Novels by benedicta200306

Ethan's POVThe message came through right after midnight.I was still awake, which had kinda become the new normal for me lately. Too much piling up and never enough hours in the day, so the time after midnight had turned into my extra work stretch—quiet, nobody around, perfect for the stuff that actually needed my full focus. Sophia was sound asleep right beside me and I was sitting at the little desk in the corner of our room with the lamp turned down low and a stack of Alliance papers in front of me when my phone lit up with a text from Daniel, our head of border security.It said: We have a problem. Come to the security room now.I got dressed quietly, made sure I didn’t wake Sophia, and headed downstairs.Daniel was already waiting in the security room with two other senior pack members and a look on his face I’d learned to take death seriously over the years. It wasn’t his usual problem. This was the one he wore when something had gone completely sideways in a way that was gonn

Violet's POVThe pack house hadn’t changed at all.That hit me the second Sophia pulled up to the gates and I got out, stepped onto the gravel, and just looked at it. Same rough stone walls. Same massive front door. The same row of trees along the path, their branches naked and stretched up like they were still begging the sky for something it never bothered to give. Everything exactly how I’d left it, but standing there this time felt nothing like all the times before.Because he was inside.I could feel him. Nobody had warned me how the mate bond really works—like a compass needle that never stops moving, always pointing, always nagging, always making damn sure you know exactly where the other person is, whether you asked for the information or not. He was in the pack house. Toward the back somewhere, maybe the office, maybe the training room. Close enough that the bond gave off this steady warmth I hadn’t asked for and couldn’t turn off.Sophia touched my arm, light. “You don’t hav

Sophia's POVI found the apartment building easy enough.That was the part I hadn't let myself think about too hard on the drive over — the fact that I'd found my way to a place I'd never actually been, using directions that only existed in a vision I never asked for. I knew the city, the street, the exact building. I knew about the crack in the window and the worn gray blanket on the bed. I parked, walked through the front door, took the stairs to the third floor, stopped outside apartment 7, and raised my hand to knock without one second of doubt that I had the right spot.I'd have to deal with that later.I knocked twice. Soft, no rush.Nothing from inside at first. Then that special kind of quiet that means someone's standing right on the other side of the door trying to decide whether to pretend they're not home."Violet," I said. "It's Sophia. I'm by myself. Max doesn't know I'm here."Longer silence. Then a lock clicked.She opened the door and we just looked at each other for

Sophia's POVIt hit right in the middle of breakfast.One second I was at the long table in the pack house kitchen, tea going cold in front of me, morning sounds all around like always—plates clinking, voices chatting, chairs scraping on the stone floor. Next second none of it was there anymore.It wasn't like drifting off. Not slow or soft or something you could mix up with normal. It was like getting yanked through the ground and dropped someplace totally new, quick and complete, no heads-up. Blink—I was in the kitchen. Blink—I was in a spot I'd never seen.A tiny room. Dim curtains shut tight against any light sneaking in. One bed shoved against the wall, an old gray blanket half pulled up. Bag on the floor, clothes tumbling out like it'd been stuffed fast and left that way. Window with a thin crack along the bottom left of the glass.And Violet, on the edge of the bed, knees hugged to her chest, face in her hands.She was crying. Not loud or showy, the quiet kind when you've held

Ethan's POVI could tell something was off before anybody said a word.That's the thing about being Alpha. The pack bond isn't just some feeling. It's real info, nonstop and stacked up, this quiet buzz that lets you read the mood of every single person tied to you at any second. And for three days after the mating ceremony, the line that should've linked me to Max felt like a rope coming apart over a fire. Weak. Stretched tight. Tugging in a direction it wasn't supposed to go.I found him on the fourth morning out at the edge of the training ground by himself, way before anyone else was up. He wasn't working out. Just standing there arms crossed, jaw locked, eyes locked on the tree line like he was waiting for something to step out."Max," I said.He turned and I saw it right away. Shadows under his eyes are deep enough to look like bruises. His face had that pulled-tight look, s

Violet's POVThe ceremony was meant to be gorgeous.That's what folks kept repeating while they fixed the flowers, lit candles, and smoothed out their nicest outfits with steady hands. Gorgeous. Full of meaning. A real gift from the Moon Goddess. I'd caught those words so often in the buildup that they lost all punch, just noise to plug the quiet when nobody knew what else to toss out.I hung at the edge of the ritual area, watching the group come together, and I kept telling myself I was okay. I was Violet. I was always okay. I'd gotten through stuff that'd crush most folks, and I'd done it without blinking, without begging for a hand, without showing anybody the bits of me that were tender and frightened and flat-out worn. I wasn't gonna crumble over some mating ritual.Then they said his name.Max.It hit the square in my chest like a rock hurled from far