I didn't feel the cold. I couldn't. My body was humming with so much stolen energy that I felt like I was walking inside a furnace. The golden fire I had siphoned from Guilermo, the love I thought we were sharing was keeping my blood hot, my muscles tireless, my senses razor-sharp.
I felt incredible. I felt powerful.
And that was what made me want to scream.
I reached the perimeter of the Pack House just as the sun began to dip behind the mountains, painting the sky in bruises of purple and red. The guards at the gate nodded to me, respect in their eyes. They saw the Witch Queen. They saw the woman who had saved their Alpha.
They didn't see the tick that had gorged itself until it was bloated.
I walked into the main house. It was warm, smelling of cedar and dinner.
"Lilura!"
Thelma
