LOGINAfter sucking each other's tongues and exchanging saliva, we pulled apart, both of us out of breath. I sat up and straightened my hoodie. Derek sat up as well, but he was avoiding eye contact.We sat in silence for a few seconds until Derek broke the silence by clearing his throat.I turned to him. "You okay?" I asked softly. My hand was already going up to rub his back, but I stopped midway and placed my hands on the bed.He took in a deep breath and exhaled. "Yeah... you?"Even though he said he was fine, there was something off. Before I could fully register the whole thing, he stood up and walked a few steps away from me. His chest was rising and falling as if he had just fought a bear.I pushed myself forward, watching him.“Derek…”He ran a hand through his hair.“Yeah… I—” He stopped, exhaling. “I didn’t expect you to actually come.”I smiled faintly. “I told you to count to one hundred.”He huffed a quiet laugh, still not turning around.“Yeah… I guess you did.”Silence settle
I smiled at the ceiling of my room.My heart had been beating a little faster ever since we started talking about the kiss, but hearing that… hearing him say that so honestly… it made something inside my chest tighten in the best possible way.“Derek,” I said slowly, “would you love for that wish to come true?”There was a pause. I could almost hear him thinking.Then his voice came through the phone again, low and careful.“…Yes.”Just one word, but it was enough.I swung my legs off the side of the bed.“Okay,” I said.“Okay?”“Close your eyes.”There was another pause.“Why?”“Just do it.”I could hear the faint rustling sound of him shifting on the other end of the call.“Alright… they’re closed.”“Good.”“And now?”“Count to one hundred.”He laughed quietly.“You’re kidding.”“Nope.”“Why?”“You’ll see.”There was a small breath through the phone. Then Derek said softly,“…Okay.”I grinned.“Slowly.”“Fine.”I heard him begin.“One…”And before he could say two—I ended the call.
Returning home was… easier than I expected. After everything that had happened this evening... the witches, the destroyed cabin, the fight, Bri’s decision to leave, the almost-discovery by those old hikers, you’d think walking back into pack territory would feel impossible.But it didn’t.The moment Lucas dropped me off near the outer trail and I walked the rest of the way toward the main house, things felt strangely normal again.The scent of pine trees, the quiet rustle of wolves moving through the woods, and the distant laughter of pack members near the communal fire pit.One of the pack wolves spotted me as I stepped onto the clearing near the house. He was leaning against one of the wooden fence posts.“Ethan,” he greeted with a nod.“Hey.”“Your parents were looking for you earlier.”My stomach tightened slightly.“Yeah?”He nodded.“Alpha went to meet with the warriors near the north boundary.”Of course he did.“And Luna?” I asked.“We have newborn wolves in the pack, so she w
Bri was walking beside me, and she hadn’t let go of my hand. Her fingers were wrapped tightly around mine.Lucas walked ahead of us, his hands stuffed into his pockets as he kept scanning the trees out of habit. Even though the danger had passed, wolves didn’t exactly turn off their instincts that easily.But my focus wasn’t on the forest, it was on the warmth of Bri’s hand.Neither of us spoke for a while as too much had happened. Eventually, the trees began to thin, and the faint outline of the road appeared.Lucas’s old jeep was parked exactly where we had left it and seeing it felt strangely comforting.Lucas reached it first and leaned casually against the hood.“Well,” he said with a tired stretch, “that was rough.”I huffed a quiet laugh.“Understatement of the century.”Bri finally let go of my hand as we stepped out of the woods and onto the gravel shoulder of the road.The sudden loss of warmth felt… noticeable but I tried not to think about that.Lucas unlocked the jeep and
Voices murmured faintly through the trees.I stood beside Derek, my heart beating steadily but hard. My wolf senses were stretched to their limit, trying to identify how many people were coming.Behind us, hidden deep within the trees, Bri and Lucas had already slipped into the shadows. They were waiting and watching. Ready to run if things went wrong.But Derek and I…We had chosen to stay.Derek had tried once more to convince me to leave after I told him I wasn’t going anywhere.“Ethan, this is stupid,” he had muttered quietly.“Probably,” I had answered.But I hadn’t moved, and eventually he stopped arguing. Not because he agreed, but because he realized I wasn’t going to change my mind.So now we stood there together, waiting for the consequences.The footsteps were close now.My senses picked up at least two people.My shoulders tensed.Then something unexpected happened.Derek shifted slightly beside me. His arm moved, and our hands brushed... just barely.The contact sent a st
“What?” Derek and I both gasped.Bri looked at us calmly, like she had already made peace with the idea.I stared at her.“What do you mean you’re leaving town permanently?”She sighed softly and brushed a strand of hair away from her face.“I mean exactly that, Ethan.”My chest tightened.“You’re just… leaving?”Bri looked at the ground for a moment, then back up at us.“I don’t really belong here anymore.”Derek stepped closer.“Where would you even go?”Bri hesitated. Then she said quietly, “I have an aunty.”Lucas raised an eyebrow. “You do?”Bri nodded. “Apparently.”Derek frowned. “Apparently?”Bri rubbed the back of her neck. “Okay… so growing up, I always thought I only had one mother.”She glanced toward the bodies of the three witches lying motionless on the dirt.“The one I believed was my mother… she had a sister.”My brow furrowed. “A sister?”Bri nodded. “Yeah. My mother once mentioned it years ago.”“What happened to her?” Lucas asked.Bri shrugged slightly. “They fough
I tried to look away. I tried to pretend the night air was suddenly fascinating, that the iron gates weren’t still humming faintly with magic, that Bri’s whispered Ethan wasn’t echoing in my head like a bruise that refused to fade.My father didn’t let me.“Ethan,” he said again, slower this time,
The jeep rolled to a stop in front of the house, gravel crunching beneath the tires. But Lucas didn’t turn off the engine yet.The low hum vibrated through the seats, through my bones, and through the girl bleeding in my arms.“Ethan,” Lucas said softly, hands still gripping the steering wheel, and
The coach didn’t speak right away. He just stood at the center of the field, hands on his hips, looking at the players as the sun dipped lower, casting long shadows across the grass. Sweat clung to my skin, my muscles still buzzing with leftover energy I hadn’t quite burned off.Derek stood a few f
Derek’s grin stayed carved into his face as the coach blew the whistle.“Alright!” the coach barked. “Pairs up. We’re starting with contact drills. I want to see speed, balance, and most importantly, I want to see control.”Control. Of course.The players moved quickly, slapping hands, calling out







