You all blew me away yesterday! What an amazing first contracted day for the book. <3 Thank you so much to those of you who bestowed upon me the honor of your golden tickets and gifts – I got teary eyed many times lol. I did not expect that! And – major wow – thank you to DespinaNY for your incredibly generous gift. I am humbled. Each reader who silently reads in the background is honestly a gift, and then to have anything extra… I just don’t know what to say. I would dedicate this chapter to you, DespinaNY, but it doesn’t feel right to dedicate a chapter with a trigger warning. So I won’t do that. But know that I am truly touched. <3

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[trigger warning – threat of assault]

“Surprised to see me?” Marius asked, walking through the doorway for August to back away. “Oh don’t look so frightened. You were the one who left me bleeding out last time we met, remember? What a cute little love nest you two have here.” Marius looked around him thoughtfully with his hands behind his back.

“What do you want?” she choked out.

“I’m glad you asked. It’s very simple. You took something of mine, and I want it back,” the mocking smile vanished, and she saw it replaced with a quiet fury.

“Took something of yours?” she repeated, brows furrowed in confusion. “I have no idea…”

He slammed his fist on the table, causing her to jump. “Don’t play with me, witch.”

———

“What are your plans for the rest of the day?” Sam asked his mate who had just flopped herself down on the sofa.

“I have a few appointments for routine check-ups later this afternoon. I was going to run by the Bennet’s again. Are you meeting up with Jack?” she asked. She noticed how he still seemed distracted upon arriving home. “Are you thinking about Graeme and August?”

Sam glanced at her for a moment from the kitchen where he was searching for something to munch on. Nothing they had in the cupboards looked appetizing. “It’s just bothering me… That scent at the treehouse that seemed familiar. How often does that happen that you smell something on pack land you can’t place?” he asked, and then he suddenly stopped his hand in midair as the realization hit him.

Greta sat up straight, feeling the panic that had suddenly washed over him. “What is it?”

“Stay here,” he said and ran back out to the Jeep for Greta to follow him.

“Sam…”

“Greta, listen for once, please. Trust me and stay here,” he barked before peeling out of the yard, headed back in the direction of the treehouse.

———

“Marius, I didn’t take anything from you. I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said the words carefully while her mind was scrambling to run over the details of that event, which she had tried to forget. What could he possibly mean? “How are you even here?” she thought aloud.

“What? You thought I wouldn’t survive that pathetic bite of yours?” he tsked, continuing to stalk forward toward her.

“The enchantment on the treehouse—Graeme said…”

“You put a spell on it? You are a witch,” he confirmed for himself, his face twisting in disgust.

“I’m not a witch, Marius,” she stumbled against the kitchen wall, feeling it with her hand to slide along away from him. Where had she put her phone? She instinctually felt that taking her eyes off of him would be a fatal mistake, but there was nowhere to run anyway.

“What do you call disappearing into thin air under a tree then?” he asked menacingly.

“W-what? How did you…”

“You took my wolf, witch. I want it back,” he snarled suddenly.

“W-what?” her eyes went wide at this. “Your wolf?”

Marius sprang across the room, trapping August against the wall between his arms before she could slink further away from him. He wasn’t touching her, but she could feel the anger rolling off of him.

“You’re some kind of wolf-killer,” he said through gritted teeth. “And in its place I’m stuck with this pathetic link to you!”

August couldn’t respond. She was frozen in shock at this information and at being trapped once again by the same man whose thoughts still haunted her.

“Fix it, and I’ll leave,” he snarled.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What link?” she managed shakily, trying to at least understand what he was saying.

“What link?” he scoffed. “I have felt every fever you’ve had. I felt you wake up. I…” his hands curled into fists next to her as he squeezed his eyes shut, “I feel your feelings for him.”

Her mouth dropped hearing this, and she pressed herself against the wall. “W-what?” she fought back the tears that sprung in her eyes. “How?” she whispered.

“You think I know?” he snarled, pushing himself off the wall and stepping back to give her space. “I want my wolf back,” angry tears filled his eyes, “now.”

“I swear to you, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said quietly, watching him while she stayed pressed against the wall.

“If you fix it, I won’t tell the elders. I won’t tell them that the long lost Alpha’s mate is a wolf-killer. Do you know what they’ll do to you? To you both?” his face was contorted with desperate anger. “I won’t tell them that he was this close to marking you today,” he lifted his fingers up to indicate just how close it was.

August’s mouth had long gone dry, and she wet her lips now thinking how what Marius was describing could have happened. How she could have somehow taken the lycan part of him when she bit him that day. There was no obvious answer to it. The only possible way she might get a glimpse into what was happening or have a chance of surviving this was by her second vision, but it hadn’t appeared.

“I don’t know how to fix it,” she said slowly, and the wicked mask in front of her contorted in anger again as he paced in front of her. “But,” she added quickly, “I might know something to try.” She had to think fast. There was no way out of this situation with him. He was blocking the door. They were high up. Graeme wasn’t coming back for hours. She gulped. “I-I need you to… to scare me,” she said.

He laughed—a cruel, humorless laugh that sent a shiver down her spine. “You’re not scared yet?” His eyebrows shot up and his eyes got impossibly wide—the insane kind of wide.

“I-I need you h-hurt me, maybe,” she gulped again, unable to believe what she was proposing. But what else would make her second vision return?

“Is this some kind of trick?” he asked, approaching her slowly.

“No,” she said quickly. “It’s what happened last time, remember? You bit me.”

“But then your mate will kill me. What good does that do me?” he was right up against her again, his breath hot on her skin, and she had to turn her face away from him, squinting her eyes shut. When she opened them again, her vision was still normal. No auras, no energy—just the kitchen and the maniac looming over her. ‘Why is it not happening now? Why can’t it happen when I need it?’ she thought frantically.

“Or maybe…” she heard him say, and then he grabbed her face, pulling it back to look at him. “I can hurt you in a way that no one will see…” He flipped her around and shoved her against the wall. “Does that work for you?”

“No, no!” the panic quickly rose feeling him press against her, twisting her hands behind her back where he held them in one of his own. He slammed her head against the wall, and she felt the pain radiate through her skull from one side to the other with a deafening ring.

“No, it’s perfect,” the venom of his words was hot on her skin, but she couldn’t see his thoughts. All of her abilities were gone, she realized, and the pain in her head had even her normal vision turned dizzy now.. “That way, even if I don’t get my wolf back, even if Graeme kills me, I can at least enjoy this much,” she heard him undoing his pants behind her as he twisted her hands harder, and her panic increased, erupting out of her mouth in short sobs, “and then you and your dear Alpha will have something to remember me by.”