'm witnessing. None of this makes any sense. Five minutes ago, I believed Evander to be on the brink of death, mortally wounded in an ambush that took him and the pack by surprise.But now, he seems as fit as ever despite all the blood on his tattered clothes.His grip on me tightens painfully. I look into his eyes, but instead of finding the man
“I can't have two mates at the same time. I'm rejecting our bond. I want a divorce.”Those three sentences, spoken by my mate, by the love of my life, shattered my heart and set me on the path to my destiny.***I give our dining room another critical look, making sure everything is in place. I want this to be perfect. Tonight is our third wedding anniversary.Three years! I can hardly even believe it.I want our memories of tonight to be the kind we look back on throughout our lifetime. Stories for the grandkids. I love the idea so much, I can't stop smiling.As if on cue, I hear the crunch of my mate's boots on the path to our front door. Evander is a strict Alpha, often harsh, but he makes the same demands of himself that he expects from every member of the pack. Absolute punctuality is the least of it.My heart sings as each step brings him closer to me. I’ve waited for this moment all day long! I can’t wait for him to see how much love I put into our celebration.He opens the doo
The light is too bright. It penetrates my closed eyelids, beaming into my retinas, searing the back of my skull."Aurora?"A man's voice. "Evander?" Why does his name stick in my throat? "Turn off the light.""Aurora, listen to me. This is Dr. Oliver. You're in the hospital. I need you to open your eyes if you can.""Hospital?" I open my eyes as the doctor asked, blinking under the harsh glare. As the world comes into focus, my memories return. Our anniversary. Evander. Nalani.The rejection.The doctor's low baritone fades into the background as I recall the shambles of my marriage. I'm about to become a former Luna, and not because I'm passing the crown down to my heirs like I always dreamed, but rather because my mate and Alpha no longer have any need of me. I've loved Evander since the moment we met. I always know my love for him is greater than his for me.But I am proved ridiculously wrong. I am nothing more than a tool, one that can be easily discarded when useless.How... how
A sob from deep in the shadows at the end of the hallway catches my ear, and when I investigate, I find my personal maid, Sylvie, slumped down and sniffling in the corner.Upon noticing my arrival, Sylvie only cries harder. "I tried to stop them, ma'am, I did. But they wouldn't listen." She looks up then, glaring at the staff entering and exiting my room.I hear her words, but all I can see is the faint outline of a handprint of her round cheek, the red, distinctive marks of a full-on face slap. Aghast, I hunch down beside her. "Who did this to you?""I did."The voice sends a shiver of revulsion down my spine. Anger curls my upper lip and I rise to my feet, ready to face my enemy head-on. "Why did you do this, Nalani?"I examine her as she makes me wait – the newly coiffed hair, her skintight silk dress, strappy six-inch heels, and layers of makeup. She doesn’t look like someone who just woke up from a coma. In fact, the transformation from the poisoned woman lying in a hospital bed
Silence meets my declaration, and my announcement seems to echo off the walls. I'm pregnant with your child! – I can't believe I blurted it out the way I did.I take some fierce gratification from seeing the shock on Nalani's face, her smug smirk nowhere in evidence now. My joy is short-lived, however. At first, I read surprise in Evander's gaze, then – dare I think it? – happiness. But that flash of brightness in his eyes is gone before it can take root, quickly replaced by cold, hard regard."You are all dismissed," Evander says to the servants, his gaze never leaving mine.The household helps scurries to get as far away from what is about to happen as possible. The tension in the air is electric, like the eye of a storm, and I fear I'm the one who's about to be struck by lightning."Wait, you," Evander says, pointing to the tattletale. "Get me my Beta. Tell Ralfi I want him here now.""Yes, sir," the servant replies, bowing his way out the door.Evander waits until the hallway is e
I keep my head down as Ralfi leads me to the guest room. I can’t bear to see the looks on the servant's faces when I pass them, though I can hear their whispers. Every member of the staff is abuzz with my rejection. The shame keeps my eyes on the ground, following Ralfi's feet through the meandering halls."Here we are," Ralfi says, opening the bedroom door for me. "Go on in, Aurora. This is where you'll spend your last night in the pack house.""Ralfi…""No," he says, holding up a hand to halt my words. "I serve my Alpha, and this is his command. You can go inside yourself, or I can carry you in. That is the only choice you have now."Rejected and dejected, I can only nod and enter the room under my own volition. Ralfi follows me inside, then holds out his hand to me. In the center of his palm rests a single pill. "I met with the Alpha and Luna while you were still in the hospital. Evander asked me to give this to you. Since you don’t have a wolf, the rejection will hurt you more th