Gaia’s house wasn’t grand, large or ostentatious. It wasn't even up to half of the land Khaos took. Neither was the building as big as even the library at Khaos.It was hidden in the woods where the trees grew thick and the wind smelled like damp moss and wild herbs. The gravel path crunched beneath their shoes as they approached, and Sandra felt something shift in her chest. She couldn’t explain it, but it was as though the land itself recognized her presence.It felt like home. Comfy.And secure. So close she could practically feel the warmth seeping into her skin.“This is yours?” she asked softly as Gaia opened the door with a simple twist of his wrist.He nodded, stepping aside for her to enter. “Built it myself. Every stone, every plank.”"You built it?" She gasped."Yep. There was no wars during those times and I had nothing to do as Xandros's beta."Sandra paused just inside the threshold. The house was warm and quiet. Not just quiet in sound, but quiet in energy. The kind o
The lodge nestled deep within the territories was as far from the hospital and Khaos as the moon was from the sea. Built of stone and cedar, it breathed with warmth and quiet, surrounded by thick pines and the steady whisper of a stream just beyond the hill. No one approached without permission. Nobody came unless summoned. No guards posted nearby. Here, there were no enemies, no threats, only silence, and time.Anna leaned against the balcony railing, wrapped in a soft robe that smelled of lavender and mountain mint. The wind was gentle tonight, teasing strands of her dark hair across her cheek. She let it. Her skin still ached where Kalista’s magic had burned through her, but the pain no longer felt like it belonged to her, it was fading, piece by piece, along with the weight of that long, terrible battle.Inside, the lodge flickered with low candlelight. Runes carved into the beams pulsed softly, woven there by the witch council and Anita to protect the child in her womb. The baby
The dust had barely settled.The hallway that had once echoed with medical chatter and squeaky wheels now stood in eerie silence—scorched, half-collapsed, with crackling fluorescent lights hanging like vines from the ceiling. The tiled floor was smeared with blood, some of it black with magic, some still steaming where Kalista had bled and burned.Anna lay cradled in Xandros’s arms at the far end of the corridor, both of them surrounded by the aftermath of war.The beast had not left him.Though his claws had retracted and fur vanished, Xandros still breathed like the wolf. Chest rising and falling in deep, uneven gulps. His shoulders trembled, not with weakness, but with the savage intensity of barely-contained instinct.The moment the doctors rounded the corner, responding to the emergency alarms.He turned.Snarled.And they froze.There were five of them. A trauma team in white coats, rubber-soled shoes, and blue gloves. None of them looked older than forty. Not one dared take ano
Anna’s body trembled with the aftershock of the blast. Smoke hung thick in the air. Xandros lay crumpled against a bent hospital bed, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth. His Lycan form was retreating beneath torn flesh, unconscious and unmoving.And Kalista turned to her.She floated several feet above the floor now, her robes curling like smoke, her fingers crackling with malignant magic.“Now,” Kalista said, her voice like crushed velvet, “it’s just us.”Anna’s feet moved before her mind did. Her body shifted into a battle stance her modern self didn’t recognize, but her soul remembered. Even the ache of her womb dulled in the face of rising, buried power. Her breath calmed.She had never fought Kalista in this life.But Zaekyr had, once. She remembered.Kalista’s smile faded. “You still reek of fear.”Anna raised her chin. “Not fear. Memory.”“You’re not Zaekyr,” Kalista snapped, her voice echoing unnaturally. “She’s dust. A footnote. You’re just a frightened little girl
The hallway smelled of bleach and blood.Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, and somewhere down the corridor, a monitor beeped in lazy rhythm. Anna pressed a hand to her swollen belly, breathing through another low, twisting ache beneath her ribs. Xandros stood beside her, arm around her waist, his body tense—not just with concern, but with something darker, pure anger. "I didn't even think you'd take a form like that," Anna muttered, "I'd only heard about you as Kalista, but seeing you as Candy, it makes you so much worse.""Oh, you didn't expect I'd be as pretty as this?" Candy chuckled.Anna shook her head slowly, "I always thought your face surgery went wrong. I even thought you had them multiple times. But magic? To keep your face? That's more despiteful." She spat."I drank many blood just for this." Candy frowned, "and yet you hate it. This is why I don't like you, Zaekyr. First, you come as my child, spoiling my very perfect physique and destroying my life. Now, as Anna, you
"Are you going to leave without helping me?" "Hearing your name makes me know you are. You are involved with the selling of wolves, aren't you? You auctioned Anna to Xandros." Maren said."I didn't think you'd still want to leave even after staying the night? Why are you making it seem like I did something bad? I just made money off something. Whether I sold Anna or not, they were meant to meet each other. In this life and the next." Maren frowned, "How did you know–""I saved your life, Maren." Candy cut her off. "You shouldn't pay me so evilly." "What exactly do you want from me?" She asked.Candy stretched her hand towards Maren, "Join me, we can rule over the world together." "You? Of all people to rule?" "You are looking down on me." Candy said in a small, sweet voice. "You shouldn't.""I don't trust you and I detest the idea of taking over the world." "But you have no choice. Your childhood training makes you the perfect person to help me." She said."Who are you?" Maren