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 out of Sadie’s bedroom feeling completely pissed. Pissed at the situation and pissed at my reaction.I stay outside her door for a minute, my hand still on the handle as I try to get my emotions under control. Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes. I inhale slowly, filling my lungs and trying
Alec gives a thoughtful hum. “That’s why you kept your distance from the other packs.”“Yep,” I say. “It was safer that way. For me, for my people, for our goals.”“But what about now?” he asks. “You’re not the same woman you were when you started all this. You’ve got power now. Enough to deal with
Seeing no point in staying in my room—especially now that Nyx had shut me out—I crawl out of bed and leave. Besides, my stomach is growling, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten since yesterday.I wander through the corridors and down the stairs in a daze. Sure, Nyx gave me more information... but all i
“Are you ready to go home?” Alec asks softly, his voice breaking through the calm of the cabin’s warm interior.I look around once, then down at my hands. This small cabin has been my sanctuary for the past three days. In it, with Alec by my side, I’ve felt safe. I was in pain, yes, but I felt at pe







