Aria “I still can’t believe it, Aria. Working for the man you impulsively kissed at the club…” Bella’s voice crackled through the FaceTime call as she put on her makeup. “It’s unreal!” I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. I hadn’t told my friend everything, of course—how could I? She’d think
AriaI knew my adoptive sister’s tactics all too well. Years of being ruthlessly bullied by a person will do that to you.So I had come prepared.“Just hit play,” I said, jerking my chin toward the phone in Darren’s hand. “Then you can decide for yourself just who was the aggressor in this situation
I grit my teeth, but managed to reply, “I’ll spend the day with him.”Looking a bit relieved, Darren nodded and sat back in his chair. Sarah opened her mouth and closed it a few times, her face still crimson with anger, but seemed to think better of whatever she had been about to say and simply stor
AriaSpending the afternoon with the guy who tried to kill me wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind.But it was either that or spend the entire day in that frigid playroom, so I bundled myself and Lucas up in our winter coats and sucked it up.We made our way through the city, each of us holding one o
“Has he had the chance to make friends before?” I asked, glancing at Liam. We were sitting on a bench dusted with snow, holding our cardboard coffee cups in our hands. The warmth of the cup felt nice through my knit mittens.“He was a wolf up until recently,” Liam retorted, shooting me a sidelong gl
AriaDarren looked furious. I felt my heart quicken, no longer at the sight of his bare torso flecked with sweat and fake snow, but at the sight of the anger in his eyes.But to my surprise, he turned away from me and looked at Liam instead.“I can understand her making a mistake like that, since sh
AriaA little while later, we pulled up to the expensive supermarket downtown—you know, the type of supermarket where only the rich and people who are pretending to be rich but are really putting themselves into debt go to shop.Already, I felt a little out of place as we stepped out of the car and
The CEO was silent for a moment as he studied the cart. Lucas had already picked out a couple other things he wanted to try: pre-popped popcorn, frozen dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, and french fries.Finally, Darren shook his head. “Sorry, Lucas, but no. You’ve already picked out a bunch of thing
I felt a pang of guilt, knowing that our campaign had inadvertently put the pack at risk. Once, I might have felt offended by their fear of humans, but now with the protests… I couldn’t blame them anymore.I couldn’t blame anyone for being scared anymore.“I understand your concerns,” Darren said, p
AriaReturning to the pack lands felt like a breath of fresh air after a year spent underground.It had been barely a month since we had been here, but returning felt different now. When I had first set foot in Moonglow pack territory, I had been, for all intents and purposes, a human. I had entered
The man glared at me, but refused to say another word. He called out to the guards, saying he was done speaking without a lawyer present, and the guards entered and took him away.“Well, that was… frustrating,” I muttered under my breath once I was alone. “And useless.”My wolf growled once more in
DarrenThe station was cold, sterile, and reeked of stale coffee. I sat in the interrogation room, my fingers drumming against the metal table as I waited for the man to be brought in. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, already giving me a migraine. Or maybe that was just the sensation of my wo
We spent the rest of the evening watching movies, curled up on the couch with Lucas sandwiched between us. He fell asleep halfway through the second movie, his head resting on my shoulder. I glanced down at him, my heart throbbing just at the sight of him curled up against me.Countless nights were
AriaThe moment Lucas jumped out from behind the sofa, flashing me a wide grin with his party hat askew on top of his head, I felt my previous frustration melt away like snow under the warm morning sun.“Surprise!” Lucas shouted, running up to me and taking one of my hands in his. He gestured to the
I smiled, but it didn’t reach my eyes. “Thank you, Anna. I’ll try to come visit once in a while.”But we both knew that wouldn’t happen. Not when her dog hated me. Not when she clearly was a little frightened of me, too.When I returned to my apartment, Darren was already waiting for me, leaning aga
AriaIt felt strange, standing here in the middle of my living room, surrounded by half-filled boxes and the remnants of a life I was about to leave behind. Strange, but necessary.Packing up my tiny, run-down apartment was a lot harder than I had expected. Every item I picked up seemed to carry a m
The police arrived a moment later and took the man into custody. After that, we were questioned about the incident.Then, we were told to go home for now.As if we could possibly sleep after what had happened.Later that night, as Darren and I lay in the warm comfort of his bed together, it was just