CHAPTER 10

RYDER’s POV

The breaking dawn is such a friend; it always has been. When I was younger, I would run wild and free in the forest during the wee hours of the morning with my father in our wolf forms. The snapping of tree branches, the brush of leaves and little animals scattering at our presence…those were the days of innocence.

Then came the hunting.

I remember my first kill and how frightened I was, crying as my prey breathed its last. But these days, the sight of blood no longer bothers me. Not even the memory of my parents’ blood-stained wolves when they fought to protect our pack from rogues years ago. It doesn’t make the memory any less painful though.

I tighten my hold on a sleeping Alisa, the touch of her skin against mine somehow helps soothe the invisible pain I feel inside. She is asleep and I as spoon her from behind, I listen to her soft rhythmic breathing. I had been rough with her.

‘She can take more of us,’ Bane coos. Bane wants