BROOKE

I never knew hunger like this. My whole life, hunger had been a growling belly. At its worst, a headache, or perhaps a bout of lightheadedness. Starvation was more than that. My stomach had devolved into an acidic volcano, threatening eruption at all hours of the day. My chest hurt. My throat burned. Dirty water was a blessing when it came. I measured time by the ray of sun that filtered in through the high, barred window, watched it move down the wall, and across the floor, deepening to orange, fading away.

I no longer wished for the moon's arrival. Not now that she brought a different man—a volatile man.

Titan was a walking wound, and no amount of alcohol could stop the rot from spreading. He was teetering on the edge of killing me, but instead, he just made me watch him destroy himself. Night after night, he took me to his office, and I was locked in the room with a storm. He drank. He sobbed. He raged, tearing down shelves and throwing their contents—most of the time at me.

He was late tonight.

I stared up at the window, my joints stiff from their still position, clinging to Huck and wishing he'd appear like he had so many times before. If only that was the reason for Titan's absence.

"Perhaps he won't come," Mother said. She'd lost all hope of reconciliation, and her genuine concern magnified my own.

"Perhaps," I said, but I didn't believe that anymore than I did my wishful thoughts.

As if he'd been waiting for us to comment, the door above flew open, and boot steps pounded down the stairs. Titan stumbled off the bottom step, barely catching himself against the wall.

Mother and I both stood, but he didn't turn to address us. His body was slumped slightly, shoulders heaving around deliberate breaths. Then he retched, and vomit splattered the toes of his boots. His arm swiped across his mouth. "Your mate just cost you dearly."

A chill raced down my spine.

He pushed off the wall and staggered to the gate, swaying slightly as he inserted the key and twisted. "Don't just stand there. We're going for a drive."

I swallowed. It was bad enough being locked in a room with him, I couldn't imagine climbing into a vehicle. He'd kill us both. "Titan, I—"

"Now!" he roared.

I flinched and took a step forward.

Mother held me back.

I met her gaze, and a silent conversation passed between us. We both knew I couldn't refuse him. We had no power, not anymore. Even if we took him down, there were sentinels at the top of the stairs.

"Come!" he roared.

I pulled free from her grasp and reluctantly joined him outside our cell. Rock bottom had a way of forcing forgiveness. Despite everything, she was my mother, and for the majority of my life, it'd been us against gravity. From the moment I entered her womb, she'd carried me, and I looked back, feeling like it was the last time I'd ever see her.

Titan slammed the gate shut and strong-armed me upstairs, through the castle, and out the front door. A silver Porsche idled without a driver.

I released a shaky breath. "Are you sure you should drive?"

Titan forced me into the passenger's seat and slammed the door closed.

My eyes locked onto the driver's seat. How easy would it be to take off? How far would I make it before they caught me? My wolf rose, but even she was afraid.

Before I could find the bravery to act, Titan dropped into place behind the wheel and threw the gear into first. The engine roared. The tires spun. We took off like a missile, and I gripped the door with a white-knuckled fist as the road blurred beneath us.

Unlike the night with Huck, this wasn't fun or exciting. Titan veered from left to right, swerving all over the road, coming inches from the trees lining either side. "Titan," I said. "Please slow down."

"I could kill us both, you know? Be done with this." The words were low, seeming to resonate from the darkest part of him.

My heartbeat throbbed inside my throat and pounded within my ears. This was it. This was how I went. "Please don't."

He veered into a ditch, jostling us so violently my head smacked against the side window. "Say one more word and I will."

I squeezed my eyes shut tightly, clinging to Huck for the last time, and he held me back with an intensity that stole my breath. I love you. I love you. I love you. I repeated the words on a desperate loop, hoping beyond hope he would understand them. We were in the garden. We were on the beach. Dark, dancing eyes and a wolfish smile. His laugh. His wit.

The car jostled again, shaking as if I were on a rocket taking off into space. I gritted my teeth and held on tighter, curling in on myself.

Our first kiss. Every kiss after. Our bodies perfectly molded together, skin to skin, slow caresses and perfectly timed movements. Dancing in the dark.

The tires squealed to a jarring halt, and I cracked my eyes open. Where were we? There was too much char and smoke to tell. Sentinels raced like ants atop a broken mound, carrying bodies through the beaming headlights. Another group walked past my side of the car, hoisting a chain up the hill. I watched them in the sideview as they dropped down and connected it to a massive hook driven into the ground.

