ANMELDENAfter that day, Aurora learned how to disappear without leaving. She stopped wandering into Ethan’s meetings. Stopped perching beside him during briefings, and stopped offering those quiet, unsettling observations that once made grown men pause and rethink. When Ethan was present, she spoke only when spoken to, and even then, carefully, as if every word cost something.He told himself it was for the best. Silence was safer than the look in her eyes, the one that felt too old, too wounded for a child her age.One afternoon, after an especially long council meeting, Jason and Liam asked for a private word.“With all due respect, Alpha,” Jason began, his voice lowered as he chose his words with tactical precision, “but I’ve noticed the CEO of Voss Dynamics has been getting… very close to you lately.”Ethan didn’t flinch. He merely shrugged, his eyes remaining fixed on the document in his hands, though the ink had long since blurred into a meaningless grey.“It's about time,” Liam cut i
Ethan didn’t slow down after leaving Aurora with Liam. He drove with a cold, jagged purpose, Shadow paced restlessly beneath his skin, the bond tugged at him again, insistent, electric, and agonizingly familiar, pulling him toward a destination his heart refused to name, but his instincts knew by heart.'You dropped the kid and ran,' Shadow rumbled, the voice in his head not unkind, but brutally honest. 'You know exactly where you’re going.'“I’m going to make this stop,” Ethan muttered, his knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel. “Whatever this connection is, I'm ending it.”Shadow laughed, a low, knowing sound that vibrated in Ethan's chest. 'Liar.'He pulled up beneath the monolithic glass-and-steel tower of Voss Dynamics. Natasha Voss didn’t strike him as the kind of woman who ever left her work behind, so he found her still at the office. Security barely slowed him; in this city, his name opened doors with the same crushing force as his Alpha command.Natasha was a
Five Years LaterAurora Blackwood was a force of nature wrapped in curls and confidence. At five years old, she ruled both the pack and the human estate with absolute authority, an authority her father surrendered to gladly. She was too small to command the kind of attention she did, but there was something in her presence that bent rooms toward her. A sharp intelligence behind bright, observant eyes. A restless energy that never truly slept. Ethan had tried, at first, to be firm. To be an Alpha, not just a father but he failed spectacularly. Aurora had him wrapped around her little fingers so tightly the entire pack knew it. If she wanted a book, the library opened. If she wanted to sit in on meetings meant for seasoned warriors and corporate executives, she sat, on Ethan’s lap, no less, listening with frightening focus. If she wanted answers, the elders explained. And if she wanted a story before bed, the Alpha of the Blood Moon Pack canceled meetings without blinking. Ethan Black
The ICU doors slid open with a soft hiss. The room was dim, machines humming softly, their steady beeps was the only proof of life. Too quiet, too fragile. Ethan’s breath hitched the moment he saw her.Aurora lay impossibly small beneath a web of tubes and wires, her tiny chest rising unevenly. Her skin looked too pale, lips faintly tinged blue. Every alarmed instinct in him roared awake. His knees nearly gave out.Martha stopped just inside the doorway. “She’s been fighting,” she said gently. “But she’s tired.”Ethan stepped closer, slowly, as if any sudden movement might break her. His hands trembled at his sides.“So small,” he whispered.She stirred at the sound of his voice. Her lashes fluttered, dark eyes cracking open just a fraction. A weak sound slipped past her lips, not quite a cry, and not quite a breath.The monitors wavered. Ethan’s heart slammed painfully against his ribs.“Oh Goddess,” he breathed. “Aurora… I’m here.”He reached out, hesitating for a heartbeat before c
Ethan remained on the Infirmary floor for what felt like an eternity, sobbing as he cradled his newborn daughter. No one approached him. No one could. What should have been a joyous reunion had turned into something unbearably mournful.It wasn’t until noon the next day that Martha finally found the courage to approach him, and even then, only to sedate him. By that time, Aurora had cried herself hoarse and had to be gently but firmly pried from his arms so she could be fed and bathed.Ethan never stirred. Not even when they took her. The sedative dragged him under slowly, mercy wrapped in darkness.Ethan dreamed of her. Not as she had been in the infirmary still, pale, and slipping away, but as she always was in his memories. Laughing, sharp-tongued, eyes bright with mischief as she stole his shirts and curled against his side like she belonged there.When he woke, the world felt wrong. Too quiet, too empty. He doesn't remember ever getting back into his room, the bed beside him felt
The infirmary doors burst open as Liam barreled through them, shouting for everyone to clear the way. He didn’t slow until Susan snapped at him to stop, to lower her carefully. Ruby barely registered any of it.The lights were too bright. The room smelled sharp and sterile and wrong. Too many hands touched her, none of them Ethan’s, and she cried out as another contraction tore through her, stronger than the last, crushing the air from her lungs.“Make...” Ruby sobbed, tears streaming freely now. “Make it stop, ple… please.”“I will,” Susan said, her voice firm but urgent now. “Look at me, Luna. Don’t think, just breathe okay. Try to relax.”But Ruby couldn’t. Her chest felt locked, as though something heavy sat on it. Every breath came short and panicked, her body convinced it was drowning.Whitney hovered near the doorway, pale and trembling, one hand pressed to her stomach as Vanessa held her upright. Jason stood rigid against the wall, his jaw clenched so hard it quivered. Beside
Whitney's fear and desperation had curdled into a reckless, singular obsession: proving Ethan Blackwood was a criminal and finding Ruby. The frustration of being censored had driven her to a dangerous edge.She stopped relying on traditional journalism. Instead, she decided on a bold, foolish esca
Ethan moved first. The punch came out of nowhere, a blur of motion and raw power that cracked across Duncan’s jaw, snapping his head to the side. But Duncan only laughed, wiping the blood that trickled from his lip with the back of his hand.“Good,” he rasped, grinning. “I was hoping you’d make me
ETHANAfter leaving Ruby with Zoey, guilt gnawed at me like a living thing, sharp and relentless. All I wanted was to keep her safe, yet somehow every effort I made only seemed to make her feel trapped. She was so stubborn and refused to see reasons. That infuriating defiance was exactly what I adm
RUBYThe moment the door clicked shut behind Ethan, the sterile quiet of the infirmary became deafening. I stared at the empty space where he’d stood, my pulse still echoing with his last words: You can hate me all you want. At least you will be safe.Safe. The word twisted like a knife, the tears







