Novels by VID

REIGN'S POVI'm in the middle of a meeting with three visiting Alphas when my phone vibrates with an urgent message from security.*Intruder at the north gate. Female. Claims she has information about Melvanie Darkmoor. No weapons found. Requesting Alpha authorization to hold.*I excuse myself with the kind of calm that comes from years of practice at not showing what's happening behind my face, and I head to the security station.The woman in the holding cell doesn't look like a threat.She's young, maybe mid-twenties, slight, with long dark hair and pale eyes that remind me uncomfortably of Melvanie. But she feels different somehow. Softer. Less cruel."Who are you?" I demand.She's sitting on the bench with her hands in her lap, not pacing, not performing distress. Just waiting. Which is either someone with nothing to hide or someone who's very good at appearing that way."How long has she been here?" I ask the guard outside."Twenty minutes, Alpha. She walked up to the gate and as

SONYA'S POVI'm fresh out of the shower and halfway through a much-needed cup of coffee when Phoebe finds me.She appears in the doorway of my room looking unusually off-balance, which for Phoebe is a significant event. Phoebe's not someone who loses her footing easily. She doesn't usually get flustered.She's currently flustered."Can I talk to you about something, Sonya?" she says, closing the door behind her and leaning against it."What's wrong, Phoebe?" I ask."Nothing. Everything. I don't know." She walks over and grabs my arm. "Can men be confusing and infuriating and also kind of perfect at the same time?"Oh goddess. Is this what I think it is?"Is this about Landon, Phoebe?”"Maybe. Possibly. Yes." She groans, then stares at me. "Wait. How did you know?"“Because you have the exact same look I had when I first met Reign." I gesture at the chair across from me. "Sit. And talk."She sits. She doesn't talk immediately, which is also extremely unlike her. Phoebe fills silences.

SONYA'S POVFour days after Reign tells me about Melvanie and Derek, I'm standing in the training yard at six in the morning in leggings and a sports bra, freezing my ass off, wondering if I've lost my mind.The answer is probably yes.But here's the thing. If there's a rogue army being built by Reign's manipulative brother and the supernatural crime lord who put me in a cell in the Czech Republic, I need to be able to do something about it besides absorb curse fragments and hope for the best.Landon's already here when I arrive, looking irritatingly awake for the hour, running through warm-up drills like a man who was born doing this."You actually showed up," he says, pausing when he sees me."Did you think I wouldn't?"“I thought you might sleep through the alarm.”“You clearly don't know me very well, Landon." I drop my bag on the bench. "So, what are we starting with?"Landon looks me over, clearly sizing me up. "We'll start with positioning. Then we'll work on basic combat techn

SONYA'S POV Reign’s mouth travels down my neck, my collarbone, and I tip my head back and look up at the gap in the canopy where the moon is sitting exactly as if someone placed it there for this specific moment, which knowing what I know about the Moon Goddess is not entirely out of the question."Hey," I say.He lifts his head. "What?""We're really doing this. In the woods.""Yeah, we're really doing this.""That's kinda insane.""You suggested it.""I know." A laugh escapes me, genuine and surprised. "I really did.""Still want to?""Yes." I pull him back down. "Obviously yes. Stop giving me chances to reconsider.""Right." His hand slides down my stomach, between my thighs, finding me already warm and ready, and the sound I make into the dark is immediate and embarrassingly clear. "No reconsidering.""None," I confirm breathlessly.He works me slowly at first, two fingers pressing and curling with the knowledge of someone who's paid attention, and I push against his hand and loo

SONYA'S POVThe shift comes easier than it ever has.I think it's because I'm not suppressing anything anymore. No herbs, no intentional dampening, nothing holding back what I actually am. My bones begin to reshape, but instead of the usual pain, there's a strange rush of warmth moving through me. My muscles stretch and reform, my senses sharpening with every breath, and I feel my wolf pushing forward instead of fighting against me.For once, I don't resist her.The change rolls through me in seconds, and when it's done, I'm standing on four paws in the clearing, the night air hitting my senses like nothing I've ever experienced before.Everything is louder. The wind in the trees, the distant sound of the pack, the creek somewhere behind the cabin. Everything smells stronger and more specific and more real.And I feel enormous.The suppression kept my wolf small and uncertain, always half-present, sometimes muted. Without it, she fills the space completely, confident and sure and ver

SONYA’S POVThe walk to the cabin feels long, and my wolf is agitated and restless, but when I push through the cabin door and sit on the porch steps and just breathe the cold air for a while, she gradually calms down.I'm not done being angry. But I'm done being reactive.About twenty minutes later, I hear footsteps on the path, and I look up expecting Reign but I find Landon instead."He sent you to check on me?" I ask."He wanted to come himself, but Phoebe told him if he showed up here in the next thirty minutes you'd probably punch him, and she was very convincing about it." Landon sits on the step beside me, giving me plenty of space. "She's not wrong that he needs to let you breathe first.""Is he okay?""He's miserable. Which is appropriate." Landon glances at me sideways. "Can I say something that isn't taking sides?""Go ahead.”"He knows he was wrong. I told him he was wrong too. He's not going to argue that point." Landon leans his forearms on his knees. "But Sonya, I unde

