NOLAN
“I assure you,” the prince said confidently, his already commanding voice amplified by a small microphone fixed to the podium, “this would-be usurper will not prevail. Adan has pledged to declare war on the humans should he rise to power. He wants to destroy not only their world, but our own as well, dragging werewolves back to darker times. I simply will not allow this to happen.” The crowd was silent, hanging on Nolan’s every word. He gripped the edges of the podium and gazed out at the sea of werewolves before him. It was a bright, still day, the air clear and sharp like Nolan’s mind. His body was pumping adrenaline nonstop, his mind in a state of deep focus. He hadn’t slept but wasn’t tired. He was on alert, but calm and collected. Standing at the top of the steps that led up to the House of Parliament, Nolan was delivering a formal response to Adan’s declaration of war. Gamma warriors and members of the prince’s staff flanked him closely on botYENAI don’t think I could have slept if I tried.It was the night before the big trip, and my mind was abuzz with excitement, anxiety, dreams, memories, just… everything. So I busied myself with work, trying to focus on something productive during the dark, quiet hours of the late night and early morning.I looked into how to get myself a business license in both countries, bookmarking the application pages. Filling them out would be time-consuming, a perfect activity for all the tedious downtime I had ahead of me on the plane.Then I started some new spreadsheets to track my financials. The handful of sales I’d made online so far – phew! I couldn’t believe the numbers I was looking at as I typed them into the columns, copying transaction info from my cash app. I enjoyed crunching the numbers more than I expected to, finding it oddly satisfying to obsess over calculating margins and creating budgets for new projects.I was overdue for co
NOLANIt was another sleepless night working with his team, and though Nolan felt mentally alert, he found it impossible to remain seated or even to stand still. He wound up pacing the length of his office tirelessly for hours as they talked, strategized, debated, and gave and received updates to and from others outside the palace.The prince was busy making choices, confirming instructions, and delegating tasks. Sounding confident and commanding on every phone call. Being the calm voice of reason.But his wolf just wanted to run. The large muscles in Nolan’s thighs were screaming, tight with the pain of inactivity, and his joints felt stiff and aching, needing to be stretched and engaged.But even if he did have time to run, Nolan no longer had any means of leaving the palace privately anyway, having sealed off his secret passage to the forest. Since Adan had been the one to show him the passageway in the first place, Nolan couldn’t risk leaving
ADANEverything was falling right into place.Adan swirled the last of the whiskey in his glass, holding it up against the sunlight pouring in through the open windows, taking a moment to admire its beautiful amber hue. Then he downed it in a single gulp and slammed the empty glass down in front of his friend. “One more?” Kerr asked, mid-pour as he filled another glass for himself.They were in Kerr’s office at the back of his mansion estate, awaiting nine other guests expected to arrive shortly. It was a small but continuously growing group of powerful allies that Adan was satisfied, for now, to consider his inner circle.“No,” Adan said simply, already walking off in the other direction. His heart was beating fast. It had been hammering in his chest like this for days. The excitement of everything coming to fruition had him completely wired, high on adrenaline and anticipation.He started pacing the length of the enormous offi
YENAI was getting so sick of hearing from Lily.She would not shut up. It was all anxiety, all talk of Nolan and how I should go back to him.He doesn’t want me back, I told her. I offered to go back, and he told me no.The only way to argue against that logic was to repeat herself over and over like a lunatic.“He does love you,” she insisted stupidly. “Go to him!”Evan was quiet throughout the drive. I was grateful he was distracted with his own thoughts, because I needed all my focus to deal with Lily. And he didn’t seem to notice as I shook my head and rolled my eyes in frustration with her while we argued in my mind.Each lost in our own worlds, Evan and I were both a bit startled when the car parked alongside the curb at the airport and we realized it was time to get out already. Time to fly.Dense crowds, bright lights, and a symphony of noise swallowed us as soon as we set foot inside the airport. My stomach felt like it was full of butterflies. And that was even before peopl
ADAN The others had been sent away on their assignments. Only Adan and Kerr remained behind in the mansion after they concluded their meeting with the inner circle. Only the two of them knew precisely what was happening tonight, and where, and how. They had set up their control room with two leather armchairs facing a big wall-mounted TV, on which a video feed was streaming live. The camera was attached to their assassin’s glasses, and right now the feed showed nothing but an empty room. The assassin was as still and quiet as a living person could possibly be. The video held perfectly steady. The man’s breathing was slow and shallow. He had been lying in wait inside an air duct for nearly fifteen hours before the prince finally arrived at the orphanage, and had squeezed his body out of the chamber, inch by inch, only after the Gamma warriors had swept the building and determined it was all clear for Nolan’s arrival. Now the assassin wa
NOLAN“And how is Yena doing? I just adore her, you know.” Cindy put her hand over her heart and pressed her lips into a smile. “She really made quite an impact on me.”Nolan’s eyes slipped briefly away from Cindy’s. “Yena is doing great. Thank you for asking.” He manufactured a polite smile before meeting her eyes again. She didn’t notice his hesitation. The room was bustling with voices and activity, distractions everywhere.“Please tell me that you’ll bring her along the next time you come to visit,” Cindy said. “The children just loved her, too. Oh, and I’m sure she would enjoy seeing all the art they created after she came here and gave them that drawing lesson. They really haven’t stopped talking about it since.”“I will be sure to let her know that,” Nolan replied. “She’ll be happy to hear it.”A meek, very small boy
Nolan landed flat on his back.He knew he’d been hit. The bullet had sent him flying backward.His ears were ringing painfully from the gunshot blast. The high-pitched squeal was brutally loud, rendering him deaf to all other sound.But he didn’t feel the injury. There was no pain in his body. He figured he must be in shock.He didn’t like that he didn’t know where he had been hit, or how bad it was.He blinked, trying to focus his eyes. The ceiling above, the only thing in his line of sight, was a blur of gray. Then it started moving. It looked like ocean waves moving over the surface of the water. Then it looked like a watercolor painting. Nolan tried to move his legs. Tried to plant his feet on the floor. Tried to roll onto his side.Nope. None of those things were going to happen.He did manage, with incredible difficulty, to slowly lift up one of his arms. It felt like he was tryi
NOLANHe returned to consciousness, or as close to it as he could get, a little at a time.Sounds came first. Voices. Cindy, and others. A machine was beeping. An engine was droning. A siren was wailing.When Nolan finally got his eyes open, he confirmed he was in an ambulance. He still couldn’t see anything clearly. But he could see the white lights and the hurried movements of blue-uniformed medical personnel as they hovered over him, doing whatever they were doing, trying to save his life.“He’s awake!” Cindy cried.“Nolan,” one of the medics said, coming close to the prince’s face. “Can you hear me?”Nolan’s mouth didn’t work. His voice didn’t work.“Blink once if you can hear me, Nolan.”His eyelids fell down like lead curtains. He forced them open once more.“That’s good, Nolan. My name is Camron and I’m an emergen