rie
n't be as simple as being kept safe. Freedom would be off the table entire
the physical records into ash and wiped my official files clean from the hospital's central mainframe. As far as the bureaucratic
erapist. By
complished in her own career, leaving me wi
previous life, I had been a miserable graduate student surviving on cold instant noodles, slaving e
erest in saving the world, and I would never become a state-owned incubator for pureblood dynasties. My plan was simple: lease a quiet office in a leafy suburb, take on thr
ltimate reti
-the secluded old stone manor at the edge of the northern pine district. I poured myself a chilled glass o
e back of my arms st
oud. It had turned terr
g pressure descended upon the house-so thick and heavy that the air in my lungs turned to li
ne wa
gers frantically searching for a ceramic chef's knife. I was an unshifted female trapped in a dark house, and whatever prow
ear patio opened straight into
ic
ely groaned as the steel lock cylinder sheared clean throug
ward with a slow,
the foyer, carrying the sharp, metall
y against the rainy
h sides of the frame. He wore a heavy, tailored military greatcoat, its front soaked in deep crimson and torn wide open
combat boot leaving a wet, red
ame pinned me where I stood, like a rabbit caught in the crosshairs of a rifle. His eyes-pa
d nostrils caught the faint, cool
ing Alpha before me
massive, snow-white wolf ears twitched sharply, then pinned themselves
could even scream for help, the terrifying mountain of a
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