ad, replaying the encounter she'd had with Liam. His warning seemed

s town you don't understan

ing was palpable: Liam was not any kind of stranger. There was something about him that had her insides twisted with cu

rk inside the house; her grandmother was more than likely asleep by now. Yet Ariana's nerves sti

y sound in the house was the soft ticking of the old grandfather clock in the hall. She always lov

o stable tonight did. All this on the

ehind her, and leaned on it, breathing. She did not know what she was expecting-wolves to break down her door? Liam

gers hovered over the screen as her mind moved over the people she had to choose from. But who wo

across the room. That attic had been closed off for as long as she could remember. Her grandmother h

licked a switch somewhere in her mind and triggered a fragmentary sense of familiarity that she couldn't quite place. M

and began towards the attic door. It was an old wooden door that creaked slowly to show a thin stairway upwards into darkness, and the first wave o

t been touched in years, maybe decades. Ariana took one cautious step forward, the flashlight beam splashing across th

niture-dust-covered and broken. Most of it seemed unremarkable, but as she reached the far corner

brushed off the layer of dust covering it. The cover was cracked and well-worn with age,

yet what had jumped out at her the most was

other'

ad lost her mother when she was a child and her grandmother never said much abou

illed its pages, jotted notes about herbal remedies, and mentioned something called **Moonstone**

was

s, as if she had prepared for something-or someone. Ariana's heart pounded as s

ust protect her-she is the last hope. The bloodline is powerful, but it will also

read and reread. _The Moonst

ad been afraid of. Cryptic words, but little question her mother had been involved in somet

her, the fl

led and flicked the light up the stairs. A figure was standing

as L

gear, and her instincts pushed he

voice low even while firm. "I tol

nute with a thousand questions. "What is this?" she demand

lutched in her hands and his expressio

rising in her chest. Too long she had been kept in the dark

e was something almost.protective in the way he regarded her. "

ked up. "Then help me understand," she whispered with despe

was a battle raging behind those eyes, something dark and conflic

ur family, about the wolves. Things that

step closer, the confined space of the attic

iana," he continued with low, taut