LOGINDominic's POV “Dominic—! Oh gods, yes—!” Her hips bucked against my face. I curled my fingers, stroking that sensitive spot inside her while my tongue lashed her clit mercilessly. Within minutes she was writhing, moaning my name like a prayer. Her first orgasm hit her like a storm. She came with a sharp, keening cry, thighs clamping around my head as her pussy spasmed and gushed around my fingers. I drank every drop, growling against her folds, my wolf snarling in triumph. I didn’t let her come down. I rose, tore off the rest of my clothes, and fisted my aching cock. The head was flushed dark and leaking steadily. Evelyne’s eyes glazed with pure lust when she saw it. “Inside me,” she begged, voice husky. “I need you inside me right now.” I gripped her hips, flipped her onto her stomach, and pulled her ass up. In one powerful thrust I buried myself to the hilt inside her tight, fluttering pussy. Evelyne screamed in pleasure. “Dominic—! So deep—! Fuck—!” I gave her
Serena's POV Midnight. The Blackwood lodge was wrapped in a silence so complete it felt like the walls themselves were mourning with me. I had been lying in bed for nearly two hours, eyes burning, mind refusing to quiet. No matter how many times I turned over, the same images kept flashing behind my eyelids — Dominic’s face when I told him I was leaving, the way his jaw had clenched, the flash of pain in his eyes that he quickly buried. The certainty that I was doing the right thing warred with the devastating ache in my chest. Sleep wasn’t coming. It wouldn’t come. My throat felt like sandpaper. I needed water. Or maybe I just needed to stop lying in the dark with nothing but my thoughts for company. With a heavy sigh, I pushed the blankets off and sat up. The cool air kissed my skin as I slipped my silk robe over my thin nightdress and tied it loosely at the waist. I didn’t bother with slippers. The cold floor might ground me. The corridor outside my room was dimly lit by low
Dominic's POV Later that night, I found Evelyne in our bedroom. Moonlight poured through the tall windows, painting her in silver. She stood by the dresser in a thin ivory nightgown, turning the small silver hairpin I had guarded for sixteen years between her fingers like it was the most precious relic in existence. “You kept this,” she said softly, without turning. “I kept everything that was yours.” I leaned against the doorframe, drinking in the sight of her. “Your ridiculous teacup collection. The books you loved. The blanket stained with your blood the night Amelia was born. I couldn’t bear to move a single thing. It felt like admitting you were never coming back.” Evelyne set the hairpin down with reverent care and finally faced me. Her eyes were luminous with unshed tears. “I used to imagine coming home,” she whispered. “In every dream you were furious with me for making you wait so long. I never imagined you spent sixteen years believing I was dead.” I crossed t
Dominic’s POV I had faced enemies without flinching. I had stood in burning buildings while the sky rained ash, watched blood spill across my territory in rivers, and made decisions that determined whether hundreds of people lived or died. But nothing — nothing in my long, brutal life — had prepared me for the sight of my family sitting together at one table. My family. The word felt both foreign and achingly familiar, like a language I had once spoken fluently and then forgotten. Amelia sat on Evelyne’s right, radiant and grown, while Liora occupied the chair beside me. The little girl was too small for the dining chair, so Marcus had found a thick velvet cushion for her. Even then, her feet barely reached the edge of the seat. She was determined to eat without assistance, which had already resulted in a small spill of creamy soup on the front of her pale blue dress. “Careful, sweetheart,” Evelyne said softly, reaching for a napkin with the gentle instinct of a mother w
Serena’s POV Three days had passed since we left the sanctuary. Three days since Evelyne and Liora had returned to us. Three days since Dominic had held his daughter in his arms and promised her that she would never be abandoned again. And three days since I had begun to feel like a stranger in a place that had once felt like home. The western lodge was filled with life again. Amelia's laughter echoed through the corridors whenever she was with Liora. Mira spent most of her time checking on the little girl, making sure her returning powers weren't hurting her. Marcus had doubled the guards around the property, and Dominic had barely slept since we returned. Everyone was trying to rebuild something. A family. A home. A future. But every time I looked at Dominic standing beside Evelyne, I was reminded that I had no place in the picture they were trying to create. I stood by the bedroom window, watching the garden below. Dominic was there with his daughters. L
Dominic's POV A real child. She looked no older than six, with dark hair, pale cheeks, and eyes the same storm-gray as mine. But there was no blackness beneath her skin. No shadow in her smile. Only confusion. And fear. She looked at Evelyne. “Mother?” Evelyne reached for her. The child hesitated. Then she ran. Evelyne caught her against her chest with a sob that seemed to tear sixteen years of pain from her body. “My baby,” she whispered. “My beautiful baby.” I could barely breathe. The child lifted her face. Her eyes found mine. “Daddy?” This time, I felt no pull toward the circle. No unnatural compulsion. No ancient hunger hiding behind her voice. Only a child asking whether she was safe. I knelt before them. “Yes,” I whispered. “I'm here.” She studied my face. “Are you going to leave me?” The question nearly destroyed me. I held out my arms, giving her the choice to come closer. “Not because you're frightened. Not because you'







