Hart Sloan stood in the shadowed corner of the Sloan mansion’s grand hall, his broad shoulders hunched, his dark eyes fixed on the flickering torchlight that danced across the stone walls. The air was heavy with the scent of wax and pine, but it did nothing to soothe the storm raging in his chest. Serena’s pale face haunted him—her fevered eyes blazing with betrayal when he’d refused to offer his blood for the moonroot ritual, her voice cutting like a blade when she’d called him a coward. The mate bond, once a fierce pull that fueled his obsession, now felt like a chain tightening around his heart, its warmth tainted by guilt and fear. Gary and Jack’s loyalty to her, their willingness to sacrifice, had exposed his weakness, and Austin’s offer of sanctuary to Serena—news that had reached hi
