He called me his ruin. Then he made me one. 

Alpha Shiloh's rejection wasn’t just a scar—it was a betrayal. He left me shattered. Broken. And I had to rebuild myself in silence. 
I almost forgot the way his touch once burned like salvation.  

Now he’s back.  

Not to beg forgiveness. To bargain. A deadly mission, he says. He promises freedom.

But then presence ignites my wolf into a frenzy. She thrashes, desperate to claim him again. But I remember the coldness in his eyes when he exiled me. The way the pack turned their backs as I crawled into the wilderness, half-dead and wholly broken. Hate simmers hotter than desire.

Yet here I am, bargaining with the devil who shattered me. Every moment we share is a lie. He doesn’t know about the shadows I’ve fed, the truth I’ve buried.  

Or the child.  

One whisper of its existence, and the pack will paint the forest with my blood. 

But the closer we get to completing his mission, the harder it is to hide… from him, or from the part of me that still craves him.  

Freedom has a price.  

So does vengeance.  

And I’m not sure which will destroy me first.

I growled into the phone. "You don't get to tell me no. I'm your alpha."


"And I'm not a wolf," Irene said succinctly. "Look, I like Lunessa. And I love Mira. I owe her everything, and if you'd told me what was happening sooner, I might already have an answer for you. Three weeks!"


"For the record, I was in a coma for two of those weeks. Her vitals are good."


"But I don't know what's happening inside her mind. Sometimes her heart is racing like she's terrified. Other times it's calm. If I can't find a way to pull her out soon, she could go insane. Her magic is eating away at her, Irene."


Chapter 106 - Down to Business