I swear my breath left me. Everything we’d been trying to avoid—working so hard to avoid—was coming true, and from what I heard, there was no stopping it.

I didn’t take my eyes off him, but I also didn’t speak either. It was totally unexpected, and I now knew what Malissa meant when I first told her of it all. To me, it was almost second nature—an Ancient Alpha, a curse, an amulet. But now, hearing that Leo had the blood of this vile monster, and that his fate was ...