LOGINHello to my readers! Who is excited for this new journey?
Asher:By the time evening settled over the territory, Nikita still hadn’t called.At first I told myself it didn’t matter. She was angry with me, she’d made that perfectly clear. Even after agreeing to give me another chance, she’d warned me she wasn’t going to forget everything just because I apologized and sent flowers. Fine. I could work with anger. I could handle a woman who kept her boundaries.What I couldn’t handle was silence. She should have called by now, I knew that she would have done so on normal occasions.I sat behind my desk and stared at my phone longer than I cared to admit before finally setting it face down on the wood. Nothing. No message, no missed call, not even a sarcastic text telling me she was busy and I needed to stop expecting her attention on demand. That bothered me more than it should have.Daren noticed. Of course he noticed.“You’re going to burn a hole through that phone if you keep staring at it,” he said, amusement in his voice. “And it is still n
Alina:I lay in Dimitri’s arms until the house finally quieted. The amulet at my throat warmed against my skin, its moonstone pulsing faintly whenever I shifted.Dimitri’s arm was wrapped around my waist so tightly I could feel the steady press of him against my side, as if loosening his hold for even a second might make me vanish.I had told myself I wanted to sleep. I meant it. But thoughts kept moving through my head like restless animals, circling and refusing to settle.Dimitri wasn’t asleep either. I could tell by the way his fingers traced slow, careful patterns along my ribs, stopping and starting as if he were trying to map the exact place where I fit against him. His chest stayed tense beneath my cheek.For a long time we didn’t speak. Then I broke the silence because the question had been sitting in my throat all evening.“What’s going to happen?” I asked.His hand stilled. “With Asher?” he clarified.“With everything,” I said.He exhaled slowly. “I don’t know.”I lifted my
Dimitri:I found Alina sitting in front of the window when I walked into the bedroom. She’d pulled a chair close to the glass, legs tucked beneath her, staring out at the darkening grounds as if the world beyond the panes might answer the questions she wouldn’t ask aloud.The room was quiet, but it wasn’t the comfortable silence we shared most nights. This silence had weight to it, heavy enough that I felt it through the bond before I even closed the door.She knew I was there, she simply didn’t turn around. My wolf shifted under my skin. She is still hurt.“I know,” I said, softer than I’d meant to.There was no edge in my voice this time. I’d spent the evening fighting, Mikhail over tactics, Anya over her stubbornness, Nikita over a locked door, and somewhere between trying to keep everyone safe and trying to understand what Asher was doing, I’d managed to hurt the one person I’d been trying hardest to protect.I walked toward her slowly. She didn’t move when I stopped behind the ch
Nikita:I was sitting on the edge of my bed when I heard my mother arguing with the guard outside. At first I didn’t pay much attention, I assumed she was trying to convince him to let me out, but then her voice rose and something in me went tight.“I am not asking for your permission to see my daughter,” she said.“Anya, Alpha Dimitri gave direct orders…” the guard started.“I heard what he ordered, and I am telling you that you are not going to keep me from her.” She said angrily. “And you can go ahead and tell that to your Alpha. Now fucking move.”Footsteps came down the hall, and I pushed myself up and watched the door as it opened. My mother walked in without waiting for anyone to announce her, and the guard didn’t try to stop her. She closed the door behind her and locked it herself. That small, deliberate motion made me frown.“Mom?” I said. “What are you doing here? What is going on?”She didn’t smile. She walked straight to my wardrobe and started pulling clothes out, laying
Dimitri:The second the bedroom door closed behind me, I regretted walking out, mostly because I knew that she would be lost in her thoughts, regretting every second of this encounter.I stopped in the middle of the hallway, my hand still on the handle, and for a heartbeat I almost turned back. I could feel Alina through the bond, and what came from her wasn’t anger anymore. It was hurt. That tightened something in my chest until my jaw ached.I hadn’t meant to make her feel like I doubted her. I didn’t doubt that she cared about Nikita, and I certainly didn’t believe she would put her in danger on purpose. If anything, I knew Alina well enough to know she’d blame herself for this even if she had nothing to do with it. My wolf growled low in my bones.Our mate is hurt.“I know,” I snapped at the bond, more to myself than to him. “But right now, there are things that we need to take care of.”Go back. The things can wait, she shouldn’t be hurt.I closed my eyes and dragged a hand over m
Alina:I knew something was wrong before Dimitri even walked into the room. The estate had felt off all afternoon: guards moving through the halls more than usual, Anya gone after lunch, and Nikita nowhere to be found.At first I told myself it was all tied to the maid and the necklace, but the air had a different edge now. It felt personal. My wolf felt it too, and she grew more restless than ever as she started pacing under my skin while I tried to lose myself in the book Dimitri had left on the table.Mate is angry, she said.I looked down at the same paragraph I’d been pretending to read and answered out loud, “I know. I just don’t understand what is wrong.”He is not angry with us.I wanted to believe that, but a gut-wrenching feeling had me thinking otherwise, and when the bedroom door finally opened, I looked up immediately. Dimitri stepped inside with an expression I couldn’t read. He didn’t smile when he saw me, and that alone made my stomach tighten.“What happened?” I asked.







