I look around and see the orange glow of fire in the living room. I run to the bedroom door and look around to find the room is engulfed in flames. The fake tree Ashley had set up for Winter Solstice looks like it's melting, causing noxious fumes amid the rest of the smoke. Some of the branches are starting to catch fire. I can hear people in the hallway screaming. Oh my Goddess. We have to get out of here! I run back into the room yelling and coughing. "Bronx! Wake up! We have to get out!" I shake him as hard as I can, but he doesn't budge. His skin is cold and he looks pale, even though the room is getting hotter by the second. I focus past the smell of fire. He smells like whiskey and wolfsbane. He's been poisoned! “Oh shit, oh shit. What should I do?” "Don't panic, Kas. You're a healer, you can save him. We learned about this. Come on!" I hear Lex call out. “Lex, are you strong enough? Can you help me?” “I can try, Kas. Go ahead. Let's save our mate. But hurry, we have to ge
Bronx’s POV I find the fire chief in front of the packhouse. “Chief Prost, any idea what happened here?” “Well, we have to investigate further, but it looks like arson. The areas that were damaged the most are way too isolated for it to have been faulty wiring or a candle. As soon as we have more info, I will let you know, Alpha.” “Thank you, Sir.” I pat him on the shoulder and move on. Reggie and I go around checking on everyone still milling around. Most people are scared but not hurt. A few people have minor burns. We send them to the medical tent so Kas and the doctors can heal them. I look over to see Milo and Lenora sitting on the back ledge of a fire truck, they are giving Lenora oxygen to be on the safe side. Whatever Kas did to heal Milo seems to have done the trick, because he isn’t even coughing like everyone else. We watch as people make their way down the road to the old packhouse. The firefighters finally start wrapping up hoses and putting equipment away. When I'm s
Kas's POV Things have been so uncomfortable since the fire. At first I thought it had to do with being in a different packhouse and everyone being in closer quarters than we are used to, but I think it's more than that. Bronx is like a man possessed. He has moments where he is very sweet like he always has been, but it's few and far between. He’s generally grumpy and rude to everyone, even me. That's if I even see him. People scurry away when they see him coming, hoping to avoid his wrath. He spends long hours at MasonCo and when he isn't there, he spends his time with Milo locked in the conference room. Most nights he doesn't get back to our apartment until the early hours of the morning. I pretend to be asleep, but I can feel the bed sag when he gets in. He always wraps his arms around me and deeply breathes in my scent. I hear him whisper how much he loves me and how much he misses me. The gross smell of cigarettes mixes in with his coffee and dark chocolate scent more and more ev
Milo's POV "You were right, Bronx. You made things more stressful for her and it triggered a vision. We have a lead on his next move. I have a team going to stakeout the dress shop to see if he shows and the team on the northern border has been given instructions to leave a gap in patrols. It's only a matter of time.” I say, reading off my tablet. Bronx takes a drag off his cigarette as he paces like a caged wolf, and with all things considered, he is. He has been intentionally keeping himself away from Kas. He had a theory that unfamiliar, stressful situations would trigger one of her visions and he was right. The night he told me about his theory, we stupidly decided to use a version of an interrogation tactic we used in the military on POWs. Basically, we slowly took away things that mattered to Kas and made her uncomfortable until she broke down. Aside from the obvious danger to her mental health, the other problem is, it was also breaking him down. We started by taking away Bro
Kas’s POV Coffee and dark chocolate. Mochaccino. I smell it before I open my eyes. Bronx. My mate. He came home. He asked me not to leave. I have a pounding headache from crying, but I feel myself being calmed by his scent. I clutch his shirt tight and pull it closer to my nose breathing in deeply. I feel his hand gently rubbing my back. "You awake, Baby?" I hear his rough voice from outside the cocoon he has me wrapped in. I nod my head and he opens up his large arms, so he can look at me. "You ready to talk?" He asks gently, as he brushes my bangs out of my eyes. "I don't know." I tell him honestly. "I don't want to cry anymore." Bronx sighs deeply and shakes his head like he's not sure what to say. He rubs his hands on his face before he continues. "Kas, I-I have some confessions to make and I'm sure you're going to be mad but I need to tell you." "Confessions?" I squeak out. “Oh my Goddess, is he seriously about to say he has been cheating on us?!” Lex starts to growl. “How
I crouch down and try to make myself look as small as possible. I feel a lump of tears in my throat, but I refuse to let him see me cry, as I plead again. “Ryan, please don’t do this. You don’t want to do this.” My teeth chatter and I shiver as the frigid wind swirls around me. I look over the side of the deep ravine. The river at the bottom is raging dark red in the moonlight with giant chunks of ice and snow swirling in the current. Blood River. If I try to jump, I’m going to die on the rusty rocks just below the surface. If I were in wolf form maybe I would have a chance. Maybe. That’s not an option now. I turn back around to face my fate. "Please! Please don't do this, Ryan! Dagger, please let me talk to Ryan!" I beg for mercy. The wind gusts hard against my bare skin, chilling me to the bone. I am shivering violently, wishing I was somewhere warm. I hug myself, in a hopeless attempt to protect my naked body. Dagger takes advantage of my distraction and takes a step forward, lowe
When I wake up, Marco is sitting in the corner of the room. He stands and walks over to me when he sees me stir. “Luna, you’re awake. Everyone’s gonna be so relieved.” He sighs. “Marco, how long was I asleep?” I rub my eyes. I still feel exhausted. “You've been in and out of consciousness for about two days, Luna.” I look away from him as I think back to the events leading up to right now. “Call me Kas, Marco. I’m no one's Luna.” I scoff. “Okay, Kas, since we gonna be casual now, I’m gonna give it to you real.” His voice is calm, but his professional voice is gone and his Spanish accent is much thicker than I’m used to hearing from him. “First off, I wanna apologize for hurting you. I was doing what my Alpha ordered. It felt all wrong and I could see it was all wrong and I shoulda fuckin' known better. I wanted so badly to just tell you, but I wasn’t allowed. I wanted to quit and just go back to being a regular guard. Cause I didn’t wanna see you hurt like that, you know? But I d
I lean into Bronx and snuggle into the crook of his arm, draping my arm over his chest. He takes his hand and weakly pats me. “Baby, I need you to hear me out. Okay?” His voice is still scratchy and quiet. “Bronx, you need to rest.” I protest. “Don't worry, she put plenty of morphine in that drip, I'll be asleep soon, but I have to get this out first. Please.” I sit up so I can look him in the eye. “I fucked up, Kas. I should have told you what was going on.” He tells me all about his theory of my visions having to do with Ryan and that I needed to be distressed to have one. He thought it was going to be the only way to get ahead of Ryan and stop him from whatever he was planning after the packhouse fire. So he and Milo cooked up an insane plan to trigger a vision and set it into action. They knew the rogue attacks were a distraction being planned by Ryan, but they needed proof. "The last rogue we interrogated said they were waiting for you to shift so they could alert their mas