Jandro’s POV
The villa is quieter than usual tonight. Even the distant hum of the forest seems hushed, as if it knows this is our moment. I have spent the evening checking wards, reviewing pack security, and ensuring everyone is settled. But my thoughts have strayed again and again to her, my little moonlight, the Luna who calms and heals everything around her, even me.I find her on the balcony, leaning against the railing, the moonlight catching strands of her hair like threads of silver. She turns at the soft sound of my steps, smiling. That smile, bright, gentle, alive, makes my chest tighten. My wolf stirs beneath my skin, growling low, possessive, restless. I want to claim her, mark her, hold her close. But I don’t. Not yet. Inferno has been patient with me, and I trust him. I trust that Zenith’s timing matters just as much as mine.“You’re too quiet tonight,” she says softly, voice brushing over me like silk. “Quiet?” I ask, my voice roughZenith’s POVThe night is impossibly still, yet the villa hums around me. Even the walls feel alive, as if they have absorbed every heartbeat, every echo of laughter, every whisper of our pack. And yet, nothing compares to the quiet thrum of Jandro’s presence beside me.I am perched on the balcony railing, the cool night air brushing my skin, wrapped in the blanket he draped around my shoulders earlier. His hand finds mine again, warm and insistent, threading our fingers together. I let myself savor the grounding pressure of his touch, the way it seems to pull my own heartbeat into rhythm with his.“Zenith…” His voice is low, gentle, almost a rumble in my chest. I glance at him. His storm-gray eyes are softened, calm, and yet… there’s that primal edge beneath, the wolf barely held in check, waiting, yearning. I smile faintly. “Yes, Jandro?”He exhales slowly, as if letting the night absorb some of the tension coiled in his muscles.
Jandro’s POVThe villa is quieter than usual tonight. Even the distant hum of the forest seems hushed, as if it knows this is our moment. I have spent the evening checking wards, reviewing pack security, and ensuring everyone is settled. But my thoughts have strayed again and again to her, my little moonlight, the Luna who calms and heals everything around her, even me.I find her on the balcony, leaning against the railing, the moonlight catching strands of her hair like threads of silver. She turns at the soft sound of my steps, smiling. That smile, bright, gentle, alive, makes my chest tighten. My wolf stirs beneath my skin, growling low, possessive, restless. I want to claim her, mark her, hold her close. But I don’t. Not yet. Inferno has been patient with me, and I trust him. I trust that Zenith’s timing matters just as much as mine.“You’re too quiet tonight,” she says softly, voice brushing over me like silk. “Quiet?” I ask, my voice rough
Selene’s POVI never thought I would see it. The mountain villa, perched like a sentinel over the jagged peaks of Lake Tahoe, just as the vision had shown me. Every detail, every curve of the stone balconies, the way the trees leaned toward the slopes, it was all exactly as I had seen in my dreams. I had thought it a trick of desperation, the last hope of a witch abandoned by her coven, exiled for refusing the blood rites.Yet here I am. Alone. Bruised, tired, and heart pounding with a strange mix of fear and anticipation. My satchel is heavy with the few things I dared to carry, charms, protective herbs, a notebook of spells, and a single, desperate hope, that the Alpha of alphas, the ruler of all supernatural beings, truly resides here. That somehow, this villa is more than a home. That it is a promise of a better tomorrow.I take a deep breath, steadying myself, and knock on the massive front door. Three sharp raps, deliberate. My pulse races
Esme’s POVI did not know what I expected when Koa found me. Maybe a roof over my head, maybe someone to keep me from freezing to death on the outskirts of the Nevada wilderness. Maybe… nothing. Because after everything I have lost, after every coven that turned its back, I have stopped hoping.Koa did not talk much at first. Just handed me a blanket, led me to a room, set some food in front of me, and left me alone. I stayed huddled in the corner, bruises still throbbing, arms crossed tight across my chest. I have been taught my entire life that trust is a weapon too dangerous to wield. And then she appeared....Human. Small. Young. Soft. And yet… something about her made me hesitate before I turned away. Zenith. They called her Luna. I did not understand. I barely understood why I should care. But when she knelt a few feet away, not touching, not forcing, just… sitting there, offering her presence, I felt my walls tremble.“You’re
Elysia’s POVI have spent most of my life learning how to vanish. Invisible in the halls, unnoticed in the classrooms, unremarkable in every way. People overlook you when you do not want attention, but that is different from being truly seen. Truly seen is dangerous. It hurts. And I have learned that the hard way. But tonight… tonight, it’s different.Alejandro called us into the meeting room, all six of us, the three teenagers, as well as Koa, Esme, Selene and Zenith at the center, a quiet anchor I did not know I needed. I watch as she moves among us, human yet more powerful than anyone I have ever known.Her hands are gentle, almost hypnotic, and her eyes… they do not just look at me, they see me. All the fractures I have buried, all the pieces of myself I have hidden behind sarcasm and distance, they do not frighten her. They matter.Then Alejandro raises his hand, and I feel it before I even understand it, a pulse, subtle, threa
Lysander’s POVI have always been good at hiding. Hiding my fear, my anger, my loneliness. You have to, when life keeps showing you the same lesson over and over, trust no one, rely on no one. Itbis easier that way. Safer. Less messy.But tonight… nothing about tonight is safe or easy. Alejandro calls us into the meeting room, Koa and Zenith at the front, Alejandro looming behind them like a wall we are not supposed to cross. And then he speaks, and somehow I know we are about to be bound, not just as a pack, but… something deeper.The moment Alejandro raises his hand, I feel it first, a tug, subtle, almost like a heartbeat I was not aware was mine. Then the presence of the others threads into me. Darian, Elysia, Esme, Selene, Koa, Alejandro… and Zenith.Zenith. Her presence is not just power or authority. It is calm, and grounding, like a hearth fire that never goes out. My walls, the ones I have built to survive in a world that ch