MasukMy 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
It’s been seven days. Seven long, brutal days since they took him.Every day I moved around with the echo of Alec’s pain humming beneath my skin like a second heartbeat. Some days it’s faint and dull. While other days it’s unbearable.He tries to hide it from me. I know he does, but pain has a way o
Alec.I don’t think I’ve ever been this anxious in my entire life. Not during challenges to maintain my Alpha title. Not during battles. Not even the moment I was first crowned as the Alpha.Nothing, and I mean nothing, comes close to the way my chest tightens as I wait at the bottom of the staircas
“There’s so much to tell you,” I sniff. “But first, you need to know that Sadie fell into some kind of coma. I’ve tried waking her up, but nothing works.”“I know,” Beth says simply.I freeze.“You… know?”“Yes.”What the actual hell?“How could you possibly know that?” I demand. “You’ve been missin
I wake up warm. That’s the first thing I register. The heat at my back, a solid chest pressed against me, an arm draped possessively around my waist. Alec’s scent surrounds me, grounding me, and for a brief moment I forget everything else.I forget the attack. I forget those we lost. I forget the co







