“Finally, we have something special. A matched set, if you will. An omega and her pup. The mother’s a rogue, freshly severed, which as many of you know makes her quite the omen. And the child, well, she’s young and trainable. Together, they make a fascinating package.”

No. No, no, no.

A guard grabbed my arm, shoving me toward the stage. Another one carried Nora, who was screaming and reaching for me, and I knew this night was about to change our lives forever. 

I just didn’t realize how much. 

-----

Dionne Parker has spent her entire life being invisible, just another omega servant scrubbing floors and swallowing insults. She’s survived the Bloodmoon Pack by keeping her head down, her mouth shut and her daughter alive. 

But when she’s framed for a crime she didn’t commit, survival means running… straight into the hands of traffickers where her life takes the worst turn. 

Standing on that auction stage under blinding lights, listening to strangers bid on their lives, Dionne thinks this is the end. Until a voice cuts through the chaos with an offer no one can match.

Her buyer is Kael, the five-hundred-year-old Lycan King whose reputation is built on blood and brutality. Cursed by dark magic and barely holding onto his humanity, he’s the last person Dionne should be around. But the moment he sees her, his beast who has been violent and uncontrollable for three centuries, goes completely still. As if it’s been waiting for her.

Now Dionne is trapped in a castle with a king who’s barely holding onto his humanity, enemies who are closing in from every corner, and a shadow who’s been organizing her destruction from the start.

Will she survive when her past and present collide, or will the love meant to save her become the weapon that destroys them both?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I stopped breathing and every muscle in my exhausted body locked up with terror as I stared at that thin line of light beneath the door. 


The thought that the King had come back to torture me for a new sin I wasn't even aware I committed paralyzed me.


A soft knock came. Nothing like the angry presence I'd come to associate with the King.


"Dionne?" The voice wasn't the deep, gravelly growl of the King either. It was lighter, though it sounded heavy with exhaustion. "It's Silas"


Relief flooded through me so intensely that fresh tears sprang to my eyes.


I pushed myself upright, wincing as my abused body protested every movement. My feet screamed when they touched the cold floor, the cuts reopening slightly as I shuffled toward the door. My hands shook so badly I fumbled with the latch twice before I could finally get it to open. 


Silas stood in the corridor holding a tray covered with a cloth and the smell wafting from it made my empty stomach growl violently.


Chapter 26 - 26. He Used To Be Different