His Rage, Her Regret

ing I felt w

on swimming with shadows and shifting light as the world slowly came into focus. Trees towered above me, their

re

y palms were scraped, my knees raw. Blood-dry and caked-streaked down my legs,

ck and dizzying.

am

mething metallic-blood, I realized, not just my own. I looked down. A thin, pale shift clung to me, soaked an

at wildly i

o myself, though the words

Tugging the shift aside, I found it-a crescent-shaped scar, glowing faintly with silvery-blue light. I trac

ndergrowth snappe

d, revealing movement-shadows emerging between the trees. My

wait to

ra

er into the forest. My breath came in ragged gasps. The ground was uneven, and I

h

w gr

ot behind

athers and cloaks that blended into the forest. Each carried a weapon: curved blades, axes, a b

Please-I don't know

. His dark hair was tied back, and a faint scar cut through one brow. H

voice low and firm.

trembled beneath me, exhaustion a

not from any of the border c

spered. "I don't remember

e of the men behind him. They exchanged a few quie

d," he said. "

ated. "

ights

ething about the way he said it stirred so

didn't

oing to kill me?" I asked, my

The leader gave him a look,

ead, we'd have left

ut proba

. I saw the silver-eyed man's eyes flick t

d, stepping back. "Do

ge, but something flickere

at before," he said, voic

he

way. "Come with us. You'

rstand what was happening to me. I had no memory, no name, no place to ret

my voice barely a

m Riven. Beta of th

what a pack meant. But I tucked th

name?" I as

e for a long time

until we know for sure.

y

But something about it set

," I

s I passed. One of them muttered something under his breath-somethin

n, I wasn't just a stranger i

we moved through the trees. The mist was thinning now, but the chil

s te

the glow of lanterns ahead. Buildings loomed through the haze, sturdy and ta

o

t

o me. People stopped in their tracks. Some whisper

assage into a quieter courtyard. A tall woman wa

said. "And she doesn'

tight nod. "I'll

. "You'll be sa

. "Do you reall

ed. "I didn'

e walk

room at the back of a stone house. It was plain, but clean. She ran a b

I asked as she clea

He's the Alpha's right hand. Loyal. Dangerous.

hy

ause he looked at you l

sleep t

d to rest. My body remembered things my mind didn't-the way to walk quietly

all, it re

ve

he looke

something he th

e waking in that forest, I