Titan got out, circled the car, and then wrenched my door open and dragged me out by my hair.

I cried out and gripped his fingers, fighting to free myself. "Stop!" The word ripped out of me, my wolf rising so high, my fangs extended.

Titan stormed through the crowd, and the forest beyond the mayhem was deathly still. "Do you see her?" he boomed, giving my body a shake. He pushed my head down, forcing me into an awkward, bent walk as he paced back and forth, parading me like a prime mare up for auction. "Everything you do is only going to make it worse for her!" He stumbled, then growled and flung me down as if I were the reason for his clumsiness.

I landed on my hands and knees and scrambled forward. If I could just make it to my feet. If I could run fast enough and make it into the trees.

Titan kicked my backside, sending me face first into the earth. "Come and get her!"

Fear gripped me with icy fingers, and I peered into the darkness, expecting Huck to appear at any moment. Don't come. Don't come. Don't come.

Silence.

"Where is he, Brooke?" Titan asked.

I had nothing to say, nothing to lose, nothing to live for. Every day I spent in this hell was worse than the last, and if I didn't die soon, Huck was going to get himself killed trying to save me.

I had to let him go.

It was time to let go.

With a shuddering breath, I climbed to my feet, lifted my chin high, and turned to face Titan with every ounce of composure I had left. "Just do it," I said.

Titan held my gaze with murderous eyes. "And what would that be?"

"You want to kill me so bad. Do it. Do it and get it over with. Do us all a favor and stop sniveling and throwing a tantrum like an oversized toddler!"

Within the span of a second, he lunged forward and clutched my neck, cutting off my airway. "Like this?" he sneered.

I wheezed and clutched his wrist. Flashbacks of the alley assaulted me. Only this time my killer wasn't hidden behind a mask, and if Huck tried to save me, he'd be shot more times than I could fix. My vision blurred, lungs seized, legs kicked as survival instinct took over.

Titan released me, and I fell to the ground. "No," he sneered down at me. "I'll kill you when I'm ready. Now walk. We're leaving."

I coughed, gagged, fought to my feet and stumbled back towards the car. The further I got away from this place, the safer Huck would be. The thought of watching him die was too much to bear. Sentinels eyed us as we passed, some having the decency to look bothered by the way their future luna was being treated. But none were concerned enough to speak out or try to help. They went back to their tasks as Titan shoved me into the passenger's seat. Their eyes averted as he circled around and climbed in.

He shifted the gear, propelling us into reverse.

Slam!

The rear end jumped, and a second later, the car was yanked down the mountain. "Fuck!" Titan roared as he hit the brake to no avail. Sentinels panicked, racing after us.

"What's happening!" I twisted in my seat and found my answer in the glow of the tail lights. He'd hit one of the hooks, knocking it loose, and we were being dragged down by whatever massive thing it was meant to hold.

Titan shifted gears and hit the gas, slowing us down as the tires spun and the car swayed, fighting and failing to move forward. A group of sentinels caught up to us and opened Titan's door, pulling him out.

"Wait!"

Too late. His foot left the gas. Gravity won. I screamed, eyes wide as they disappeared from view. I gripped the wheel and fought to climb into the driver's seat, but before I could make it over, the car slammed to a halt, flinging me into the back seat. My head hit the back windshield. The world blinked out of existence.

Darkness had never felt so complete. I wasn't conscious, but I wasn't unconscious either. It felt as if I were floating somewhere I had never been, and all the pain of hunger and injury had been left behind.

A tiny light formed ahead of me, though whether it was small or far away, I couldn't tell. The more I focused on it, the larger it grew. After an eternity without blinking, it took shape.

A woman, tall, lean, and effervescent strode across the nothing. Long, silver hair swirled around her luminous features. She was perfect. She was beautiful. She was a...

"Goddess," I breathed. "Am I dead?"

She smiled softly, shook her head, drawing to a stop in front of me. "Run."

My eyes flew open, frantically taking in my surroundings. An incessant dinging echoed in my ears. A hint of burnt rubber touched my nose. My legs were bent awkwardly across the backseat; my upper body was cramped into the floorboard. How much time had passed?

I struggled upright, taking in the bent passenger's side door, and the tree that'd caught my fall.

I was alone.

I was in the woods.

I was free.

"Run."