LOGIN~ DAMON ~It's been two days of convincing Dr. Bastien I'm functional enough to leave the infirmary, two days of Maddox refusing every argument I make about Laia being the devil, two days of sitting on this couch in my room staring at the wall and pulling apart every scenario in my head like a man dismantling a bomb he doesn't fully understand.The frustrating part is the part that keeps me up until 3 a.m. both nights, the numerous question I pull out and leave unsolved answers itself before I can look away.If she was working the relic spell on me, she would have run when Caden gave her the chance. She didn't run, she stayed and pressed her hands against my wound, kept the blade in because she knew enough to know pulling it out would kill me faster. You don't do that for someone you're manipulating. You don't do that for someone whose usefulness to you has already expired.If she was truly Cael's instrument from the beginning, sent here specifically to seduce me, compromise me, extra
~ CAEL ~Two days after Liam reported Laia missing, I know exactly whose work this is.Going after Damon directly is suicide — not because I fear him, but because marching my men into his territory after he's just survived a coup attempt, a poisoned blade, and three days unconscious would be walking into a trap he's already built and is sitting inside waiting for me to enter. Damon doesn't react. He positions. I've learned that the hard way.So I think differently.Laia carries my mark. She is my mate — confirmed, bonded, marked. The soul bond is established. What Damon has done by taking her from Redmoon Pack without my consent is not a rescue. Under pack law it is an illegal extraction of a marked mate from her Alpha's territory. Taking that to the council doesn't just damage Damon — it disqualifies him from Alpha King candidacy entirely. No Alpha who violates mate bond law gets a seat at that table. And the moment his candidacy collapses, every pack that was backing him recalculate
~ DAMON ~It’s been like an hour since Priestess Selara left my room with the best news ever. It still feels like a dream, a fucking dream, I keep reminiscing over it again and again.Caden walks inside the room, and my attention drifts to him. I sit up from the bed. Hell, I don’t know how long Bastien insists on keeping me here. But damn it! Maddox says we’re fine. All I feel is a light ache, which doesn’t even require me sitting here.“I bet she must have told you about the news,” he mutters, walking right up to my bed, making a pause as he gives a light bow, which I answer with a nod.By “she,” I know he’s referring to Selara. “Yes, she has, and that’s the best news I would have ever woken up to…”“So, finally you can have a son, and thereby giving Xaden zero chances…”Maddox prowls at the mention of Xaden’s name.“Speaking of Xaden… is Casper still in prison?”He nods affirmatively. I exhale lightly… every fiber of my being screaming that lying on this bed would not solve any fuck
~ DAMON ~Waking up to find someone watching you while you sleep is one of the more unsettling experiences imaginable. Especially when that someone is High Priestess Selara.I don’t know how long she’s been sitting there. That’s the part that gets me.Caden said he was going to send her immediately Dr. Bastien approved visiting hours… is it time already?Hell, I fall asleep right after Bastien knocks me out, going on about how my body needs proper rest.Listening to her talk makes me realize that one day, if the relic curse ever gets purged, I’ll have kids… and it would be stupid of me to never let them know their grandmother. And the longer she talks, the more I realize how bad I’ve been at setting boundaries.I have been counting other things.I have been counting every pack ceremony where she stands at the altar in her robes, her authority, her careful, impenetrable composure, while I sit in the front row as the Alpha’s ward and understand, without being told, that we are not suppo
~ SELARA ~There is nothing that stabs deeper than watching your son lying in a hospital bed and knowing you have no right to hold his hand.I stand in the doorway for a long moment before I enter. He's asleep. The monitors beside him are still beeping in a steady way. Dr. Bastien told me the worst is over, that Maddox is rebuilding what the Duskbane tore through. That the few minutes on the table were the closest call he has seen in thirty years of treating pack wolves and he never wants to see it again.All thanks to the moon goddess.I stood outside this infirmary for minutes without knowing if my son was going to take another breath and I couldn't go in because I am the High Priestess and he does not want me to be his mother and I have spent thirty years learning how to hold those two things simultaneously without letting either one break me completely.However, today it almost broke me.I pull the chair to the bedside and sit, folding my hands in my lap, and look at him the way I
~ DAMON ~I don’t know where I am. For the last minute, I’ve been hearing movement, voices so familiar, but I can’t place who they belong to. And worse, I can’t even pry my eyes open. It’s like I’m stuck in a dazed state where all I can see is darkness.I feel someone’s hands moving along my torso, and voices...“There’s progress…” the voice says again, his hands moving over me once more.My defense instinct fires before I'm fully conscious. I flex, reach, grab, and pin the hand against the bed railing. Pain detonates through my left side so violently my vision whites out for a full second.I force my eyes open to see Dr. Bastien pinned beneath me.“Keep it calm, Alpha… I was just checking on you…”I release my hold on him, my entire back shooting with pain as I drag a hand over my face, taking a deep breath.I lean back, and Caden, whom I didn’t notice was in the room, rushes to my side, easing me down.I look around and finally notice I’m in a hospital bed. And Dr. Bastien…Maddox g
~LAIA~I wake up the next morning and the envelope is still there. Exactly where I left it. Untouched.Morning is supposed to start with coffee and maybe pretending my life isn’t quietly falling apart. But mine starts with that damn envelope and the unbearable itch to know whatever the fuck is insi
~LAIA~I reach the temple, and Zia’s happy squeal immediately makes me smile.She’s clearly fresh from a shower, the faint scent of soap and cream still clinging to her skin. Straight from pack training.“And look who finally decides to visit us,” Zia says, her voice teasing as she grins at me.Oka
~LAIA~It’s been two days since my heat ends, and I’ve never felt this good. That alone should scare me. I try, really try, to shut myself out from how good it felt. From how right it feels to be in his arms. To have him close. To breathe him in. His scent clings to me like a bad habit I don’t want
~DAMON~I step away from her, my eyes still locked on her silver orbs as I unbuckle my belt, shoving my pants down. My cock springs free, hard, solid. I grip the base, giving it a slow stroke while watching the wetness on her thighs, her slick heat calling to me, begging me to take her… to claim.M







