Cassia Phoenix always dreamed her mate would be her refuge—the one to give her the home she never had, the life she craved. But fate is cruel, and dreams are lies wrapped in pretty promises.

When she finally finds her mate, it’s not salvation. It’s a sentence. 

He’s already claimed by another, and she's nothing more than a mistake he’s determined to erase. Every day, he reminds her that she is unwanted. Unworthy. Unloved.

Being an omega, She spent her life on the fringes of her pack, invisible and expendable. But this? This is worse. 

So she runs.

To Winter Lake, a place that shouldn’t exist, where the rules of the world don’t apply. There, she might find a sliver of peace—if her mate doesn’t hunt her down, and if the powerful alpha of this forbidden pack doesn’t discover the truth about who she is. About what she is.

Staying is dangerous. Impossible, even. But then there’s him. The brown-eyed shifter who saves her from the storm, whose strength and promises make her question everything she thought she knew about fate, loyalty, and belonging. He makes her want to stay. To fight. To believe.

But when she’s spent her entire life running, how does she stop?

I spend the night tossing and turning, despite the bed in Minerva 's guestroom being more comfortable than the one I share with Lucian.


So, even though Minerva  and I went to bed early, the next morning I feel like I barely slept at all.


Sat in Minerva 's warm country style kitchen, I lift my gaze from my plate filled with bacon and eggs. "What?"


Dressed in a pair of perfectly pressed slacks and a pale pink sleeveless shirt, with her white hair neatly braided, she lifts the pot of tea.


Although I pick up my fork, I don't move to eat the breakfast Minerva  had waiting for me when I sleepily emerged from my room a few minutes before.


"You're unsettled," she murmurs, as she re-fills her teacup. I sigh. "I'm just tired. I didn't sleep well."


Chapter 53 - Something to Lose