LOGINMy gaze sweeps across the courtyard, taking in the faces, the laughter, and the sense of peace that still feels surreal.And then my eyes find her.Xena.I can’t bring myself to call her Lola, just as she can’t bring herself to call me Sadie. To everyone else, we are Lola and Sadie but to each other
“Sadie?” Alec murmurs gently beside me, voice low and coaxing. “You ready?”I turn, and he’s there, exactly where he’s always been. Tall, steady, eyes soft in a way I once thought I’d never be on the receiving end of. He’s holding our son in his arms, swaddled in a light silver blanket that shimmers
He already knows. He always does.“Ready?” I say quietly, though everyone hears me.“Definitely… Been waiting to make you officially mine for months,” he says, earning a chuckle from everyone.Slowly, he puts Aspen down, who is smiling from ear to ear.We told her the truth, that Alec is her dad, an
The night is quiet. Not the tense quiet that comes before war, not the brittle silence of grief but a living stillness, deep and steady, like the world has finally exhaled.It has been a month since the battle. A month since blood stained this land. A month since Kaden fell. A month since I learned
Kaden sees it too late. He lunges, but we are faster.I raise my hand and time stops and light pours from me in radiant waves. Lola steps forward, shadows trailing her like smoke. Light and shadow coil around us, not fighting, but circling, choosing. The air thickens, charged, every particle vibrat
The guilt is suffocating. It crawls up my throat like it wants to rip me apart from the inside.This isn’t how it was meant to be. This isn’t how it was meant to end. Kaden wasn’t supposed to win.I wipe away the tears. No! I refuse to let her die.I feel something crack open in my chest at my deter
Alec.When I saw Micah’s car today, I never expected Sadie to be the one using it. I also never expected the day to end the way it did.I had some business in town with some of the neighboring Alphas. I also went to my company to check how things were running, given that I had not been in the office
Fuck. What the hell was I doing? Why was I allowing him to hold me like this?I aggressively pushed him away. He wasn’t prepared for my actions, so he stumbles a little bit, but releases me. I pull away, breathing hard, trying to clear my head from the spell that had been cast on me.“Sadie?”I rais
Kaden. That name keeps playing in my head over and over again like a broken record. I don’t know what it is about it, but it sends shivers down my spine.I frown as I try to think about why it would affect me in that way. It wasn’t a name I knew. It was just a random name, yet it has an effect on me
“What?” I put Aspen down on the bed before covering her. Then I turn and just stare at the wall, in utter shock. I can’t believe her. I honestly can’t. She’s been gone since yesterday, and that’s all she can tell me? That’s all she can utter? "What do you 'what?'" “Why are you in a hospital gown







