LOGINEVE Everything happened too fast. One moment we were standing in Dr. Chen's clinic, the next Adam was throwing me and Lucia behind an examination table while Circe engaged the vampires. "Stay down!" Adam roared, shifting into his massive black wolf. I crouched over Lucia, my body shielding her as glass and debris rained down. She started crying, her little face scrunched up, and I felt power surge from her tiny body. "No, baby, not now," I whispered frantically. "Please not now." But Lucia's fear triggered another energy burst. Golden light exploded from her, throwing back one of the attacking vampires. "Did that baby just..." one vampire started. "Told you she was special," the lead vampire snarled. "Get her. NOW!" Adam tore into them, his wolf form massive and deadly. But there were three of them, all older vampires with speed and strength to match his. Circe was fighting two at once, her movements a blur. "Eve! Take Lucia and run!" "I'm not leaving you!" "You have to! G
CHAPTER 89 ADAM Three months after Eve came back, we had our first real fight. Not about her being reckless. Not about the trauma. Not about any of the obvious things. About dishes. "You left them in the sink again," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I asked you to put them in the dishwasher." "I was having a panic attack. Dishes weren't my priority." "You've had three panic attacks today. At some point, dishes need to happen." Eve's eyes flashed. "Are you seriously criticizing me for not doing dishes while I'm struggling with PTSD?" "I'm not criticizing. I'm asking you to follow through on basic household tasks." "Basic household tasks feel impossible when I'm fighting to stay grounded in reality!" "Then tell me that! Don't just leave things half-done and expect me to read your mind!" "I shouldn't have to explain every single time that I'm barely functional! You know I'm struggling!" We were both yelling now. The girls hovering in the doorway, uncertain. I forced
ADAM Three months after Eve came back, we had our first real fight. Not about her being reckless. Not about the trauma. Not about any of the obvious things. About dishes. "You left them in the sink again," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I asked you to put them in the dishwasher." "I was having a panic attack. Dishes weren't my priority." "You've had three panic attacks today. At some point, dishes need to happen." Eve's eyes flashed. "Are you seriously criticizing me for not doing dishes while I'm struggling with PTSD?" "I'm not criticizing. I'm asking you to follow through on basic household tasks." "Basic household tasks feel impossible when I'm fighting to stay grounded in reality!" "Then tell me that! Don't just leave things half-done and expect me to read your mind!" "I shouldn't have to explain every single time that I'm barely functional! You know I'm struggling!" We were both yelling now. The girls hovering in the doorway, uncertain. I forced myself to s
CHAPTER 89 ADAM Three months after Eve came back, we had our first real fight. Not about her being reckless. Not about the trauma. Not about any of the obvious things. About dishes. "You left them in the sink again," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I asked you to put them in the dishwasher." "I was having a panic attack. Dishes weren't my priority." "You've had three panic attacks today. At some point, dishes need to happen." Eve's eyes flashed. "Are you seriously criticizing me for not doing dishes while I'm struggling with PTSD?" "I'm not criticizing. I'm asking you to follow through on basic household tasks." "Basic household tasks feel impossible when I'm fighting to stay grounded in reality!" "Then tell me that! Don't just leave things half-done and expect me to read your mind!" "I shouldn't have to explain every single time that I'm barely functional! You know I'm struggling!" We were both yelling now. The girls hovering in the doorway, uncertain. I forced
EVETen years after my resurrection, Lucia graduated high school at sixteen.She'd skipped three grades. Could have skipped more but we'd insisted she have some semblance of normal adolescence."This is pointless ceremony," she said, adjusting her cap. "I already know everything they're celebrating. Academic achievement is arbitrary validation of information retention.""It's a milestone. Let us celebrate you.""I'd rather be in the lab finishing my research.""You can finish your research tomorrow. Today you walk across a stage and let your family be proud."She sighed dramatically. "Fine. But I'm not smiling for photos."She smiled for every single photo. Couldn't help herself. Brilliant and accomplished and still somehow our little girl.Sophie was fourteen now. Already accepted into prestigious art programs. Her work sold for thousands. Critics called her a generational talent."It's weird being famous for trauma art," she told me. "People buy my paintings because they feel the pa
CHAPTER 91ADAMTwo years after Eve's resurrection, life felt almost normal.Not the old normal. We'd never get that back. Too much had changed. Too much trauma had reshaped us.But a new normal. Better in some ways. More honest. More present. More grateful for what we had.The girls were nine now. Growing fast. Too fast.Lucia had started advanced placement classes. Her teachers struggled to keep up with her intellect. She'd already mastered calculus and was working on theoretical physics for fun."I'm considering a research project on hybrid genetic expression," she announced at dinner. "Specifically how wolf and vampire DNA integrate at the chromosomal level.""That sounds complicated," Eve said."It's fascinating. The recombination patterns suggest deliberate optimization rather than random mutation. I think there's an evolutionary mechanism we haven't identified yet.""You're nine.""Age is irrelevant to intellectual curiosity. Einstein developed his thought experiments as a teen
EVE"You're getting faster," Lucian said, watching as I dodged his attack and countered with a blast of energy. "Six months ago, I could have taken you down in seconds.""Six months ago, I didn't know I could do half this shit." I grinned, wiping sweat from my forehead. "Now I'm practically a super
EVE'S POV - TWO WEEKS LATER"Again," Lucian commanded from across the training room. "Block me out."I closed my eyes, focusing on the mental shields he'd been teaching me. Imagining walls of iron around my mind, keeping out unwanted intrusions.Lucian's presence pushed against my defenses, testing
I stood at the edge of vampire territory, staring into the dark forest that had haunted my nightmares for weeks.Leaving had been easier than expected. The guards were watching for threats coming in, not mates sneaking out. A simple illusion, a bit of shadow manipulation I didn't even know I posses
ADAMI stood alone in my office, staring at the door Eve had run through, my wolf howling in rage and pain.She thought I was using her. Thought I saw her as a replacement for Circe.The idea was so fucking wrong it made me want to break something.I grabbed the nearest object, a crystal paperweigh







