POV: Mia.Unseasonably cold night air made the delicate hairs on my nape bristle with dread. Maybe all it was, was the approaching change of seasons, a subtle psychological deception. Perhaps my subconscious had already realized that treachery and deceit were waiting just over the horizon, trailing spectral warning tendrils in their wake.For whatever reason, instincts blazing like synapses in an electrical storm, I stopped on the wooded trail that led back to my little flat. Something was wrong, thrown out of the natural order of things in a way that sounded discordant notes across my entire existence.Breaths came in shallowly and I looked around me intently. In some way, the silence was heavier, with a nasty watchfulness prickling my nerve endings. It was as though the trees themselves were mute witnesses, leaning in a conspiratorial silence.Grasp yourself, Mia. Just from hearing too many of Ivory's delusional beliefs about old grudges and persistent dangers, you're scared.I push
POV: Callum Wells.I used to control everything like pieces on a chessboard, but suddenly things got out of hand. Ivory Wells kept digging up secrets I wanted to keep hidden. Her actions even turned people against me.I thought I could scare Mia into staying quiet, but she's still helping Ivory. It's like dealing with annoying insects that won't go away.If I don't stop them soon, they'll cause bigger problems. So I need to take action.I asked for a report, trying to stay calm. But I was itching to hurt someone.One of my most reliable guardsmen stepped out from the shadowy line, his face hidden by the distinctive cowl. Like a rabbit immobilized by the hypnotic gaze of a serpent, I could taste the stench of his fear drifting off of him in nearly visible plumes.All OK. The ranks were kept focused more effectively by fear than by any other feeling."Mia Wills remains...uncooperative, despite our overtures," the wretch said, unable to keep my eyes on her for more than a few seconds. "S
POV: Ivory Wells.The blurry surveillance picture in my shaking palms hammered like a jackhammer in my chest. It saw a little dark haired child being escorted away by an unidentified person. But those huge naive eyes that had followed me around for two long years were unmistakable. Darcy my beautiful daughter!Emotions threatening to engulf me, I sank onto the ancient couch, the picture dropping from my fingertips. Was she still among us? Could it be possible that after all this time, believing she had died and picturing the worst? As opposing dreams and anxieties fought inside of me, tears ran down my face.Something was wrong, I've suspected ever since Jeremy showed up on my doorstep inexplicably a few weeks ago. It smelled of secrets and deceit, the way the weird child clung to me, those uncanny resemblances to Darrel. I ought to have known that after I was banished, the Purple Moon pack would never leave me alone.Then Jeremy said, "I've never seen or met Jenna before." How, of c
POV: Darrel WilliamsWith a stifling weight, the lair appeared to encircle me, the ghosts of the past pressing. Grabbing the edge of the bulky oak desk till my knuckles became white, I used the physical agony to anchor my disorganized thoughts.How could I have believed the lies that were presented to me seven years ago with such blindness and willingness? I could smell treachery and deceit in the strong earthy smells that had always comforted me. Every time I closed my eyes, Ivory's face swam behind mine, her beautiful features bearing the scars of her exile. As my most reliable friends denounced the woman I was a woman whose only transgression was giving birth to a child whose entire existence they considered a "abomination," I had said nothing.No matter how hard I tried to ignore the memory of that terrible night, a deep growl rumbled in my breast. Callum's greasy tones were still hissing in my head like a snake.Alpha, the whelp threatens the purity of our ancestry. What is to
POV: Jeremy Williams.The world that I had known shattered like a fragile mirror, and the pieces that were left behind fell to the ground at my feet, revealing a distorted reality that rendered me incapable of giving a coherent response. I had been leading a dishonest life for the entire time, hiding the truth about who I truly was behind a well-built façade.On a lovely afternoon, the first crack appeared in the universe that I had imagined to be perfect. My friend Ivory had come to visit me, and I noticed that she had a hint of sadness in her eyes, which I was not sure I could fully interpret at the time. Taking a deep inhale of the reassuring scent of lavender that seemed to linger all about her, I embraced her with the same warm embrace that I had always given her. My little arms were wrapped around her waist.She started by saying, "Jeremy," in a little gentle voice that was nonetheless slightly eager. "We need to talk."It was as soon as I heard those four words I felt a chill r
POV: JennaWith every instant that passed, the weight of my acts descended over me like a stifling blanket. The echoes of my footsteps seemed to taunt me as I walked around my rooms, reminding me of the repercussions my hand had started.Originally a desperate attempt to uphold the dignity of our pack, what had started as a simple web of lies and dishonesty had threatened to destroy the entire fabric of everything I had battled so valiantly. The once solid ground underfoot had collapsed into a dangerous chasm, and I was teetering on the brink, trying to hold onto power.Darrel's disobedience had been the first fault in the foundation, a fissure widening daily. His obsession with the human woman Ivory had blinded him to the old customs meant to protect our species for millennia. How could he not realize that her entire presence was an insult to our way of life, a blight threatening to ruin the purity of our bloodlines?My calls to reason with him, to help him realize his mistakes of be
POV: MiaTension permeated the air, every breath I took seemed as though it were weight-bearing down on my chest. The walls that had once given me protection now seemed to be smothering me with their stifling grip as I snuggled in the low-light safe house.How had things turned out? My life had been a somewhat straightforward one, full of the daily grind just a few short weeks before. But then all changed when Ivory returned to my life.Her search for the truth about her daughter's destiny had turned into my own, a fierce need to rectify the past guiding all I did. And suddenly I was thrown into a realm of peril and mystery I had never dreamed of as the shadows of those who aimed to silence us grew progressively longer.My body tensed naturally as the sound of footsteps outside the door and a bolt of adrenaline coursed through me. I grabbed for the gun hidden in my waistband; the cool metal served as a sober reminder of the reality I now lived."It's me," said a familiar voice distort
POV: Callum WellsThe shadows appeared to hang over me like a shroud, their cold fingers encircling my being and stifling me with their hug. Walking the boundaries of my cave, the weight of my deeds fell on me, a continual reminder of the sins I had done in the name of safeguarding our way of life.For so long, I had thought that my road was the moral one, that the sacrifices I had made were required to preserve our bloodlines' purity. Now, though, as the reality started to fall apart before my eyes, I started to doubt everything I had always revered.Ivory's unrelenting search for the truth had grown to be a thorn in my side, a continual irritant threatening to untangle the well-spun web of lies I had created over the years. Her sheer existence was a stain that had to be eliminated before it could permeate the very fabric of our pack, an affront to all I had battled to preserve.I could feel the noose tightening around my neck as the days went by, the whispers of dissent getting loud