LILA’S POVThe question hits me like ice water.Oh.That's what this is about.He's worried I told Trent about our arrangement."No," I breathe, shaking my head quickly. "Of course I didn't."Wade's eyes search mine deeply, like he's trying to decide whether to believe me, and the silence between us stretches uncomfortably."Trent can't know about our arrangement," he states finally, his voice firm. "Nothing about why you're here. Nothing about the contract. Nothing. Do you understand?”"I didn't tell him anything," I insist, my voice steady despite the way my pulse is jumping. "He asked how we met, and I gave him a vague answer. I didn't reveal anything personal."Wade lets out a breath, some of the tension leaving his shoulders."Good," he murmurs.There's a pause, and I notice the way he seems tense still, like he's holding something back.My curiosity gets the better of me despite my better judgment."Sorry, but... why are you so worried about Trent knowing?" I venture carefully.

LILA'S POV"There's nothing off about anything," I state firmly, squaring my shoulders even though my heart's hammering against my ribs. “Wade and I are together. That's all you need to know.”I turn away from Trent's knowing smirk and focus on plating the eggs, my hands moving with more force than necessary.I need to get out of this conversation.Now."Breakfast is ready," I announce, grabbing my plate and heading toward the dining room without waiting for a response.I hear Trent's footsteps behind me, his casual stride following, and when I push through the door into the massive dining room, I pause.I've never actually eaten in here before.The table is enormous, easily seating twelve people, with an expensive chandelier hanging overhead. The morning light spills through the tall windows, making the whole space feel both grand and oddly intimate.I pick a spot in the middle and set my plate down, trying to look like I belong here.Like I eat breakfast in rooms like this all the t

LILA'S POVHis presence feels uncomfortably invasive, and I can smell his scent now, clean and woodsy, but it's nothing like Wade's darker, more commanding presence.I inch a step to the side, putting distance between us, and I feel his eyes tracking the movement."I'm impressed," Trent remarks, apparently oblivious to, or more likely, enjoying, my discomfort. "I didn't think anyone in this house knew how to cook besides the maids."I glance at him briefly, keeping my tone light."You underestimated me then.""Maybe I did." His smile widens. "But you can't blame me. You don't exactly look like the kind of woman who spends much time in the kitchen."My cheeks flush, and I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment or an insult.It feels like both."Looks can be deceiving," I murmur, turning my attention to the stove."They certainly can," Trent agrees, and there's something in his voice that makes me think he's not just talking about cooking.The silence that follows is heavy, aw

LILA'S POVI stretch my arms above my head, feeling surprisingly energetic as I sit up in bed.The morning light filters through the curtains, soft and golden, and for once, I don't feel like death warmed over.Maybe it's because I actually slept last night instead of lying awake overthinking every single thing that's happened in the past week.Or maybe my body's just finally adjusted to the chaos that is my life now.Either way, I'll take it.I swing my legs over the side of the bed, my toes touching the soft carpet, and my mind immediately wanders to last night.To Trent.Wade's younger brother.I still can't believe Wade has a brother. Actually, I can't believe Wade has any siblings at all. He's always seemed like such a lone wolf, no pun intended, that the idea of him having family beyond his intimidating Alpha father feels surreal.And Trent is... different.A younger brother who’s so different from him it’s almost hard to believe they share the same DNA.Where Wade is cold and r

CONNOR'S POVA feeling I don't want to admit.Because past the rage, past the humiliation, and past the need for revenge...There's still that possessive pull.That part of me that remembers Lila in my bed. Lila making me breakfast. Lila looking at me like I was her whole world.Mine.She was mine first.And seeing her with Wade, seeing her look at him with those same eyes, feeling her slip further and further away...It's driving me fucking insane.I want to destroy her.But I also want her back.Want her on her knees, begging for forgiveness, begging to come back to me.The contradiction sits heavy in my gut, and I shove it down, focusing on the anger instead.The anger is easier.Simpler."It has to be perfect though," I state, forcing my voice to stay level. "No loose ends. Because if Wade suspects we're involved in this, he'll come for us."Amber frowns, considering."What if we made Lila look really bad in front of Wade?" she offers carefully. "If Wade thinks she isn't who he be

CONNOR'S POVI slam the front door so hard the frame rattles, and the sound thunders through the apartment like a gunshot.Fuck everything.Fuck this entire damn day.Amber's on the couch, her phone glowing in her hands, and she jumps at the noise. Her face lights up when she sees me, that eager smile spreading over her lips as she sets the phone aside."Baby! You're home!" She bounces up, practically skipping toward me. "I've been waiting for you. How did everything go with your dad and…"I don't respond.Can't respond.The rage sitting in my chest is so thick I can barely breathe around it, and if I open my mouth right now, I'm going to say something I might regret.Or maybe I won't regret it.Maybe I'll mean every fucking word.I brush past Amber without looking at her, my eyes scanning the living room, and I spot it.A glass sitting on the side table.Empty.Useless.Just like everything else in my life right now.I grab it, my fingers closing around the cool surface, and for a se

