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 smiled as Aspen told him about what she had been doing since morning. She gave him every detail, down to what she ate for breakfast.The smile that showed on his face wasn’t fake. It wasn’t one that was forced as he pretended to show interest. It wasn’t one to placate her. It was genuine and re
“We reached out to other packs,” added Elder Thorn, his tone clipped with frustration. “We thought perhaps they’d have some forgotten text buried in their vaults. But even with access granted, we came up empty.”“There’s no record of Kaden,” said Elder Mira, her silver braid falling over her shoulde
SadieI slowly opened my eyes, my head pounding. The first thing I noticed was the ceiling and then the smell of antiseptic. Immediately, I knew that I was in the hospital.Honestly, hospitals should really do something about their ceilings. I mean, come on; it’s usually the first thing a patient no
She’s quiet for a moment, but I do feel her emotions. A bit of sadness, longing, but also anger and resentment.“Did you know that she’s the one making the hybrids?” I pushed. The more I got her talking, the more information I could get to piece things together.“How?”At first, I thought she was in







