Natalie's POV
They were three hours into the drive when the silence became unbearable. I sat in the back of the stolen SUV watching the landscape blur past the window. Xander was driving with his jaw clenched tight. Kade sat in the passenger seat staring straight ahead. Neither Alpha had spoken since we left the Triad Court grounds.
The tension was suffocating.
My new power hummed beneath my skin. Constant. Demanding attention. Every breath I took frosted in the air around me. I was freezing the leather seats without meaning to. White patterns spread across the black material like spider webs. I pulled my hands into my lap and tried to control them, but the cold would not listen.
"We need to talk about what happened back there," Kade finally said. His voice cut through the silence lik
