LOGINHis Hummer hummed low against the mountain. Pine shadow slid over the glass. Kira and Thorn stayed with the warriors to sweep the site. Blaise drove. Blaise watched the rearview mirror. I cradled Storm across my lap, his fingers curled around the moonstone at his throat. Lyra lay beneath Ryker’s jacket, wrapped in the smell of leather, smoke, and the man who had never stopped loving her.She turned her face toward the window for a long minute, as if teaching her lungs the shape of clean air again. When she spoke, her voice was thin but steady.“It was winter. Your hair still smelled like the fir tree,” she said, eyes on me. “You were five. We had just left the lights in town. The road iced over at the ridge. We were singing.”“Wait, I was with you?“Yes, but before the man came and you disappeared, I could not find you.”Blaise’s hands tightened their grip on the wheel.“The first impact was not the truck behind us. Something hit the inside of the car first. The lights went blindingly
The storm wind eased. Ash thinned in the air and curled away into the trees. The mountain held its breath like it remembered what silence was supposed to feel like.The cellar doors stood open.Sarah climbed first, one hand white on the jamb. She looked bone tired and stubborn. Behind her, a second figure rose slowly from the dark. The hood hid everything but the line of a mouth and a throat too thin for any winter. Chains scraped the step. The sound made every wolf and lycan in the ring flinch.Ryker did not look away.Kira lifted one palm. Thorn lowered his staff. Warriors eased their stance but did not break the circle. Blaise shifted closer to me without thinking. Storm stirred in my arms, sleepy and warm, cheek pressed to my collarbone.Sarah guided the prisoner into the clearing. The woman moved like a candle that had burned down to its last light. Her cloak fell in heavy folds. The cuffs at her wrists glowed with the dull shine of old spellmetal. She lifted her head just enough
Ryker, Cline, and Mara stopped at our condo to pick us up. Today would change everything. Our warriors were already in place, spread through the trees, hidden beneath Thorn’s woven glamour. The old witch had no idea that Thorn now lived on our pack lands… or that he was Kira’s mate. Her greatest blind spot was underestimating who stood against her now.Ryker lifted his hand to knock — But I opened the door before he could.The moment I saw him, I threw my arms around his neck. “Dad!”His chest rumbled with a rare laugh as he hugged me tight, relief crossing his face like sunrise breaking the dawn. Then Storm came barreling out behind my legs on chubby toddler feet, squealing with excitement. “Grand-pa-pa,” this caught his breath away; to hear him call him Grandpa was priceless.Ryker crouched instantly, scooping him up in his arms, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “When did he start running?” he whispered, wonder breaking into a smile. “I’ve missed so much…”Blaise stepped out of th
The old witch had gone to gather more supplies for the upcoming ritual.Sarah waited until the heavy door slammed shut and the sound of her boots faded through the trees before she moved. She carried a tray of food down the steep stairs, into the stone chamber beneath the cabin—cold, damp, and smelling of old spells and rot.The woman chained in the corner barely lifted her head when Sarah entered. Her wrists were rubbed raw. The iron cuffs around her ankles glowed faintly with spell-burn. Her body was thin, starved of both food and sun. Sarah had seen her like this for months… but the last embers of hope had gone out of her eyes long ago.“I think I found a way out for both of us,” Sarah whispered.The woman didn’t speak—just blinked, like she couldn’t tell if she’d heard correctly or if her starving mind was inventing mercy again.“Kira agreed to help us.”That name struck her like lightning — not hope, but terror masquerading as hope. The woman inhaled sharply beneath her hood, hand
Kira was preparing Thorn’s plate when the mindlink hit her like a cold thread, pleading.She froze mid-motion.Thorn didn’t ask what was wrong. He didn’t need to. He turned slightly in his chair and watched her, every shift in her expression, every flicker of calculation behind her eyes.*Kira?* The voice was faint — brittle at the edges — but unmistakably Sarah.Kira didn’t answer. Not yet.Silence was her blade of choice.On the other side of the link, Sarah exhaled shakily. She could feel she had been heard. She could also feel she was being measured.*I know you don’t trust me,* Sarah whispered at last. *But I need your help… and in return I’ll help you.*That was the hinge. Not an apology. A bargain.The one language Kira respected.Her response was a single word — quiet, but edged like a drawn dagger.*How?*Thorn leaned back, watching her with the stillness of an ancient predator who has already guessed what was going on. He waited to see if she would agree to a deal with
Blaise dropped to his knees in front of me as if the ground had given way beneath him. His hands closed around mine like a drowning man clinging to the last solid thing in the world.“I didn’t even know you back then,” he choked out, voice raw. “And she— she seduced me.”His grip trembled. His breathing shook. His shame wasn’t loud — it was crushing.I lifted one hand and laid a finger gently over his lips, stilling the flood before it could drown him.“Look at me,” I spoke to himHe did. Slowly. Afraid.I leaned closer so he couldn’t mistake a word.“We are solid.”His chest collapsed with a shuddered breath. The fear in his eyes cracked — not gone, but shaken loose.“We will always be solid,” I said again, firmer this time — not for comfort, but an anchor.His gaze flickered to Storm sleeping against my shoulder, then back to my face.“He is our world now,” I whispered to him. My thumb brushed a tear from his cheek. “And nothing she says… or ever said… can rewrite us.”The relie







