We stopped at the art display first, and there was Grace’s painting with the #2 ribbon next to it.I easily recognized the lake from the park, but instead of a sunny day and picnic, it was evening, and a thin crescent moon was glowing like a scimitar in the darkening sky. It was technically impressi
Sarah POVI woke up to the strangest smell, thickly pungent and raw. It was night, and I had been sleeping deeply, but now I was instantly alert.My first thought as I threw off the covers was that the villa was on fire. But there were no smells of wood burning or that horrible, acrid stench of pain
Sarah POVArcoNova: What a waste of a petty garden. The poppies weren’t hurting anybody.Diamonds&Purlies: So, yet another anti-human pack of wolves has decided to destroy something beautiful in the name of, what? Wolf purity? The moon? How messed up in the head do people have to become to think thi
Sarah POVI’d invited Melissa to the “restoration party” for the poppy garden as a matter of course, considering what a photo op it would be, but that didn’t curb my delight when she said yes.The fire damage had been cleaned up, and the shed had been repainted in a soothing off-white. Dr. Hayes tur
Sarah POV“Are you out of your mind?”“Sarah, I know you’re not talking about me.”She was right. Nothing we were talking about dealt with her at all. This was a clear case of “Don’t shoot the messenger.” But it was hard for me to care that I was being irrational. I felt I was owned a little irratio
The logjam of words ended, and I was just sitting there and feeling like an incredible idiot.“I’ve been waiting for that,” Travis said. “About time, really.”I looked at him. He looked back.“What?” I asked.He smiled, and it was very kind. “You’ve been plucked from this obscure life with your adop
Sarah POVAt Ms. Glim’s urging, Zane had hired a voice coach for Grace who came three times a week after she got back from school. Grace had wanted to have her every day, but Miss Carmen, as she insisted on being called, worried about burnout and possible overuse of her voice.“There will be plenty
Zane POV“You want to use the internet because it’s unreliable?” I asked.Travis, Whitfield, and Lainey Wilson all nodded. I very much wished Sarah were there, but she was with the girls for their riding lessons. I’d give her a recap of the meeting later, I decided, if this odd taskforce that had ga
Sarah POVAfter the onsite security personnel and police had come, taken Ella’s body along with our statements, and then left, it was early morning. I worried about the girls, but they were as keyed up as I, and finally we all just piled on Zane’s bed, which was now my bed as well. Zane had his arms
Sarah POVGinnyWolf: Sarah is a MOON WOLF??!! Are you KIDDING ME?WhiteKnuckling: This is a hoax. Total bullshit.PPPPJohnP: I knew it.ShangHairSurprise: Will she be reforming the Luna Temple again?Rosemary&Sage: Hey now, PPPPJohn, THAT’S bullshit.With a laugh, I put the phone in the purse Lainey
Sarah POV“We all fear death,” Zane said.That wasn’t what I meant at all, and I told him so. My dress turned to silver in the moonlight, and I held his warm hands in mine.“If you seek the truth, stop seeking enemies and find the moon,” I and the statue and someone else said, speaking as one.He lo
Zane POVIt was thallium poisoning.“The treatment is proceeding with Prussian blue, which traps thallium to keep it from being further absorbed, as well as activated charcoal and forced diuresis,” the doctor, whose name I learned was Vassles, told me.Sitting by Sarah’s bedside, I was trying hard n
Zane POV“Alpha Zane!”Never, in all the years he had been working for me, had I heard such a sound of panic in Hans’s voice.I looked up and out my window. Hans wasn’t in the house. I saw him frantically waving at me over by the poppy garden almost a mile away.I ran down the stairs and out of the
Sarah POVThe day was lovely—perfect, even. The girls were back in school and making up for lost time, Zane was in his office and waved to me as I walked past the villa, and all the “lieutenants” had gone home.It was odd to look back on the past year. Had there ever been more than a day here and th
Ella POVMy contact at the prison told me Hayes followed his script exactly, and for the moment, I decided to put the wolf out of my mind. Few things had ever worked out as nicely as discovering the good doctor’s gambling addiction, and Hayes had several million reasons to do as he was told.When th
Sarah POVThe second Zane and I were in the car, I raised the partition for some privacy, turned to Zane, and asked the question burning acid in my stomach.“Do you think he actually hurt the girls?”Zane shook his head, but his eyes were haunted. “Not physically, but we’ll have to talk to them, see
“We found your money,” I said.“I thought you would.”We sat another few minutes in silence. “So, who was paying you? Who got you to betray my household?”Hayes smiled to himself.“Something funny?”“Do you think I’m some lackey doing someone’s bidding for a few dollars?” he asked, meeting my gaze n