My Herbology courses were supposed to be more challenging than my general education courses or my electives, but I was so confident in them that I scheduled my final exams for them the first chance I had, the earliest time on the earliest day possible. My lab course, thankfully, didn't have an exam at all but rather a final experiment that made up thirty percent of my grade. With preparation, I breezed through them all. My last two exams, I saved for Wednesday. That was the day Evan was supposed to leave, and I wanted to occupy myself as much as possible so I wouldn't be so miserable missing him. If I exhausted myself and went straight to bed, I wouldn't feel so desolate until the next day. Too bad Rafael had gone the opposite route and scheduled all her exams for the last possible slots to give herself more time to study. Her courses in particular already had the latest slots overall out of all the classes, so that meant she would be on her exam schedule a full week

"Speculating, Peelle?""Yeah, when the situation requires it. It's not like me, I know, but things aren't adding up. No ransom demand? That was our first clue. Matter of fact, that should have been the answer right there. Who would risk bringing down Scarlet's wrath on them just to play a game of 'will-I-or-won't-I' with us? If they captured Osborn for money, they're going to tell us right off the bat so they can finish it as soon as possible and get him back off their hands.""But they didn't." Evan leaned back in the sofa and glowered at the map. "No communication for twenty four hours.""Exactly. Maybe they'll play that kind of game of suspense with smaller packs to toy with them, but they won't do that with us. Every hour they delay, that's more of a chance we'll find them before they can ever demand a ransom at all. Then they risk death for no reward, period. No. That's not what's happening here.""How'd you find this map? This is Osborn's, isn't it?

Evan's call came barely two seconds after I fled the kitchen. I had been about to call him myself as soon as the Delta had broken the news, so before the ringer even went off, I had already picked up."Evan! Are you okay? Is anyone hurt? Oh, my God, I heard about Osborn. Please be careful--""Claudia." His voice was gravel-rough, strained. "Go to your room and make sure your windows and door are locked. Don't let anyone in unless it's Peelle. He's coming to pick you up.""What? Right now? Is he bringing me to you--""Claudia. Listen to me. Go upstairs now. Don't stop to talk to anyone. Don't open the door for anyone. Keep me on the phone."Fear curled in my chest, ice shards digging into my lungs as I hurried up the stairs to the second floor. I wasn't stupid. I knew that tone, and I understood what he wasn't saying. He suspected someone close by might be a threat. And with Osborn dead, there was only one explanation why Evan might believe that.

I didn't trust Evan to leave my sight for even a minute. I stayed with him in the Dark Moon pack house for three days, never leaving the room where we stayed together except to get food. The only moments he escaped my direct observation was when he went to wash up, but even then I checked on him every few minutes, too anxious to relax while he was gone.He was angry. He was so angry it prickled to be near him, like pressing myself to a wall of thorns. He didn't mean to intimidate me, but when I caught him staring at the wall from the armchair or when I woke up in the middle of the night to find him sitting up and glaring at the window, the thick miasma of his rage threatened to drown me.It had always been hard to read his thoughts clearly when he was like this. That wall of pure hostility, hatred, revenge, and rage formed a shell around his mind, keeping me out. Or maybe it was more that they flooded his mind so much from bottom to top that it all spilled out, pushing

"Alpha. We have a report from Medea City.""Medea?" The man framed in the moonlight considered the word, then chuckled. The rays beaming in through the crystalline glass wall were so beautiful. What an excellent idea to remodel his office. It put him in a good enough mood to talk business even in the middle of the night.He turned and gestured at the man to join him in the seat opposite his, on the other side of the desk. The Delta hesitated, but the older man motioned again with an impatient wave and nod."Hurry up, hurry up. I'll even pour you a celebratory glass. I just opened a bottle of Scotch.""Uh... Thank you, Alpha."The gentle clink of glass filled the quiet of the office for a moment, then the wooden rubbing of chair legs against the hardwood floor. The Alpha settled into his leather office chair and sighed, wonderfully comfortable."Now, now. I see you're worried about something, Leonard. Don't tell me our plans have gone awry?"