LOGINJenn’s POV A full week had passed since Simon handed me that folded piece of paper and watched my world shrink to four names. Seven days of pretending everything was normal while my mind ran in circles like a caged animal, gnawing at the same questions over and over until they bled into each other. What if it’s Alice? What if it’s not? What if I never know? What if I find out and wish I hadn’t? I slept in fragments now – an hour here, thirty minutes there – snatched between the baby’s restless movements and my own racing thoughts. Liam had stopped trying to coax me into proper rest somewhere around the fourth night, when I snapped at him for hovering and then immediately burst into tears because I didn’t mean it. I was just so tired, so scared, so full of everything I couldn’t say out loud. He’d held me through the crying jag without a word. Just wrapped his arms around my shaking shoulders and let me soak his shirt with tears I’d been holding back for weeks. When I finally quie
Jenn’s POV He was a contradiction. A mess of good intentions and terrible choices. And I had no idea if he was capable of betraying me again. Wade’s eyes narrowed as he studied my face. He’d always been able to read me – sometimes better than I could read myself. It was one of the things that had made our marriage work for as long as it did. And now, watching him piece together my silence and my stiff posture and the distance I’d put between us, I saw the exact moment understanding dawned. “You’re wondering if it’s me.” His voice came out flat, stripped of its earlier warmth. “I’m the spy. You’re standing there trying to figure out if I’m the one who’s been feeding information to the Mad Alpha.” I couldn’t deny it. What was the point? He’d already seen through me. “You were the closest person to me for five years.” My voice matched his – flat and detached, like I was reciting facts from a report instead of talking to the man I’d once promised to love forever. “If anyone had secre
Jenn’s POV A week after Osiris told us there might be a spy in my pack, among my own close friends, I found myself sitting with Morgan. The last person I ever thought I’d go to or talk to about things like this. But for some reason, talking to her felt oddly relaxing. She didn’t interrupt. She didn’t offer empty reassurance or tell me I was being paranoid. She just listened, her sharp eyes fixed on my face, her expression unreadable. And somehow, that was exactly what I needed. Besides, if anyone should know who the spy among my group of friends was, it had to be her. She’d spent months embedded in my life, watching my every move, reporting back to her father. If there was another operative close to me, someone who’d been feeding him information since before I reclaimed my pack, she would know. Still, try as I might, I couldn’t bring myself to ask her that question. Because asking meant acknowledging that it might be true. That one of the people I loved most in this world had be
Jenn’s POV I didn’t sleep that night. Liam had given up trying to coax me into rest somewhere around the third hour of my restless shifting. He lay beside me now with one arm thrown over his eyes and his breathing slow and even, though I could tell from the tension in his shoulders that he wasn’t actually asleep. He was just giving me space to wrestle with my demons in peace. I loved him for that. I loved him for a lot of things. But love didn’t stop the Beta’s words from spinning through my head like a broken record. Hesitant. Someone with something to lose. A secret they wished would never come out. I pressed my palm against my stomach and felt the flutter of movement and leaned into it. Hoping my baby could give me some kind of strength I was lacking. Something – anything – to help me move past this phase. The baby kicked in response, sharp and insistent, and I took it as guidance. The next morning, I found Alva in the kitchen. She was perched on a stool near the window wit
Jenn’s POV It had been three days since the meeting with Osiris. Since he told me – specifically – that his father planted a spy in my pack apart from Morgan. Someone close to me. Following Liam’s advice, I tried not to think too much about it, instead, I spent most of that time looking through the reports Alice sent from the Vale Pack daily. Even with all the work I had to do – territory disputes, resource allocations, updates on the new housing for the families who’d chosen to follow me – I couldn’t keep my mind from going back to what Osiris had said that day. “Someone close to you.” The words kept ringing in my head, on and on until – “Are you okay?” Liam’s voice startled me, pulling me out of my thoughts. He walked into the room with concern etched deeply into his features, slowly lowering himself into the bed beside me. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” I rubbed a hand on my temple, allowing my eyes to stray down to the reports haphazardly scattered on the bed. Alic
Jenn’s POV The interrogation room was colder than the dungeon had been. I didn’t know how that was possible, but the chill seeped through my clothes and settled into my bones the moment I stepped inside. Liam stood near the far wall with his arms crossed and his jaw set in that way he had when he was preparing for something unpleasant. Osiris sat at the metal table in the center of the room, his wrists now free of chains, a glass of water untouched in front of him. Wade and Vicktor filed in behind me, taking positions along the walls like sentinels. Luke had arrived at some point during my walk to Vicktor’s office and now stood beside Liam with his tablet ready to record everything Osiris said. Simon couldn’t make it – Liam had mentioned he was coordinating with the Vale Pack’s temporary leadership – but we could update him later. The door clicked shut behind us. Osiris looked around at the five of us and smiled. It wasn’t a warm expression. “Quite the audience. I’m honored.” “Y
Jenn’s POV The door clicked shut behind them, and I was alone with my thoughts. The thoughts were too heavy. There were too many of them. I’d noticed Bree’s guilty glances. Liam’s protective hovering. The way they’d exchanged looks like they were communicating without words. Something had happene
Jenn’s POV The pain radiating through my body woke me up the next morning. My muscles were sore, my throat was scratchy, and my eyes felt like they were glued shut. Above all, my chest and side felt like they were caving in. It took me a second to remember the pain was from getting injected by t
Liam’s POV There was too much blood! Jenn looked small now that she was unconscious and she was limp in my arms, seemingly lifeless. Tears stained her too-pale face, and there was too much blood spread out over her skin to even see where it was coming from. My wolf whined inside me but I ignore
Jenn’s POV (Hours Before The Rescue) After a long time of struggling, I soon found out that fighting was useless. No one was coming to save me. Both Athena and the dark power were useless right now. My baby was… I couldn’t save him. I was useless. I gasped as the needle slid into my neck. The







