Aria “What are you talking about?” I ask Mim as she ducks down quickly and snatches up the piece of paper that I’ve dropped. “You did find something in Grip’s desk, didn’t you?”I pull it out of her hand. “How do you know that?” I ask her, tucking the paper back away, praying it stays where I put it this time.“Why else would you be carrying around a piece of paper in your cleavage?” she asks me. “It has to be something you found in there.”“So what?’ I say. “You make it sound like I’m supposed to trust you, when you clearly don’t trust me. There’s no way in hell I’ll trust you after this!” I gesture at the tiny pieces of pa

Aria My mind is made up. I know what I have to do. I go into automatic mode, rushing through the steps I have to follow in order to have the best chance of getting out of here without getting caught. I figure my ability to walk out the door in the daylight is just as likely to get me where I want to go as sneaking out at night, so that’s what I plan to do.But I remember that Dez said people do monitor the cameras. I have to assume that means the house cameras, too, and if they’ve just captured rogues, there’s probably a good chance they’re watching them extra closely. So I can’t look like me when I walk out of here.I go to Sebastian’s closet and dig around, looking for a disguise. I see a ball cap on a top shelf, one I’ve never seen him wear before.

Aria Ruby is flying across the open ground, her claws digging into the soft earth and flipping out chunks of grass and dirt with each step. She doesn’t slow for anything. Not large boulders in our way, babbling brooks or wider streams, not even a sharp incline now and again. She runs on, for hours, and when the sun begins to drop below the horizon, I know we have transitioned out of the forests of the north into the mountainous areas further south. If we keep going and actually make it to our homeland, we will be in an area similar to the forest we have just left, but in the south it is swampier. The forests are in the wetlands. I am looking forward to being back home, but it’s too early for me to assume we’ll make it safely. We have a long way to go, and I am fairly certain we’ll be crossing into other pack territories, and there’s a good chance we&rsqu

Aria “Who are you?” The questions comes to me through the mind-link as Ruby and I determine whether to run from the wolf standing on the hill next to the ruins of my previous home or if we can trust this person. Ruby takes a hesitant step forward, and as he steps further into the light of the moon, I see his face.“Tomas?” I ask, shocked to see my father’s best friend standing before me.His furry face softens as he recognizes my voice, and then, when he can see Ruby’s red fur, he is a wolf with a jovial grin on his face. He runs to me. “Ruby--Aria! It’s you!”“It’s us,” I say back to him as Ruby puts all of her remaining stre

Aria Maria’s words stick me throughout the meal and as I try to sleep in a bed in the large pack house, surrounded by people I haven’t seen in months. I’ve learned that they’ve been surviving here on whatever they can find in the forest and the few supplies they were able to salvage from the village. It’s hard for me to think that anyone has had a tougher time than I did myself since our home was attacked, but it seems like I’ve been mistaken.Sleep isn’t coming, despite how exhausted I am. I lay awake, staring at the ceiling, listening to others in the room snore and shift around on the narrow beds. I didn’t ask where the supplies to build this place came from or the furnishings, but I imagine some of my packmates have taken jobs in one of the nearby human cities and are sending back money.