LOGINTRISTAN’S POVJax’s voice carried a mixture of pride and uncertainty as he walked beside me outside the packhouse, the night breeze settling around us.The wedding preparations were happening behind us, music drifting faintly on the air, but he’d asked for a moment alone before the ceremony began.I listened closely, Jax wasn’t someone who spoke this way unless something had shifted deeply inside him.“So that’s everything,” he said finally. “Stormfang isn’t dead. Not fully. There are survivors, scattered and barely holding on. I found them… and I know it’s my responsibility now.”I studied him for a quiet moment. “You intend to rebuild.”He nodded once. “Yes. They deserve a home again. But I won’t lie, there’s a lot I don’t know. A lot I need to learn.”“I’ll come,” I said firmly. “I’ll see the land myself, speak to the people, and set down whatever guidelines are needed to help you structure the pack properly. Stormfang may rise again, but it won’t rise alone.”Jax exhaled, relief s
LEXI’S POVThe packhouse felt wrong without Jax and Nia. Too quiet in some parts, too echoing in others. It was as if someone had taken a warm light out of the center of the home, leaving everything dimmer.I hadn’t expected the emptiness to settle this fast, or hit this sharply.I walked through the hallways in silence, passing people who tried to smile but couldn’t hide the same feeling.Nia had been the little darling everyone adored.Jax had been the steady presence everyone unconsciously relied on. Their absence scraped at something in me.I needed air. Or company. Or both.So I pushed myself toward Manny’s room.I didn’t even knock, just opened the door enough to peek inside. Manny looked up from his desk, eyebrows lifting the moment he saw my expression.“Lexi?” he said, standing. “You look stressed, looking like a zombie or something.”“Funny, I feel like it,” I admitted as I stepped inside. “Everything feels… off.”He came closer, gently guiding me to sit on the couch by the
JAX’S POVI know I might have looked excited when leaving Lexi's room, but in all honesty I didn’t even know where to begin after stepping out those doors.My mind had not stopped spinning since the moment Elder Eron confirmed the truth about my father, a runaway Alpha, a forbidden love. An entire pack nearly wiped out, waiting for someone, me, and to step in and carry what was left.Now that Lexi knew, the next person who deserved to hear everything was Manny. But Manny wasn’t around yet, so I found myself drifting downstairs toward the living room, where Danny sat messing with his phone.He looked up the moment he sensed I wasn’t just passing through. “Why’s your face looking like you just came out of a horror movie?”I sat beside him. “I need to talk to you.”He lowered his phone immediately. “What happened? Something at the office? Or it's about Lexi?”“Shut the fuck up and listen, it’s… none of that,” I said. “It’s about me. And my father.”“Father?” Danny sounded shocked, he lea
Jax’s POVThe drive back to the Red Shadow Packhouse was long and silent.Elder Eron did not drive this time, he sat beside me, quietly observing the outside world, occasionally glancing at me with an understanding that made my chest tighten.I didn’t want to meet his eyes. How could I? What I had uncovered was too heavy to carry, too strange to speak of casually.Stormfang Pack. My pack. My roots. The bloodline that was supposed to define me, now almost completely erased.And I had found it again, or rather, the remnants of it. Wolves scattered, weary, some turned rogues because they had nowhere else to go, people forgotten by a world that moved on without them.Inside me, a fire stirred. Part of me felt exhilarated, almost proud. But another part whispered doubt. You aren’t ready, it said. You can’t lead them. You’ll fail.“You’re not ready,” my wolf growled, deep inside my mind. Its voice was harsh, insistent, like jagged rocks scraping against my resolve.“I am ready,” I snapped b
Jax’s POVThe drive back to the packhouse that evening should have felt routine, even comforting.Manny was beside me, talking a mile a minute about enrolling the children in a proper school.It should have been a good day. It was, but I couldn’t shake the restlessness gnawing at the edges of my mind.I clenched the steering wheel just a fraction tighter than necessary.Thoughts I had not allowed myself to acknowledge were clawing their way back up, the information Elder Eron had given me weeks ago. My roots. My heritage. Stormfang Pack.I didn’t know how to tell anyone. Not Manny, not Lexi, not even Danny. It wasn’t a matter of fear or shame.It was something heavier, something that burrowed into my chest.“What’s on your mind?” Manny asked, glancing at me with that easy warmth that somehow always pulled me toward honesty.I forced a laugh, something light, something casual. “Nothing. Just thinking about the kids and their school.”“You’re thinking too hard,” Manny said, turning the
Manny’s POVThe day had wrung me out like a towel, two heavy meetings back-to-back, a contract I’d been negotiating for weeks finally signed, and at least twelve different wolves wanting something from me before lunch.A productive day, yes, but one that had drained every drop of patience I had left. By the time Jax and I got into the car to head home, it was already past eight in the evening.The ride started in silence, both of us leaning back, recovering in our own ways. Then Jax nudged me with his elbow.“You looked like you were fighting sleep in that last meeting,” he muttered, trying not to laugh.“I wasn’t fighting sleep,” I said. “I was contemplating the meaning of life.”“Meaning of life,” he echoed with a snort. “Right.”I shook my head, unable to hold back a tired chuckle.The car rolled down the familiar slope toward the packhouse, and I finally felt the tension in my shoulders ease a little. That was usually what home did, it softened the world.“Speaking of people who h







