NATHAN'S POVSophia lay in my arms, her body warm, but utterly still.We were deep in the woods now, far from the scorched earth Victoria had left behind, but the scent of her still clung to my skin — smoke and deception. I couldn’t shake it. Not when I still felt the sting of her spell trailing through my veins. Not when Sophia hadn’t stirred since I pulled her from that cursed place.I held her tighter.“Sophia.” I whispered, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek, “I’ve got you. It’s me. It’s Nathan.”No response. Not even a flicker beneath her lashes.The mate bond between us should’ve surged with recognition the moment I touched her, but now it felt… muffled. Like a voice screaming underwater.And that terrified me.I dropped to my knees beneath a canopy of whispering trees, heart racing, jaw clenched so tightly it ached. Her breathing was steady, slow — almost peaceful. But it was wrong. It wasn’t hers. It was something else. Something constructed. Manufactured.She was alive.
VICTORIA'S POVThe mirror stares back at me, silent and polished like a lie waiting to be told. I lean in, my breath ghosting over the glass, and for a second… just a breath of a second, I think I see her.Her.Sophia.Even trapped in that little illusion of a life, her face still dared to look peaceful.My fingers twitch. I want to smash the mirror. I want to crack that perfect little image down the middle, watch her smug smile bleed into shards.But I don’t.No – no, no. That would be too easy.Instead, I stand straight. Smooth down my silk sleeves, so pristine they might as well be painted onto my skin. My hair is still twisted in a perfect coil, not a strand out of place. Even my lipstick is flawless. Because I don’t fall apart. I recalibrate.“She’s dreaming of him right now,” I whisper to myself, my voice a slow purr as I tilt my head. “She thinks she has him. The house, the children, the little fairytale she stole from me.”My smile pulls too wide. I see the glint of it in the
SOPHIA'S POVThe sunlight was warm when it touched my skin, as though it knew exactly where I needed it most. It crept through the floral white curtains, brushing over my cheeks and cajoling me from sleep without the need for alarms or obligations. I stretched slowly beneath the sheets, savoring the familiar comfort of the linen, the softness of my pillow, the faint smell of cedar and citrus – Nathan’s scent – lingering in the room like a fruity embrace.And just as I smiled, eyes still closed, the mini stampede began.“Mama! Mamaaa!” Alexia’s voice was high pitched and scandalized, like she was traumatized. Oh the theatrics of children. “She started it!” Alex shouted, breathless and already laughing.Sigh. Oh my days. I cracked one eye open just as the door banged open. Two little whirlwinds burst into the room – Alex clutching what looked like a piece of syrup drenched pancake, and Alexia chasing him like a tiny, furious avenger in pink pajamas.“I did not!” Alex insisted. “She sai
NATHAN'S POVI should’ve known.The moment I stepped into that clearing – just seconds after the scream tore the sky – I felt it. Something was wrong. Not just danger, but deception. A trap designed not to snap, but to suffocate. To tighten its grip on you till all life was slowly drained out of you.Sophia stood at the center of the stone ring, chest heaving, shoulders squared. Dirt streaked her cheek, and her blade was slick with blood – someone else’s, thankfully. Victoria was across from her, motionless, as if sculpted from marble, her black cloak torn and swaying in the breeze. She had her hand raised, not in surrender… but in control.“Victoria,” I growled, stepping forward, “enough.”She turned her head slowly, and for the first time in years, I saw her eyes without their mask. Not the flirtatious sparkle she used to manipulate. Not the false humility she wore like perfume.No.Just fury. And something deeper.Bitterness.“Look who finally shows up,” she said, voice like poison
NATHAN'S POVThe clearing between us buzzed with a deadly, palpable energy. Dust hung in the air like ash suspended in time. No birds sang. No breeze stirred. The trees bordering the ruins were as still as gravestones, and every fiber of my being was drawn tight like a bowstring.Malachi stood just beneath the crumbling colonnade, leaning into shadow, arms loose at his sides. His posture was casual – too casual – but I knew better.That stance wasn’t boredom.It was a beast waiting to strike.“You came.” he started, voice gravelly and bitter. His smirk split across his face like a scar. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure you had it in you anymore. The Alpha who abandoned his mate, and ran away from his pack, his blood.”I kept my feet steady, my jaw tight. I didn't bother correcting him.“Give me my children.” I said coldly. “Now.”He took a step forward. Just one. But it sent a ripple of tension through the clearing. My wolves behind me stirred, muscles bunching, but I raised a hand without lo
SOPHIA'S POV“Alex!”The cry split through the air like a lightning crack – and I swear to the Goddess, my heart stopped beating.Victoria froze.Only for a second. But I saw it.The shift. The flicker.Her head turned in the direction of the scream, sharp and sure, before she lunged forward, feet pounding against moss and stone, heading toward the sound.My blade raised instinctively, the hunter in me twitching – but this didn’t feel right.Not the scream. Not the suddenness of it.Not how Victoria moved – like she expected it.Like someone who had planned for it.And still, I hesitated.Because that voice. That scream.It was Alex.Or it sounded just like him.His pitch. His breathy panic. The same tremble I’d heard once when he had a nightmare about wolves in the dark. It curled inside me and grabbed hold.I started forward.Three steps, four – and then I stopped.The wind shifted.It brought the scent of moss and blood, of cold iron and decaying bark – but not the scent of my chil