Masuk~ 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’m back in my room. Everything is exactly the way it is. The warm smell of the room, my bed already made, the vanity table clean, spotless, even. I’m damn sure that even with my absence, Rhea and Sage have been cleaning this room every day.I breathe out loudly. At least I’m not in a cell. Instead, I’m back in my room. The only difference is that guards are fucking placed outside my door—not to protect me, but to make sure I don’t run. A reminder of my position here. I’m no longer a spy, or a bedmate, or even a captive… I’m just waiting for whatever Damon decides my fate is.Walking to the bed, I plop down softly. The mattress bounces slightly beneath me. I don’t know how long Damon is going to take before he recovers… but I do want him alive. I want him sane.My mind goes over everything. A day before, the worst nightmare happened to me… I mean, I was giddy. Smiling endlessly at the thought of being Damon’s Luna. The river date… the look in his eyes, the softness in them, t
~ CADEN ~Immediately we pull through the pack gates, I’m already in the mindlink, pushing through three conversations at once to reach Dr. Bastien directly.“Stab wound. Left side, blade still in. Silver-based poison. He’s been losing blood for forty minutes. I need you at the east entrance right now.”“Taken, I’m alerting my team right away,” Bastien’s voice replies almost immediately. That’s why I trust him.By the time I get Damon out of the car, Bastien and two nurses are already waiting with a gurney, rushing so fast. I step back and let them do their thing as they lift him up onto the gurney and wheel him inside, barking instructions at each other in their usual medical shorthand that I don’t understand.The door swings shut behind them. I stand in the corridor for a moment and just breathe. Everything is happening so fast, and it’s almost unbelievable that Damon is the one lying on that gurney.I pace around the corridor, running my hands through my hair furiously. Noah is try
~ LAIA ~"Damon. Look at me." He doesn't. His head lolls slightly to the side, eyes half-open, the gray of them dulled in a way that makes my chest seize. His breathing is shallow, too shallow, each inhale shorter than the last, as though his body is already negotiating with itself about how much effort it can afford.The blood won't stop.I press harder, both palms flat against the wound, fingers spread, trying to cover as much as possible. It soaks through immediately, running down my wrists and pooling in the crease of my elbow.Heavens, I need him to stay with me. I need him to not die on me. I haven’t told him anything. I don’t think I’m ever going to live with the guilt. I don’t think I’ll make it past it."Stay with me," I say. "Damon. Stay with me."I'm met wirh silemce... my heart racing wildly. "Hey." I grab his face with one hand, turning it toward me, leaving a bloody print on his jaw. His eyes find mine but it's almost like there's no life in them. "There you are, look
~DAMON~I undo the top button of my shirt that has been choking me all night, and take the first breath of the night that doesn't stink of Alpha hormones. The festival has finally come to an end, and thank fuck for that. It's a success, even though Xaden was a ticking PR time bomb the entire time.
~ LAIA~My hand clutches the purse tighter as I walk through clusters of wolves, my eyes scanning for that emerald dress.I'm really doing this. I'm really betraying Damon.The thought makes me feel physically ill, but I push it down, bury it deep.I scan through the crowd, everyone's eyes focused
~LAIA~I clutch the purse tighter to my side, my eyes fighting hard to maintain contact with his silver ones, trying to decipher whatever theory he's making up in that slippery mind of his."What do you think would be in a girl's clutch purse aside from girly essentials?" A forced, awkward laugh bu
~LAIA~I barely register the walk back to my room. My legs move on autopilot, my mind still reeling from what I just did.I stole from Damon.The thought hits me in waves, each one threatening to pull me under. My hands shake as I fiddle with the handle and slip inside my room, pressing my back aga







