RonanThe hall is still heavy with the echo of Sasha’s trial. Everyone’s voices, their mutters, their hidden agreements, their doubts—none of it has left the air. I can feel the weight pressing down on me as I rise from my chair, my palms still stinging where my grip earlier had cracked wood and skin alike. I look at Sasha, the girl I once thought I knew. She kneels in the middle of the room, her hair in tangles, her eyes rimmed red. She doesn’t look broken, not really. Not the way guilt should break someone. She looks desperate. She looks like she’s already calculating how to twist this back to her favor.I force my voice steady. “Sasha.” My tone carries enough power that the low murmurs of the council and the pack warriors at the edges die off immediately. “From this day forward, every privilege you carried as my former partner, as the one once considered for the Luna seat, is stripped away. You are nothing to me. You are nothing to this pack but a traitor in need of correction.”Th
RonanThe council hall is already full when I step inside. The air carries that heavy kind of silence that feels like a storm held back by thin glass. Warriors line the walls, shoulders stiff, eyes sharp. The Elders sit forward in their seats, murmuring low until I raise a hand. The sound cuts like a blade. Everyone knows why we’re here.Sasha is dragged in between two guards. Even now, with her wrists bound and her hair tangled, she still tries to tilt her chin like she owns the place. “Don’t touch me,” she snaps at the warrior on her left, yanking her arm free. Her voice wavers but she hides it with a sob that catches half the room. “You can’t manhandle me like this. I’m the Beta's cousin. In case you forgot I was supposed to be your Luna... leave me alone, I’ve done nothing wrong.”The pack stirs. Some nod. Some whisper. A few look at me like I’ve already gone too far just for summoning her. That’s the rot that’s been festering under my roof—Sasha’s blood ties, her history with me,
CallaI wake to the smell of Ronan's cologne. My brain insists that means I’m at the team house. For one ridiculous second I expect to roll over and find him there with all dark hair and stupidly calm face, like he’s been keeping watch all night. Instead I stare at the familiar cracks in my ceiling and the stupid, cheerful glow-in-the-dark stars Ava stuck there freshman year. I should be reassured by that. I’m not.Blaire is a mess beside me. She’s sitting on a chair, shoulders shaking, hair in a ruined ponytail, gripping my hand like she’s afraid I’ll float away. Tears make tracks down her cheeks and she looks years older. I can hear her before she says anything — that small, high whimper right in the back of her throat. She won’t be able to stop it.“Maybe we have to call her Aunt and tell them what's going on,” Ava says.Blaire turns to her sharply, the face of someone crying suddenly disappears. “No. We can’t call her family. Her grandmother can’t take this. She’s going to be fine
RonanThis morning the pack is restless. I can feel it in the air before I even step outside my room. Voices drop when I pass, eyes dart away, but their tension presses against my skin. Everyone knows I’m looking for the one whose scent I caught in the woods the night Calla almost died.It doesn’t take long before Casen finds me. His face is set, his jaw tight. “We found her,” he says.“Who?” I ask, though deep down my wolf already knows.“Priya,” Casen answers. “It was her scent.”I don’t waste words. I follow him through the halls until we reach the main hall. They’ve gathered there—some warriors, a few of the elders, and Priya in the middle of the room. Her shoulders are hunched, her eyes red from crying, her hands twisting together like rope about to snap.She dares to look at me, but the moment our eyes meet, she drops her gaze. I cross the room slowly, every step deliberate. The pack watches. No one breathes too loud.“Priya,” I say, my voice steady, though my chest feels like i
RonanThe woods smell different today. Damp earth, fallen leaves, and the faint trace of fear linger in the shadows. Casen walks beside me, silent but alert. My warriors trail behind, muscles coiled, senses sharp. I’m not supposed to be here—not the Alpha—but this isn’t about politics, or territory, or even pack pride. This is about Calla. My mate. She almost died yesterday because some dick had the nerve to attack her. And I will not forgive that.I follow the faint scent trail, twisting through the trees, pressing every inch of my senses into the air. Each step is careful, deliberate. The forest holds its own rhythm, birds startled into flight, twigs snapping under boots, but nothing distracts me. I don’t trust distraction today.Casen’s mindlink hums in my head. *Are you sure this is necessary?**I have to do this,* I snap, not looking at him. It’s her blood that pulls me here. No one touches my mate and walks away.He doesn’t answer, but his presence steadies me, his calm groundin
RonanI finally lay Calla down on my bed. She looks small against the dark sheets, pale and still, her hair clinging to her face in damp strands. My chest tightens as I stare at her, because for a second, she doesn’t even look alive.“Stay with me,” I whisper under my breath, though I know she can’t hear me.The door bursts open. Fabian rushes in, already rolling his sleeves up. He doesn’t waste time with greetings. He goes straight to her side.Fabian isn’t just our team’s medical doctor. He’s also the one we trust when injuries go beyond what a normal human hospital can handle. Hospitals don’t know what to do with us—werewolf injuries don’t exactly show up on X-rays the way they should. And worse, hospitals ask questions we can’t answer. Fabian knows better. He’s one of us, even if he hides it behind his polished, professional act.“Forearm’s cut deep,” Fabian mutters as he inspects her arm. His hands move fast but precise, steady in ways mine aren’t right now. “Leg’s worse—clean br