Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

Bronx's POV

Halloween comes and goes. Thanksgiving comes and goes. Winter Solstice is only a couple of weeks away. The frigid Montana winter trudges on. The world keeps turning as if Kas never existed.

Last week, I heard Katherine Santoro’s abandoned estate in Greece burned down to the ground. No fatalities and no signs of the other residents and staff who lived there several days prior. A few days later, hunters found Katherine’s naked body, along with an unidentified woman, both mauled by wild animals in a wooded area of Mongolia. The artist's sketch of the other woman is clearly Cora.

As soon as they confirmed Katherine was dead, I had my people get to work on acquiring Santoro Enterprises. Within several months, I will be the CEO, absorb the company into MasonCo and create a logistics division. If there are any Manae hiding among Santoro Enterprises staff, I will flush them out and throw them into the dungeon to rot. It's what they deserve.

If Kas ever dares show her face again, she will get the same treatment. She will pay for having my sister murdered, abandoning the Blood River pack, then hiding Goddess only knows where, like the fucking coward she is. °

Saint is pacing in my mind like he has been since the day Kas walked through that fucking portal. Every time I let him out for a run to calm him down, he goes straight to Jimmy’s BBQ. He thinks we are going to find Kas anywhere, it will be there. It doesn’t make any sense, but he has become obsessed with the place. :

I went to the therapist, who gave me medication to calm him down, but it didn’t help. He would just wander around more confused until we ended up at Jimmy’s, so! stopped letting him out. Now he just spends his days torturing me by pacing back and forth, making me anxious. If I drink enough, it helps block his antsy demeanor out. *

I take a sip of bourbon from my glass and set it on the side table. I never used to allow food or drinks in the archival library, but it’s the only place I have found where pack members will leave me the fuck alone, so 1 have made an exception for the three bottles of liquor I drink a day.

The snow is falling heavily outside. It looks beautiful, but I know less than twenty minutes in human form could kill you out there. Beautiful but fatal. Just like Kas. I close my eyes for a moment and envision her beautiful violet eyes and her sparkling silver hair. I can practically hear her sweet little laugh. The pain of being away from her overwhelms me again. I take another sip of my drink to stave it off. There is a small knock at the library door. I consider not answering for a minute until they knock again. I roll my eyes and pick up the remote control to open the door.

“Come in,” I say when I hear the door slide open.

“Alpha,” Ashley’s quiet voice comes up from behind me and she stands next to my chair.

“How can I help you Ashley?” I ask, without looking away from the window.

“Bronx, it’s Musu. She went into labor this morning. I was hoping we could let Marco go be with her when the pups are born?” She sounds calm, but I can hear the fear in her voice.

“No.”

for Musu. She has done everything you asked of her. Please give her this one thing,” Ashley steps in front of me and puts her hands over her large belly, “Bronx, don’t let your feelings

Musu is going to have to be disappointed because he isn't getting out of the dungeon anytime soon. Not even because his mate is giving birth,” I try not to growl. I’m not mad at Ashley, but I'm sure as fuck mad at Marco for knowing Kas was planning on letting the Mavri Magea into the packhouse and not saying anything. He is

if you would

snarl, slamming my glass down on the table. It shatters into a thousand

she sniffs and

while I wait for Saint to heal

at me, “You've been blocking me out for weeks. You want me blocked out fine. I don't owe you shit. All you do is make my life miserable. Heal yourself, dummy. See what happens when you block

to a far corner of my mind and blocks our

table and press it to my hand before I realize Ashley left the door open when she left.

you guys doing up

stop in their tracks and look at each other before they look at

looking for clues,”

ask. Whatever it is, it's probably another trick. Another distraction to lead us away from wherever she is hiding, “You know

Milo says, elbowing Reggie. Reggie looks at Milo tentatively, then hands me the blue binder. The front has a sticker adhered to the front that says ‘ Manae Notes’ in Kas’s curly handwriting. I flip it open to find plastic

flip through the pages and look up

holding his hand out to take the binder back. I look at him blankly. He must be crazy.

and walk into the library.

doin’ buddy?” Milo asks, “You wanna sit and read that all now? It’s gonna take some time to

and throw the binder into the crackling flames without a second

at the binder, but it's too far in the fireplace

That's all we had,” Milo looks

being cursed. You're welcome,” I say dryly before I pick up

that binder had Kas’s plan all