The Alpha's bargain bride

dragged, iron on stone, like even the

carried the smell of pine, smoke

rmv

tucked into stone and wood gone dark with age. Ivy crept up walls no one bothered trimming back. It

pulling me out of the inn. Broad shoulders. Straight back. His silence was w

id-motion, blades frozen in the air. Children peered from behi

?" I muttered after the fift

ther to turn. D

hat. The

shrines cracked down the middle. Up a narrow slope that opened onto a ravi

to the cliff

n hinges. No carv

" I said before I

hift. "The Alpha does

like stone.

weighty. "The mark will burn when the co

stare. "No

. Almost approval.

that passed for a bed. One narrow window that looked straight down into the

as on it.

Dre

heavier than the

sting came fast, like the magic didn't

oulder blade. I bit my teeth so hard the edge

n Ashfall ever had.

, sheets cold against the sweat on my skin. Dreaming in broken flashes when sleep cau

blood in the hall. Someone had passed

the door, no

, a voice came t

pha is

patience. J

m black stone. No guards lined the walls

out at the cliffs through wide windows.

," he

second before the words

ven. "Do you unde

es

tend to br

N

en did

o charm meant to dazzle. He looked carved out of storms, built of s

e. Seeing too much, mayb

r than I expec

pected," I shot back befo

Almost. Like he hadn't e

ented to the co

The word ta

see what they'

y throat. "Is tha

ayed steady. "You'

hought I was

se enough to touch me, but enough that my body

aid quietly. "U

nd something flickered in his eyes a

smissed. And I left, heat still crawl

Charged. Thunder rolled though t

re I heard his voice again.

esn't k

tuck to me

rded. More wild. Stone paths cut into woods.

a crescent with thr

brushed it, th

Not mine. So

lid through

nbo

h lurched

pty path. E

ack to my room, somethi

ant shaped like a broken circle. On

een here

I had never stepped foot in S

bones...

n't. It sat cold in my pa

ght, I

d at the edge of

th fro

fire throu

never

g. I reached out. The s

't know whispe

members what

e gas

klace w

my door, I heard it-Kael's v

ember yet. But t