The Alpha's Hidden Heir - The heir

her legs sto

d the next her left knee buckled on a root hidden under the floodwater and she went

here for

a s

were still

os

hed her

the specific sting of torn skin - but there was no time to look at

mo

-

know how fa

looked the same in the dark and the rain, black trees and deeper

ould hear

ity of space ahead of her, an opening in th

imed

gs were

ht of it was pulling her left, throwing her

uld he

coordinated patience of animals who knew this terrain better tha

ew they

maybe tw

-

gh the tree lin

ections into the dark. She had no idea which direction was

ad no

econds behind her and her lungs wrecked and

th hands again

thought. *I tri

hts came fr

eams - she threw her arm up against the brightness, stumbl

skidded.

rom where

er's doo

pped out in

-

ractical clothes, an expression that belonged to someone w

ked at

the tree lin

long enough to register the eyes appearing at the ed

he car,"

d. Not

olutely

got in

-

d, and drove west before the w

ppear in the side mirror. Watched the tree line recede. Watched the dark cl

rned f

ds were

body was

" she managed. "

voice was calm. "The Black Moon Pack's jurisdiction en

looked

now what pack

e glanced sideways, brief and assessing. "

-

ge came

es, like s

st - not fully, not safely, but enough. The tightness of immediate pursu

her back aga

brea

name?" the

ror

a fact, like weather. "You're safe no

ood on her palms had mixed with the rain and

ou stop?"

quiet for

," she said. "When my headli

ed som

oking for," Evelyn said

-

ck from the road behind old trees, with a garden that sprawled in every d

it wa

ry wall, a fire already burning in th

imply become an extension of herself. She set water to boil, found towels, produced a first aid tin f

ra at the ki

s on Aurora's palms

speak while

n't know this woman. I have no reason to trust this woman. I

ht: there was

as he

-

r. Herbal - ginger, and something else beneat

with

e and looked at Aurora with the direct, unadorned gaze of someo

s went still

't kno

"The scent changes at six weeks for wolves. Most people miss it becaus

egnant omega runn

bloodline." Evelyn's e

-

ackled in t

against t

omeone sorting through information they'd been

d something," Aurora

es

ha

idered her

chen wall - floor to ceiling, every shelf double-stacked - and

ht it to

he spine cracked and

the middle and turn

t in faded ink, the margins crowded with diagram

logical

se records were linear - clean vertical lines of descent, Alp

somethi

s and backward and in directions the s

the page Evely

e web was a name sh

-branching across generati

es mov

and

stop

-

ther's

o this record at some point in the last thirty years, fitted carefully i

look

id you g

icular bloodline since I left my pack. Since I understood what the packs h

moth

fore I lost the trail." Evelyn's voice was quiet. Care

d at the nam

ys attributed to grief after her father left. The way she'd known things she sho

asked. Her voice came o

leaned

he name at the c

re they decided what Lunas were allowed to be." She held Aurora's gaze. "The line that carries something the Alpha councils spent

oes it

nd that doesn't answer to rank or status or the de

sat

meone delivering something they'd been carryin

you a designation and a ceiling and a room in the east wing an

t her mother's

about her

The ceiling. Th

remony

l's mouth like

t am I?"

t her for a lon

o you think you

-

urned in th

oved agains

h her mother's name written in an old book in front of her and a life in

web of lines spread

bout the voice

ct the

ut what Evelyn h

eep and tectonic and permanent -

com

t y

ginning of

ng that the story she'd been

ue one was still