SOPHIA'S POVHe didn’t let go of me.Even when the floor pressed cold and hard under us, even when his breath came in ragged bursts and the illusion cracked and groaned around us, Nathan held on — fiercely, desperately — like I was the only thing anchoring him to this world.And maybe I was.His forehead rested against mine, slick with sweat. His arms, trembling with the weight of everything he’d been made to carry, stayed locked around my waist like releasing me would send him spiraling into something he wouldn’t come back from. It was like the second time he went under, the enchantment knew he had escaped and had locked him down even harder. I don't even want to know the horrors….I could feel his wolf beneath the surface — restless, battered, but alive. And goddess, that mattered. That meant we still had time. The man looked like he had been through battles, a victim of war, just to be here. I didn't realise how much he must have gone through the first time he broke through. It ma
SOPHIA’S POVI didn’t sleep.Not because I didn’t try – I did. I lay next to him, heartbeat pressed to heartbeat, my fingers laced with his like they belonged there. And they did. But every time I closed my eyes, I’d see his – wide, wild, vulnerable that night – from the time before the spell retook him. The moment he was still in there.And now… he wasn’t.I knew it before I opened my eyes that morning. My heart fluttered slowly, still holding on to some ridiculous hope that he had won the battle again and was Nathan – My Nathan – again.But I was wrong. The silence had changed. It wasn’t stillness. It was hollow.Nathan was already moving around the room — dressed, cheerful, soft voiced again.“Morning.” He said, turning toward me with a smile that once would’ve made me melt. It was his – the version Victoria had designed. Tender. Polished. Completely unaware.And it broke something in me.“Sleep okay?” He asked, crossing to me with a mug of something warm. “You kept reaching for me
SOPHIA'S POVWe stepped out of the bathroom like nothing had happened.My hand was still tingling where he’d held it so tightly, anchoring me to the truth, but I forced a smile as we walked down the hallway together. The illusion around us shimmered with deceptive warmth – the hallway walls soft with golden light, the scent of sugar and vanilla hanging in the air. Every detail was still perfect. Every corner still whispered comfort.I couldn’t let it fool me. Not again.Nathan’s hand lingered at the small of my back, just like it always did. The practiced ease of it – the way we slipped back into the charade – should’ve unsettled me more, but instead, it gave me strength. We could pretend. We had to. Victoria was watching. Listening. We couldn’t give her a single reason to suspect that I knew.But inside, I was burning.The version of me that had floated through this world for weeks – I hated her now. I hated how easily she’d believed this dream. How quickly she’d swallowed the lie. M
NATHAN'S POV For the second time, I opened my eyes in her dream. But this time, I wasn’t just another version of myself conjured from Sophia’s memories. I was… me. Fully. The first time I’d entered this world, I’d gotten lost – lulled into the illusion, the peace of it, the dangerous perfection that felt so close to what we’d both wanted. I didn’t even remember when it started slipping. That was the thing about enchantments like this – they didn’t drag you under. They sang you to sleep. I heard the laughter. I’d seen the twins playing, their cheeks flushed with joy. I’d looked into her eyes and seen no trace of the pain I’d caused her. And for one blissful moment, I let myself believe it was real. But that version of me – the version she dreamed up – he was built to stay. To keep her locked in this golden cage. Not me. It had taken everything I had to claw my way back to awareness, to fight off the numbness that crept in like vines around my mind. Elara’s warning echoed in my
SOPHIA'S POVThe morning sunlight poured in soft and golden, like honey over warm toast. It slid across my skin and kissed my cheeks gently, nudging me awake like a lover’s whisper. Yum. Which immediately reminded me that I was hungry and that once again, that mate of mine was nowhere to be found in the space beside me.I heard the door open then close. “Just where do you think you're going, mister?” I asked through the mate bond.“Relax, you hungry she-wolf. Just taking out the trash.” Nathan chuckled. I heard the door close again. Okay, he was back.“Is that why my wonderful husband and mate isn't in bed with me right now?” I asked, a little smile and a teasing note in my voice. “Well, if your highness must know, I'm in the middle of making breakfast for her. My sincerest apologies for not informing you. Do forgive my insolence.” I could almost see the mock bow with a flourish he did right after that statement.“You're forgiven. Now, off to your duties. Tata!”I could hear the ful
VICTORIA'S POV “The first lesson I learned after I found out who I was. Power is lonely. It was a very easy learnt lesson, knowing what I know now.” “I didn’t stumble into some coven of eager sisters ready to welcome me with open arms and silk draped candles. No one handed me a spellbook and called me “chosen.” “Nothing of the sort. What I walked into was a fractured world of secrets, shadows, and side eyes. And I, wel, I was the outsider.” “The one who shouldn’t have existed.” “The one whose mother broke the rules by loving a wolf too deeply and left behind a child who was never supposed to survive. The one who would never belong. The witches I found – what was left of them, their raggedy little witchy coven – didn’t smile when they saw me. They didn’t gasp in awe or fall to their knees. They sniffed. Eyed me like I was rotting fruit left too long in the sun. A walking, talking breach of an ancient pact. An abomination.” “Wolf blooded. Wolf scum.” “That’s what they cal