*Gemma* I didn't know whether to tell Raisa "congratulations" or "oh no," so I just brought her into a hug. She stiffened. I quickly drew away. Her teary eyes went wide, and her lips parted in shock. I didn't peg Raisa to be someone easily surprised by anything. "What?" I asked nervously. "You haven't been hugged before?"She swallowed hard and whispered, "Not in a very long time.""In that case." I scooted closer to her and pulled her into an embrace. She was stiff for another moment before collapsing into my arms and sobbing into my shoulder. I rubbed her back, reminded of all the others I'd comforted. My own mother, Cari, Lynn, and even some of her younger siblings. It was such an intimate thing, being someone's anchor. "I take it these aren't tears of joy."Raisa sniffed and drew back, putting on a brave smile and straightening her shoulders. Even distressed, she was poised. "This news is… overwhelming." She rested a trembling hand over her belly. "I don't… I'm not…

*Gemma*He was only six feet away from me. I could hear his heart pounding in his chest. Fueled by what emotion, I couldn't tell. But of course, Connor could too and interpreted it wrong."Alright, enough staring," he barked, jerking his head back. "They're mine, so don't let your lower brain think." I forced myself not to wrinkle my nose in total disgust at the comment."Give us a fake name at least," the Alpha sighed dramatically. "I like to address my prisoners by their birth name. It makes things more… intimate.""Darian works for now," the male said. "Darian. Clever thing thinks he can fool me with a Niburgh name," crooned Connor, patting "Darian's" cheek aggressively, making him wince and groan in pain as the slap aggravated his injuries. My body tensed further. Raisa was squeezing my wrist so hard it hurt. But I knew if she didn't keep me in place I would do something stupid.Connor looked and sounded crazed, breathless as if excited. "Have you ever heard o

*Gemma*Do it. If you can't kill him, at least stab him.If a big male like him could move, I could move faster.I kicked out with all the force I had—my heel collided with Connor's jaw, forcing his head back. He grunted and almost fell to the side. It was the two seconds I needed to twist and snatch the knife hilt. Somehow I found my footing and was already creeping away from him, pointing the knife. The best-case scenario would be for him to run straight into it.Connor rose to his feet, and it was one of the most lethal things I'd ever seen. It was so wolf-like, so predatory, and I felt as small and weak as a rabbit. But when he curled his lip, baring thick canines, I steeled myself. No. I was a predator too. I would not be a victim of a tyrant like him.I bared my teeth too. Connor didn't seem affected in the slightest. He just kept advancing slowly. "Tell me what deal you and Haveleok made," I demanded, forcing my arm not to tremble."Not just yet, little o

*Kael*I didn't expect the mystery female from the Niburgh square to be so… irksome. Though she definitely thought the same about me. Especially after what I felt—what I knew she felt too—in the throne room. I could only have described it as a rope—no, it was less abrasive than that. A ribbon, maybe. It wrapped itself around my heart like a snake squeezing its prey, but I could sense its other end just faded into darkness and it wanted to find something in it. Rather, someone.When I saw her standing in front of me against all odds, looking stricken in a skimpy nightgown, the ribbon seemed to rest at her feet, no longer squeezing. I was so rocked that I couldn't help but breathe, "You." When I heard her name, I felt delirious—more than I already was—with relief. Gemma Brooks. She was alive and real and…And we were likely in mortal danger. Well, maybe just me, as she was the one looking pampered while I was beaten to a pulp.I needed to stay alive. For Rian, for Jerah, Ja

*Gemma*I flung the quilt off me and started to hurl myself off the bed, but Kael stopped me by sitting on its edge with an exhausted laugh. "You're alive," I said, unable to keep the disbelief out of my voice, even as relief flooded my veins. I could breathe normally again. "Miraculously. I'm glad you don't sound disappointed.""I am," said Raisa behind us as she turned on the gas lamp on the wall, throwing a decent amount of light into the room. "You don't mean that," I protested, twisting around. She'd sat up, and I assumed she was overheating in the desert weather because she was only wearing the "bra" Seri had given her up top—just a few strips of cloth banded around her chest. Reflexively I looked at her exposed stomach. There was a faint bruise where Connor had kicked her. Kael laughed again under his breath. "It's alright. She can be as mad as she wants at me. When we're all better I'll let you have a swing at me.""Oh, you'll let me," Raisa snapped sarc