LOGINAlejandro The call did not come through a phone. It came through the bond. I was in the lower hall when it hit, mid-step, mid-thought, like a low-frequency pull behind my sternum, deep enough to bypass instinct and land straight in the marrow. Inferno surged instantly, not alarmed, not aggressive but attentive. The way an ancient thing listens when the world clears its throat. I stopped. Zenith looked up from the long table where she had been grinding herbs, mortar pausing in her hands. She did not ask. She never had to. The bond carried it to her too, not the call itself, but the change in me. The stilling. The focus. “It’s not one,” I said. Her eyes softened, sharpened, all at once. “How many?” “Enough to matter.” Around us, the Haven adjusted without being told. Rowan’s shoulders squared where he stood near the hearth, bowl forgotten again. Lucien’s gaze slid to the windows, pupils thinning as if he could already see movement beyond the wards. Esme and Selene rose together, ha
Zenith I felt it before anyone spoke. Not as pain or as fear, but as stillness. The kind that settles when the air itself is waiting. Alejandro stood near the hearth, one hand braced against the stone mantle, his head bowed slightly as if listening to something far away. Inferno was close to the surface.I could tell by the way the shadows along the walls leaned toward him, by the way the wards hummed instead of sang. Even the Haven seemed to hold its breath. History had walked through our door tonight. And it had decided to stay. I moved toward him quietly, my bare feet soundless against the warm floor. The scent of home, sage, juniper, crushed lavender, and the faint mineral note of iron-rich water, wrapped around us, steady and familiar. I had worked hard for that scent. Vampires, wolves, rogues, witches… no one needed to be reminded every second that they were different. This place was supposed to be where the edges softened. Alejandro did not turn when I reached him. But his
AlejandroNo one spoke for a long moment. Not because they were afraid to, but because something older than instinct had been stirred, and even monsters know when silence is the only respectful response. History had not walked in shouting its name. It had sat at our table, folded its scarred hands, and spoken calmly about a time before any of us thought we were inevitable. Rowan was the first to break. Not with words, with breath. He let out a slow, disbelieving exhale, hands flattening against the wooden table like he needed the grain to anchor him. “You’re saying…” He stopped, swallowed, tried again. “You’re saying all of this, him, was real. Not legend. Not exaggeration.” Lucien’s gaze never left Eamon. “Legends,” the vampire said quietly, “are usually what remains when the truth is too heavy to carry intact.” Cassian leaned back in his chair, one boot hooking around the rung beneath him. His expression was unreadable, not mocking, not amused. That alone told me everything. Va
Alejandro We did not take Eamon to the council room. That was deliberate. Power listens differently in spaces meant for judgment. I wanted truth, not posturing. Instead, we brought him to the long dining hall, the heart of the villa. Morning light filtered through the glass walls, softening the mountain’s edge into something almost kind. The scent of home lingered in the air: rosemary, sage, cedar, and something faintly floral Zenith brewed herself. It muted the clash of species, blurred predator lines into something livable. Eamon noticed immediately. His shoulders eased the moment he crossed the threshold. “This place…” he murmured. “It’s balanced.” Zenith smiled faintly. “It has to be.” Rowan sat midway down the table, frozen halfway through his meal, eyes flicking between Lucien and Cassian like he was still convincing himself neither would lunge across the table and tear his throat out. Lucien gave him a polite nod. Cassian didn’t bother pretending interest, but he didn’t bar
Alejandro The wards did not flare. That was the first sign something was wrong. No heat spike. No pressure surge. No warning hum rippling through the mountain villa. Just a subtle shift, like the land itself drawing a breath and deciding not to scream. Inferno woke fully. Not alert or defensive but attentive. I was already on my feet before Koa finished speaking through the mind link. Alpha. Gate perimeter. Single arrival. Male. He’s… waiting. Waiting..... That alone narrowed the possibilities. People who came desperate crossed the boundary half-dead, bleeding, begging, or unconscious. People who came malicious never crossed it at all. They hovered outside the wards, hoping pity would do what violence could not. But waiting? That meant knowledge. I stepped onto the balcony overlooking the front approach, the cold Lake Tahoe air biting through my shirt. Dawn had not fully broken yet. The mountains were still shadows against a pale sky. And there he stood. Tall. Broad-shouldered. N
Alejandro Leadership is not loud. It does not roar or demand or bare its teeth. It settles. It presses into your spine when the house grows quiet again, after the injured are tended, after the fear eases, after everyone looks to you without realizing they have done it. Rowan stood near the railing overlooking the lower hall, arms folded tight against his chest. He had not moved since Zenith knelt beside the second arrival. His eyes tracked everything, the way Lucien handed over clean bandages without comment, the way Esme murmured a stabilizing incantation that didn’t flare or dominate, the way Koa positioned himself near the door without blocking it. No one postured. That unnerved him more than violence ever could. “Alpha,” Rowan said eventually, his voice low, careful. “How many more?” I didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I don’t know.” He frowned. “You didn’t sense them?” “I sensed the first,” I replied. “After that, it becomes choice. People hear about safe ground faster than y







