NATHAN'S POVThe walk back to camp was not as easy one, as my head kept replaying Elara’s last words to me before I left, hammering on her earlier statement.“Malachi’s not just a rival now. He’s a mirror. One you’ll have to face.”They were not words I wanted to dwell on but ones nonetheless, did laps around my head.What the absolute fuck did that vague as fuck statement even mean?Trust Elara to leave me with the most cryptic of messages.I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. That's a problem for future Nathan to face.✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✦✧✧✦✧The woods were unnervingly quiet as I returned to camp, the kind of silence that presses against your ears and makes you feel like you’re being watched – even when you’re not. My senses were sharp, catching every rustle, every shift of the wind, every heartbeat not my own. The ice covered grounds crunched beneath my boots as I crossed the boundary. Above, the moon was high – its glow filtered through skeletal branches, indifferent to everyth
NATHAN'S POV The words echoed in my head long after she’d spoken them. A weight I didn’t know I was carrying seemed to settle deeper on my shoulders. My breath caught, and for a moment, the world felt quieter – like it was waiting for me to respond.I took a deep breath, though it did nothing to calm the storm rising in my chest.“But I didn’t even know,” I whispered. “I lived most of my life not knowing. Then thinking I was the last. Alone.”“And yet here you are,” she said. “Alive. Stronger than any Alpha. More than a man, but not consumed by it. That was never a curse, Nathan. That was the point.”My chest felt too tight to breathe.“And now?” I asked. “Now that he’s taken them?”Elara stepped forward and placed a hand against my chest.“Now,” she said, “you stop running from what you are. You accept it. All of it.”I looked down at her. “And what am I?”She met my gaze, her eyes piercing through. “You’re Luna-born. A protector. A weapon. The blood of the first pack burns in your
NATHAN'S POVThe wind carved through the trees as I moved, fast but deliberate, each step charged with purpose. I didn’t shift. Not yet. The wolf thrashed inside me, begging to run, to rip through the trees like scissors through paper, rough but precise. But there was too much storm inside. Too much weight. I had to hold it together – for her. For him.For the family I was only just beginning to piece back together.For them.“Nathan… I need you.”Her voice had broken across the bond like thunder cracking over choppy waters, a silent please, pulling me out my thoughts. And just like that, the world had changed.No fury. No demand. Just a raw, trembling thread of truth laced through those four words. She wasn’t asking for revenge. She wasn’t screaming. But I heard everything in it – the grief, the fear, the quiet devastation of a mother who could feel her children slipping away.That soul-deep ache that echoed louder than any scream ever could.My children.Goddess. My hands tightened
NATHAN'S POVWhen she finished, she cut the thread and wiped her hands clean. The smell of herbs and copper still lingered in the air, clinging to the wooden walls like a ghost of pain.“Where’s Theon?”“Securing the perimeter. He’s doubling watch around the camp. We’re not taking any chances.”I nodded.“Good,” I murmured, more to myself than anyone else.I stood slowly, each joint protesting, and walked to the window. The forest beyond was quiet. Too quiet. The kind of silence that thickened when something ancient stirred beneath the surface. It was the stillness of anticipation, like the moment before a storm breaks.“You think he’s gone far?” Vivian asked.“No. He wants me to follow him. He wants this to drag out.”“And you’re letting it?”I glanced back at her. “Do I look like I’m letting it?”She snorted. “You look like shit.”Fair enough.I turned back toward the trees.“You know what bothers me the most?” I said.Vivian waited.“I recognized him. Not his face. Not his scent. B
NATHAN'S POVThe scent of burnt bark still lingered as I stared into the emptiness Malachi had vanished into. My chest burned with every breath, muscles trembling beneath the aftermath of a fight that shouldn't have ended the way it did.He got away.Again.Sophia’s hand gripped my arm tighter than I expected. There was no fear in her touch – only strength and determination. But I couldn’t look at her, not yet. Not when my rage was still clawing for release, for a way out. Not when every instinct inside me screamed that I should have finished it.I should’ve ended him right there.The air crackled with residue – whatever trap he used left more than just physical strain. It was like the earth itself had absorbed something unnatural. And I didn’t understand it.How the hell did Malachi do that?He didn’t have magic. I would’ve sensed it – wolves like us, we didn’t wield spells. We were the spell. Our blood, our bones, our instincts – they were our weapons. But Malachi… he moved like som
SOPHIA'S POVThe forest was nothing like the one I remembered from my childhood.It was deeper. Thicker. The air was heavy with the kind of silence that didn’t feel natural – like the world itself was holding its breath. Branches clawed at me as I ran, thorns catching in my sweater. Nathan was just ahead, a moving shadow, fast and silent. He didn’t look back.He didn’t need to.Alexia’s voice still echoed in my head. It hadn’t come again, but I felt her. My blood knew hers. It was a dull thrum, pulled tight in my chest like a fishing line that hadn’t snapped yet, stretched far too thin.The trail had disappeared ten minutes ago. If Nathan hadn't been there, I would've been lost. He moved like the forest bent to him, like the path unfolded under his feet. I couldn’t keep up, but I didn’t stop either.A flicker of motion in the distance made him halt, hand flying up.I skidded to a stop behind him, heart hammering.“What is it?” I whispered.He didn’t answer right away.His head tilted