Rejected by the Alpha, Crowned by the Shadow

e's

e women that nigh

and my wolf nearly

tificial perfume, another willing stranger in a dark room built for forgetting names. In

o the surface

e

t my chest, braced as if she meant to push me away, an

di

into the front of

in me br

er was wrong. Cheap synthetic pheromones clung to her neck, her hair, and the ridiculous scrap of fabric someone had called a un

said she was

eneath it sa

sound went through me like another live wire. I knew attraction. I knew

eting someone and more

, my free hand settling at the curve of her waist to draw her closer. Her body remained tense

us movement hit harde

y skin, possessive a

know

t. I co

want

been a bad decision long be

ly reasonable choice. The brake investigation had uncovered seven missing minutes, but that didn't make Sage innoce

s str

ze asked why the thought of sending her away ha

assigned securi

trust

st anyone els

I simply hadn't bother

o prove that whatever had happened in the hallway-and again when I tou

juvenile, but it of

were attractive, willing, and exactly the kind of distraction

o leave when Raze

eeter scents filling the room. Then I heard a struggle near the side ex

efore my mind m

om her. He hit the floor hard enough to rattle the nea

e same current from the hall

ok a step

's m

olled through the room, silencing every wolf with

i

ked her toward the nearest couch, unable to to

kisse

uldn't make

of champagne she probably hadn't drunk and something warmer that the synthetic perfume c

aus

er hand was still fisted in my jacket, holding on with the same stubbo

t arrived

a

went

rsized hoodie, furious enough to slam a door. She had no reason to

ldn

f the pause had given her enough sense

ed my mouth over

ssed m

een us, swift and impossible, and the room disappeared-the music, the other wolves, the pain

ought I'd had had led to

ived doctor named Naomi Bennett had kept her alive long enough to reach Blackthorn Gen

ts came with equipment, rare medicines, and promises that grew

und the unde

ed to restore damage ordinary medicine couldn't touch. My father would never permit me to compete for it. He had made me pro

nd twenty miles per hour, and only Alpha healing had kept a shattered rib from

didn't hav

pain nor the girl suspected o

only the stran

ndfold shifted against my temple, loosened

" I asked aga

ody l

r hand flattened against my chest

n distance even

me you

ed at my

eping her from disappearing before I understood what was ha

top

ough the haze. Beneath the artificial

f the women who had volunte

when I found her. She had bee

been wearing a vol

d, my voice harder now.

dn't a

ers found the edg

thought she mean

th sank into

d filled my mouth, and my grip loos

kward and scrambl

the

old away in time to see messy dark hair, bare shoulders, an

ag

ped before I

idn't

time I reached the staff corridor, it was empty. Two identical doors stood open at

lic struck the

oked

beneath the edge of the couch and disappeared into sh

and searched the

o

, along with anyone else who might have identified the girl. No cameras operated insid

ssed my tongue against the wound and held back the healing for anoth

ced res

was

didn't smel

only part of you

till trapped beneath my skin. The party continued behind the glass, but ever

my phone an

. "Please tell me you didn't w

eridian's sec

"What h

king for

ho

east game room throug

this have anything to do with why

led fast i

covering the serv

cameras in the

kno

the employee stairwell, w

nd me he

ence sounded less insane

it

and stared at the

ted game without a wristband, drawn blood, and disappeared before an

ed quietly

l room waiting at the end of every night. She had kissed me back, bitten me,

e I was letting he