One Step Behind

Pinakabagong kabanata

• Stuck Between Two Alphas   Lila’s Broken Wings

  The dungeon reeked of blood and regret.Lila’s screams had long since turned hoarse—guttural gasps and broken whimpers echoing against cold stone. The floor beneath her was slick with blood from the severed hand, staining her pale skin like ink across parchment. Her breath came in short, desperate pants as her chains rattled softly with each shudder.And still, Connor watched her.No pity. No mercy.He crouched again, elbows on his knees, just inches from her. She tried to shrink away, but her chains yanked her back into the pain. He let the silence hang for a moment longer, letting the weight of her agony settle.Then he reached behind him.The iron branding rod he pulled out glowed faintly red, still hot from the forge.Lila’s eyes widened. “No… no, no—”He grabbed her by the jaw."You branded your sister as a murderer," he said coldly. "Now let me return the favor. But with truth."He slammed the glowing metal against the soft flesh of her collarbone.Her body arched.A scream—anim

• Stuck Between Two Alphas   What We Did to Aria

  Two days later;Connor stood at the window, staring down at the quiet courtyard.He had failed.Not just Ivy—but himself. His pack. Everything he was supposed to protect.And now, he was paying the price.He had rejected her back then. The one person who would have loved him more than any other. And now he has lost her completely. Nothing he said or did would bring her back.So he would live with that. The only thing he can do is to let her go, and carry the regret like a scar for the rest of his life.But he wouldn’t carry it alone.No.Lila would burn with him.She started the fire—he would make sure she felt every single flame.And it starts now.****The scent of rot was thicker on the east side of the dungeon.The damp, suffocating air clung to Connor’s skin like guilt, yet it was nothing compared to the rage simmering just beneath his surface. He’d contained his wolf. Barely. For two days, the beast within him had clawed at his insides, demanding blood, demanding vengeance.But

• Stuck Between Two Alphas   My Silence

  Ivy’s POVThere’s something about cocoa. The way it warms you from the inside out. How it makes you feel like maybe—just maybe—you’re safe.But safety is an illusion.The warmth doesn’t reach the cold that’s starting to creep up my spine.Because while Rosa hums softly in the kitchen, while the world is soft and full of light again, something inside me is unraveling.Thread by thread.Flash by flash.It starts small.A flicker of darkness.Then mold. Thick, black, suffocating. I can smell it.My stomach twists violently.Then the room—Small. Windowless. The kind of place that forgets sunlight exists. My breath shortens and I feel it in my bones before I even see it again: the cold.The air was wet and heavy. The walls wept with condensation and the ground was slick beneath me. I was barefoot. Bruised. There was a chain around my ankle. Tight. Rusted.I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t speak.But worse than the mold, the dark, the filth——was her.That humming.That terrifying, sing-song l

• Stuck Between Two Alphas   Fragments

  Ivy’s POVThe morning sun filters through the curtains like melted gold, soft and quiet against my skin.I stir beneath the blanket. My body aches with the kind of weariness that doesn’t come from physical strain—but from the weight of dreams that cut too close to bone.I blink up at the ceiling.The warmth beside me is gone. My father must’ve left sometime before dawn—the imprint of him still faint on the sheets.My father... The word still felt foreign on my tongue. Strange. Unfamiliar. It feels like I had spent my whole life not knowing where I came from, never imagining that I had a family out there.Before the man who claimed to be my blood brought me back here, everything I knew about myself came from Rosa—her stories, her love, her version of who I was.But I couldn’t explain the presence I felt inside me. Sometimes, a voice would whisper from within—saying things I couldn’t quite remember. Other times, it went silent, like it had been ever since we left Mr. Ryland’s home.And

• Stuck Between Two Alphas   Echoes of the Forgotten

  Back in her room, Ivy slept.Peacefully at first.The kind of peace that felt stolen—borrowed from another life. The air held the scent of something warm and nostalgic, like old gardenias beneath a summer rain. Her pillow cradled her cheek with strange tenderness, and the darkness behind her eyes wasn't oppressive for once.It was… quiet.But then something shifted.A chill. A breath too cold.And her body—her spirit—began to remember.The walls of her mind warped, melting like wax, reforming into stone. Rough and ancient. Ivy stirred, limbs twitching under the sheets as her breath hitched.Stone walls rose around her.Chains clinked.The floor beneath her was wet with something thick. Her wrists were shackled above her head, metal biting into her skin, and before her… black roses.Hundreds. No, thousands.They sprouted from cracks in the walls like a living mockery. They pulsed, almost breathing, their petals sharp, curling, laughing. She could hear them whispering in a language she

• Stuck Between Two Alphas   HELLO

  Blackwood Estate — Just After MidnightRichard moved quickly through the house, the weight of the last few days sharpening every edge of his thoughts. He mounted the stairs two at a time and turned left toward Marcus’s room, pausing only to listen for any more movement outside. Nothing. But the air felt… wrong. Unsettled. As though the walls themselves were holding their breath.He knocked once, sharply. “Marcus,” he called.There was a rustle, then the door creaked open. Marcus stood there in sweatpants and a black shirt, eyes half-lidded and groggy.“Something’s not right,” Richard said quietly. “Get dressed. I need you to come downstairs.”Marcus stiffened at the tone. He didn’t ask questions. He nodded and turned to grab his boots.By the time Richard descended the stairs again, Marcus was beside him, alert and armed. The hallway lights cast long, twitching shadows as Richard moved toward the main living area and barked toward the guards’ quarters near the side exit.“Full perimet