Evan left Claudia's side exactly twice.The first was when he presented himself at the trial to decide the traitors' fates. Matthen Joseph and the Glily family faced the judgment of the pack three days after the end of the Scarlet pack siege, and the judgment came swift and harsh.Matthen Joseph was sentenced to death, although that was probably preferable to the lifelong agony he would have had to suffer otherwise thanks to the gruesome injuries he suffered at Evan's hands in the fight. They had been so severe his werewolf healing had failed to regenerate them properly. When he stared blankly around the Quad where the entire rest of the Scarlet pack had gathered, glaring at him as they would any enemy, he quietly accepted his execution.Evan was not the one who rendered it. He had spilled enough blood, and Claudia had wanted him to leave things up to the natural majority, not take lives at a whim. It was a little thing. He could do that for her. Instead, the Sc

Nine years before Claudia and Evan reunited on Dark Moon territory, they met once before in a dark forest not too far away. Freezing rain pelted the trees, and winds battered the branches so hard that with each gust, needles and twigs and stray leaves ripped off to fly about. In the dark of that winter night, a young boy staggered through the heart of the forest, bleeding and bruised everywhere from head to toe.Something was strange about this forest. Evan had never seen such thick fog before, especially when this was no ordinary rainfall. Was it even possible for a mist this thick to roll in with freezing rain?He groped forward blindly, unable to see anything past the thick curtain. Even if the way forward was concealed from his sight, he had to keep moving. He had run far and fast to get away from the older and stronger werewolves pursuing him, and although this mist made it impossible to know where he was going, it helped him avoid capture at the same time. Those

Peelle and Osborn were tearing up the house long before they could even walk properly. Blessed with overpoweringly strong werewolf genes thanks to their father, they could slightly shift their fingertips to sharp clawed points, and they decorated the walls, floor, and furniture with their artistic masterpieces anytime we so much as blinked.This was unsustainable. At this rate, we might as well just put all repairs on hold until they were old enough to learn they shouldn't draw castles and dragons into expensive wood and leather. We had already stopped trying to patch up the dresser as it was. On either side of it, there were about twenty tangled pictures clawed into the wood, just like the two previous dressers that had been there before.I hoped they would turn their artist talents to paper or another, less expensive medium soon..."Oh, man. I can't believe they're already so big." Raf bounced her little daughter in her arms as she stared goggle-eyed at Peelle

The place was three stories high but stretched out over five interconnected buildings. This was no ordinary 'nursing home', the way the employees tried to make themselves appear. It was practically a luxury resort, though without the fancy trappings of expensive restaurants and such.There were exercise facilities and an indoor pool designed specifically for those with mobility impairments, a lovely cafeteria I wished we had time to explore, lounges, a library, and probably far more than that. Those were simply the areas we saw on the way out of the main building and toward the residential quarters."I'd really like to know who the anonymous donor is who's been paying for Alena's care," I said as we walked behind Delilah. "I understand they want to keep their identity concealed, but the situation is different now. Have you informed the donor of what's happened?"I was aching to pry into her mind and find the answer myself, but that wouldn't be right. Maybe if it

It would take a long, long time to find the rest of my mother's family. Alena's memories of her youth were coming back slowly, but she couldn't describe to sketch artists what her lost siblings and cousins looked like. We could only hire investigators to carry on the work and try to find our family through other means, like how we had discovered Alena through a medical system.I understood. I was frustrated, but what could I do? We could only be patient.Strong arms slid around me from behind, holding me tight. "I'm glad you're back now," Evan whispered as I unpacked the last of my luggage on the bed. "It felt like you were gone for ages. Don't leave me again.""It was only a week.""Still felt like centuries. Besides, you missed me too, didn't you? And the boys couldn't be peeled off you the moment you came in the door."I smiled and leaned back into his chest. Evan was so warm. Even with the room being ice-cold, he was like a warm furnace, heatin