Kieran

I am sitting at my desk with Daciana, amusing her by conjuring fire from my fingers, a trick I learned from my mother a very long time ago, when there’s a knock on the door.

“That’s beautiful,” Daciana breathes, watching the flames dance across my knuckles without burning me. For a moment, the worry lines around her eyes have eased. “Your mother taught you that?”

“Just before she died.” I let the fire spiral up into a small phoenix shape, remembering her patient hands guiding mine. “She said every alpha should know how to work with fire. We’re wolves, yes, but fire is power. Control.”

The knock comes again,...