The locket burned a hole in my pocket as I strode through Dominion Academy’s shadowed corridors. Valeria Rhen. The name carved on its back haunted me, a jagged piece of a puzzle I couldn’t solve.

Who is Valeria? Is that the name of his sister or some other close relative judging from the surname?

Val’s battered form from yesterday, bruised, defiant, and weak. Nearly collapsing in my arms flashed in my mind, stirring my wolf. He wasn’t just a scrawny alpha with too much nerve.

He was ...