NATHAN'S POVThe Devil’s Spine was no place for hesitation.The trail narrowed to a ledge barely wide enough for a wolf to cross, and the wind howled like something alive, hungry and waiting. It was no place for a lesser creature.Far below, the world dropped off into darkness – no trees, no cover. Just jagged cliffs and death if you slipped. Which had happened to wolves more times than I would like to think about.And we were deep into it now.Each step forward scraped against stone. Each inhale burned. Each exhale released the pressure in your chestTheon moved ahead of us, silent but sharp. Vivian flanked the rear, checking our six. Sophia stayed close, her senses locked in, her fingers twitching slightly like she was keeping hold of something – some thread that still led to the twins.“We’re getting close.” She said without turning her head.I didn’t question her. That bond she had with Alex and Alexia – it had only gotten more precise since we started tracking. Like it was learni
SOPHIA'S POVThe wind shifted.It became cold and heavy with rot and mountain stone.I crouched low beside Nathan, the trees thinning out as the underbrush gave way to jagged rock. The night had grown darker, more tightly held together somehow, as though the world itself were holding its breath.We were close.I could feel it.But not in my gut or even through scent – this was something deeper. Like pressure behind my eyes, like electricity under my skin. Like the bond connecting me to my children had been wound so tight it was starting to snap.“Wait.” I whispered, lifting a hand.Nathan stilled beside me, his form barely visible in the dim light – but his presence, his wolf, was unmistakable. It had risen to the surface after Theon and Vivian told us Victoria had been hiding in the mines near Silverfang territory.She’d been playing us.But the game was ending.Nathan’s wolf was no longer just under the surface – it was breathing through him, watching the world through his eyes, wai
NATHAN’S POVThe forest was quiet – but not in a peaceful way. This was the kind of silence that followed destruction, the kind that crawled under your skin and whispered that something had gone wrong.The kind of wrong you hadn't been expecting.My boots slammed against the damp ground in a hard pump, my breath hard in my lungs as I tore through the trees. The bond between us wasn’t glowing or screaming in my mind – it was something more grounded. Like a splinter under my skin that wouldn’t stop digging. A sense, almost human in its simplicity I would say. She needed me. That was the only thing going through my head as I ran. All the other thoughts were all background noise.I didn’t wait for Theon or any backup. I just moved. Lola’s scent was faint, but it was there, tangled with Sophia’s. And underneath it–Blood.Not hers, not the twins’. I would’ve known.Just… blood.My heart slammed against my ribs as I pushed into a moonlit clearing. The first thing I saw were the bodies – se
VICTORIA'S POVThey weren’t supposed to lose.I stared at the feed playing on the cracked screen in front of me, my fingers twitching with rage. The tiny camera embedded in one of those idiot mutts’ vests had managed to stream most of it – grainy, jittery footage, but clear enough for me to see the reality I had been trying to avoid for weeks. Technology is quite the tool – particularly when it allows for you to see your failures.She was stronger than I remembered.No… not stronger.Meaner.There was something in her eyes, something in the way she moved – controlled, precise, unflinching. Like she'd spent all this time not just surviving, but sharpening herself like a blade. She didn’t shift, didn’t howl, didn’t waste a single breath on theatrics.She just took them down.Every. Single. One. Of. Them.My lip curled as I leaned back in the chair, the legs creaking under my weight. The camera feed cut out with a violent shake, most likely when the last fool’s head hit that tree trunk.
SOPHIA'S POVNathan leaned against what served as the kitchen counter at the cabin, arms folded, jaw tight. “You’re not going alone.”“I’m not asking for permission,” I said, slipping my coat on. “But I am telling you – so you don’t come tearing through the woods after me.”He stepped forward. “Sophia—”“I felt something,” I interrupted, voice low but firm. “Something from them. A flicker I’ve never felt before, not like this. I don’t know how to explain it.”He paused. He knew that as long as it concerned them, I would do anything. He had just come into the room, the scarf fiasco still clear in his mind, and I knew that his frustrations knew no limits.“It’s not a bond. It’s not magic.” I added, already anticipating the look in his eyes. “It’s just... something in my gut. I can’t ignore it.”“You shouldn’t go alone.”“I won’t be.” I glanced toward the hallway where the twins slept peacefully. “They’re counting on me.”His eyes softened for a beat, but then hardened again. “You think
NATHAN'S POV The fire had long since died down in Elara’s hearth, but I still saw flames.Not in the room — in my mind.The image of Sophia clutching that mirror. Her knuckles white. Her shoulders trembling. The breath she held as she tilted it toward herself. And the way her whole body froze as if petrified when she realized what the mirror didn’t show.Not a single trace of them.No Alex. No Alexia.Because they were never inside the illusion to begin with.The burning in my chest hadn’t stopped since that moment. If anything, it had only grown – a furnace stoked by rage, guilt, and something deeper. Something older. The instinct that lived in every bone in my body, that had whispered to me, “Protect your mate. Protect your children.”And I had failed both.I moved through the woods like a ghost now, my senses stretched to their limit. Night bled across the sky in ink blue waves as though the skies and ocean had switched places and colors, the moon thin and sharp overhead. We’d spl