Novel-novel oleh Peggygoddess

Kaidora's POV Dread claws at me, but I force it down. I'm overthinking. It's just a bath. Just tradition.I soak for what feels like hours but is probably only twenty minutes. When I finally step out, I immediately reapply my perfumes and oils before anyone can come check on me, masking my human scent beneath layers of scents Thalia had given me weeks ago. Elder Miriam returns with a ceremonial robe— white silk embroidered with silver wolves. “For the blessing ceremony,” she explains, helping me into it.I'm led to another room where the other elder females have gathered in a circle. They gesture for me to stand in the center, and I comply, my heart hammering against my ribs. “We call upon the Moon Goddess to bless this union,” Miriam begins, her voice taking on a formal, ritualistic quality. “To guide these mates toward prosperity and strength. To grant them the wisdom to lead our pack with honor.”The other women echo her words, their voices blending into a haunting chant. I clos

Kaidora's POVThe pack house looks different in the daylight. It looks more imposing, like everything I should fear instead of the neutral territory I've convinced myself it could be.Zane pulls into the circular driveway exactly at noon, his jaw tight with tension that's been building all morning. We barely spoke during the drive, both of us lost in our own spirals of dread about what comes next.“Ready?” he asks, but his hands remain gripped on the steering wheel.No. I'm not ready. I'll never be ready to walk into the heart of werewolf territory and pretend I belong here. Pretend I'm going to be their future Luna when tomorrow's ceremony will expose every lie we've built.“Yup,” I say instead, pretending as though my heart isn't about to fall out of my chest. He sighs softly, and turns towards me fully now. “There's something I need to let you know, Kai,” he says and I nod once despite the fear crawling over my skin. “Since we insist that the bond is legitimate, this ceremony migh

Kaidora's POVWarmth surrounds me when consciousness slowly creeps in, chasing away the remnants of restless dreams. My cheek rests against something firm and solid, rising and falling in a steady rhythm that feels oddly comforting.I keep my eyes closed, clinging to the last threads of sleep because waking up means facing everything I tried to escape last night. It means remembering Summer's cruel smile, the ring she dangled just out of reach, the garbage she threw at me like I was nothing.And I will have to remember how I completely fell apart afterward.The steady rhythm beneath my cheek shifts slightly, and I become aware of an arm wrapped around me, holding me close. Fingers trail through my hair in a gentle, repetitive motion that sends shivers down my spine.Zane.Memory floods back in pieces. Breaking down at the campus gate. Him finding me there. The drive home. His refusal to push for answers even though I could see how badly he wanted them.The way he just held me while I

Zane's POVSomething is wrong. The feeling hits me the moment I walk into the empty apartment, Kaidora's absence a tangible void that makes Darko pace restlessly in my mind.I pull out my phone and text her: Where are you? I came home and you're gone.The message delivers but no response comes. I wait thirty seconds that feel like hours before trying again.Kai, answer me. Are you okay?Still nothing.My wolf's unease bleeds into my own, amplifying the concern already tightening my chest. After our conversation yesterday, after the way we left things between us cold and distant, where would she go this late at night?I'm pulling up her location when instinct kicks in. Something pulls at me, an invisible thread tugging toward campus even though I have no logical reason to think she'd be there.But I've learned to trust these inexplicable urges when it comes to Kaidora. I've learned that whatever connection exists between us, real or imagined, it knows things my conscious mind doesn't.

Kaidora's POVI sit in the darkness long after Marcus leaves, his warning echoing through the hollow space in my chest.The marking will fail. Everyone will know. We'll both be destroyed.He suggested I leave, pack my bags tonight and disappear before the ceremony exposes everything we've built on lies.I should save Zane by abandoning him. Give up revenge to protect the werewolf I was never supposed to fall for.The logical part of my brain knows Marcus is right, that staying means walking into a certain disaster. But I can't leave. Not now. Not when I'm this close.I've spent ten years preparing for this. Ten years carrying the weight of my parents' deaths. And now the ring connected to their death is here, in Summer's possession. Within reach after a decade of searching.I've come too far to walk away now. Too far to let fear or love or common sense stop me from finishing what I started.Even if it means everything falls apart at the ceremony. Even if my secret gets exposed and the

Kaidora's POVI've been sitting on the couch for the past hour, staring at my laptop screen without really seeing it. The Blackthorn pack history page is open in front of me, words blurring together as my mind replays the conversation with Zane from yesterday.“That's all this is.”The lie sits heavy in my chest like a stone I can't seem to dislodge no matter how many times I tell myself it was necessary. That pushing Zane away was the right choice. That maintaining distance will make leaving easier when the time comes.But the look on his face when I said it— like I'd physically struck him— keeps flashing through my mind, and each time it does, something inside me twists painfully.I force my attention back to the laptop, to the research I should have been doing all along instead of getting distracted from why I'm here.The Blackthorn pack. Summer's family. The connection I need to find.I scroll through the history, looking for anything from ten years ago, any mention of conflicts,