CLAIMED BY THE ALPHA CEO

lost her family, the s

iet, even for winter. She had fallen asleep reading in her bed, her fingers tangled in the fabric of

ream shatter

c. The sound of snarling and crashing glass filled t

Get Elias

t make it

ecting her younger brother-but the

lur into one horrific moment. Her fat

hen s

t her feet, the branches scratching her skin, the sob caug

om home, her body trembling, ski

when she

e, deep wit

iv

wo

. Still curle

al

Later – Ivor

o her chest like armor. Ivory Hollow was nothing like Silverpine. It buzzed and howled and

erred it

new school.

partial scholarship before the attack. Her enro

ship at Kade Enterprises-secured through a distant aunt who owed her moth

ilding clutching the cri

t her hair and l

nt Damien Kade walked in th

sewhere in

pau

or a s

ld lilac, morning rain, and something...

, Ares,

hing's

lking, checking his phone. He was

name-was waiting in his office. Naked unde

dn't

thinking abo

rnoon at Ivory

ure Hall 4B, biting the end of her p

rembled sometimes.

learning how

f a girl with braids, sarcasm, and a good heart. Ma

fessor Dusk is like academic

't know wha

il he w

or Luci

e ice blue, so intense they looked carved from winter. His hair

econds. Just looked out over the stu

s lips

bsession. Survival. Stories we tell ours

pulse s

way he spoke made

lly, not consciously. But when his eyes drifted o

he mo

– Damien'

his skin. Celeste was asleep beside him, naked, h

sn't look

king about

ered, eyes narrowed as h

owled deep in his mind. "W

Damien re

irred but

in th

d, fingers tracing th

ered, embarrassed at how warm

really. But her chest had f

eart racing for reason