MEGAN'S POV The pack official conducting the ceremony seems mildly charmed and mildly concerned at the same time, which feels about right. Xarion and I exchange rings. The twins, stationed with surprising dignity in the front row, both burst into tears at exactly the same moment, which sets off a chain reaction through the surrounding rows that includes my father, Gwen, Caitlin, Xarion's mother, and at least three pack members who I'm fairly certain have never met me personally. Wilson Luther, sitting in the second row, does not cry. But he also spent ten minutes before the ceremony finding me in a quiet corner of the estate, and what he said was brief and awkward and clearly cost him something, an apology for the way he'd treated me, for the pressure and the interference and the years of making me feel unwelcome in a place that should've been mine. It wasn't a perfect apology. He's not a man who does perfect apologies. But I accepted it carefully, the way you accept an apology

MEGAN'S POVTwo months later.I never thought I'd be doing this again.Standing in front of a mirror in a wedding dress, I mean. With flowers in my hair and a borrowed bracelet on my wrist and that tight, fluttery feeling in my chest that has nothing to do with the corset and everything to do with the man waiting for me at the end of the aisle.The first time I did this, six years ago, I was twenty-two and terrified and so desperately in love with a man who looked at me like I was an obligation he was honoring. The dress was beautiful. The venue was perfect. And underneath all of it I was a girl who had given a piece of herself, literally, to someone who hadn't yet learned how to deserve it.This time is different.This time the man at the end of that aisle has fought for me. Has made mistakes so enormous they should've been unforgivable and then spent the better part of a year proving he understood why. Has sat on the floor of a hospital corridor with his head against my arm and fai

MEGAN'S POV “Yes, Megan,” Alpha Elias says, nodding once. “He asked if he could have a few minutes. He's been working up to it for a while, I think.” he pauses. "You don't have to, of course.""No," I reply, before I've fully processed whether I'm ready. "I'll see him."“Alpha Elias stands from behind his desk, giving my shoulder a brief, warm squeeze as he passes."I'll give you some space," he murmurs, and then he's gone, the door closing softly behind him.I sit in the silence of his office, and I take one slow breath.And then the door opens again.Vance steps inside.Four months is long enough for the little things about someone to get blurry. The way he moves. The angle of his jaw. The way he carries himself. But it's not long enough to forget someone you cared about, and seeing him again makes all of those details come rushing back.He looks like himself.More himself than the last time I saw him, at the lounge, when something had gone out of his face. That thing is back now.

MEGAN'S POVFour months is a long time.Long enough to watch Arkon move from one season to the next. Long enough for the twins to grow half an inch each and develop seventeen new opinions about everything. Long enough for people to stop talking about me and Xarion like we're the most interesting thing that's happened to them, and move on to something else.Long enough to know, without second-guessing myself, that I made the right choice.It's also long enough to know when one part of your life is ready to end so another can begin.Which is why I'm sitting in Alpha Elias Stone's office this morning with a letter in my hand that I've rewritten four times, not because I didn't know what to say, but because nothing I wrote felt like enough for what this man has meant to my life.His office looks exactly as it always has. Warm and comfortable, everything in its place, nothing excessive, with a framed photograph of Vance on the corner of his desk that I try very hard not to look at for too

VANCE'S POVThree weeks.Twenty-one days, give or take, since I sat across from Megan in that lounge and watched her tell me, in the kindest way anyone has ever dismantled something I wanted, that she was choosing Xarion.I've been counting, which is its own kind of problem.I'm not usually a counter. I'm not usually the kind of person who tracks days or replays conversations or sits in his apartment at eleven in the morning on a Tuesday with the curtains half drawn and a cup of coffee that went cold an hour ago and hasn't been touched since.That's not me.Or it wasn't, anyway.Megan has called twice this week.I watched both calls come in and made the conscious decision not to pick up, and then I immediately felt terrible about that decision and made the equally conscious decision not to act on the guilt.She's texted six times across the three weeks.I've read every single one.Replied to none.The first was sent the day after the lounge, short and honest, the way Megan always is.

MEGAN'S POV Maverick and Makayla hit me simultaneously, their arms wrapping around my waist, both of them bouncing with the barely contained energy of children who've been sitting on a secret for however long this took to arrange and are absolutely delighted to finally release it.I grab them both automatically, my arms coming around them, my heart racing for an entirely different reason now than it was sixty seconds ago."Do you like it, Mommy?" Makayla demands, tipping her head back to look at my face. "Do you? Daddy planned everything. We helped.""We kept the secret the whole time," Maverick adds, looking ridiculously proud of himself.I look at them, and then I look up at Xarion, and then I look around the room again, and the whole thing finally makes sense.He did all of this.He used Andrew's frantic phone call, which probably required some convincing on Xarion's part before Andrew finally went along with it, to get me here without any warning or preparation or chance to hide