Aria It takes some preparation, sneaking out in the middle of the night. Mim is certain that the cameras are not something that I need to be worried about, that Dez has assured her that they are not monitored. I’m not sure I believe her, but I don’t know for sure I’ll be able to completely avoid them. I will do my best. The biggest problem will be carrying clothes. I don’t want to get to the city and have to shift into my human form without them. Mim suggested I put some clothes in a pillowcase and carry that in my mouth. I don’t like the idea of not having my mouth to help me because in a lot of ways, it can serve as a hand when I’m in my wolf form. I can’t think of any other way to handle it, though, so I decide to take her advice, shoving a pair of old jeans, tennis shoes, and a shirt in the pillowcase and setting it outside on the roof fo

Aria I don’t want to wander around the city all day thinking about how my parents are gone, but then, I also don’t want to go back to the Kurts’s mansion. If Sebastian was there, I might feel differently, but he is still out on that job that his father sent him on. If I knew I could collapse in his arms and cry, and that he would make me feel better, I’d probably go straight there, but he isn’t at home, and even if he were, I don’t think there’s anything he could say to ease the pain in my heart that feels like I’m being stabbed all the way up to the hilt of a knife, buried in my chest.I walk through the park, smelling the crisp air and trying not to cry. I have tears in my eyes when I saw an older couple walking with their daughter who is about my age. I don’t know how I’m ever

Aria Mr. Kurts is staring at me like I am an alien and he isn’t sure whether he should destroy me or dissect me. I am delivered to the center of a circle the rest of the suits have formed beneath a bald lightbulb that glares down on me, leaving their faces in the shadow. As soon as Dez walks me over, Mr. Kurts says, “Thank you, Desmond. You are dismissed.”Dez tries to object. “Sir, if I may--”“I said you are dismissed!” Victor Kurts is not messing around. I shake a little at his tone, but I try not to flinch because I don’t want him to think I’m scared of him.I catch Dez’s eyes as he leaves. He looks like he knows he is leaving me to be burned alive, and I can see that he’s sorry.

Aria I wake up with my bottom on fire, and for a moment, I have trouble remembering where I am and what’s happened. It all seems like a dream, a horrible nightmare, something that can’t possibly be real. Not just the paddling and the fact that I now find myself in solitary confinement but my parents’ deaths and the betrayal I feel toward the entire Kurts family. I remember my oath, that I will make the people responsible for my parents’ murders pay, and that I have no doubt in my mind at the moment that that person is Victor Kurts. The physical pain I’m feeling is nothing compared to the whole in my heart.“How are you, dear?”A voice in the darkness reaches out to me, and I am alarmed at first, thinking I’m just hearing things. No one can possib

Sebastian Downstairs, I hear voices coming from one of the offices in the same hall as my father’s, and I recognize one of them immediately as Stan Klem, one of the little rat bastards who was there when Aria was paddled and thrown in that cell by herself in the dark. I pause for a moment, trying to figure out who he’s talking to. This office belongs to Frank Taylor, but it isn’t his gruff voice I hear Stan talking to. It sounds like Rick Castor, another one of the assholes on my list. If I can handle them both at the same time, that’ll make my work a lot easier.I don’t knock on the closed door. Instead, I kick it open. The pair are sitting at a table across from Frank’s desk, smoking cigars and looking at a file. I don’t know what the paperwork is for, and I don’t give a damn. I just hope