Aurora felt her heart pounding in her throat as she stood in the alpha's bedroom. Now, faced with the demand to explain herself, she found she didn't even know where to begin.

"Explain to me what this is," Cris repeated, his attention fully on her. His face remained unreadable, calm like a still lake, giving nothing away about his thoughts. Aurora couldn't tell what lay beneath that surface.

"I didn't steal the magic stone." Aurora stared at his lips, ...