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
I walk back to the packhouse slowly, my steps dragging, my thoughts heavy. My thoughts circle around what I learned from Nyx and Piper’s. Her tear-soaked face sticks to my mind like a tattoo.I feel for her. I feel her fears, the uncertainty of the situation. If Calvin hadn’t been locked up, they’d
I try to shake my head, but the tears spill anyway. Alec doesn’t hesitate. He pulls me into his chest and murmurs low, “Come with me.”Before I can protest, he guides me down the hall and into his room. He closes the door behind us and steers me gently toward the sofa, keeping one arm around me as t
I hold Piper tightly, trying to comfort her, but over her trembling body, my eyes catch on Sadie. She’s pulled back against the sofa, pale and silent, tears shining in her eyes but refusing to fall. She looks as though she’s standing on the edge of a cliff, staring down into something vast and terri
My chest aches for her. I know what it’s like to carry too much alone, to think silence protects the ones you love when really it just builds more walls.She doesn’t want to worry him, but what she doesn’t understand is that by blocking him, she’s already worrying him.“Piper,” I say softly, “he’s y







