Bright After making love, Sophia and I spent the entire day together, reconnecting and talking about the future. She was afraid, but she longed for a future with me, a happy, healthy one with our child. We spent hours talking about them. Sophia slept, her breathing soft and steady. I listened, making sure she was all right. Fear for her kept me awake because I needed to protect her. I set the coffee cup down on the nightstand, making no sound so I wouldn’t wake her. I wanted to talk to James. I knew he had gone downstairs because I heard him. I went down, hoping we could talk in peace. James was in the kitchen, his gaze clouded with thought. I saw him light a cigarette, even though neither of us smoked. He offered me one, pretending to share. “Smoking at this hour, James?” “Don’t you want one?” he asked, still holding the cigarette in his hand. I shook my head. “I don’t want your sister to smell the smoke when she comes back to bed. Because of the baby.” James nodded and pu
Sophia My mother and father were at the company. James and a group from the pack were out searching for Dante with the help of other packs. The rest of the pack surrounded the house, keeping watch. James had declared that I was in extreme danger because of Dante’s obsession. Dante... he was the one sending me those notes. His name echoed in my mind like an open wound. I couldn’t fully grasp it. I had believed in him —in his kindness, in his friendship— and now knowing he had been capable of so much harm tore at my soul. The sadness ran so deep it hurt to breathe, the pain of having trusted someone like him for so many years. Not just for what he had done, but for what he had once meant to us. For how hard it had been for me to believe Bright, for doubting him so many times. The sound of soft footsteps pulled me from my thoughts. I looked up and saw Bright coming in from the kitchen, carrying a tray of food in his hands. He had two plates and a calm expression, though his eyes stil
Sophia I was waiting for Bright to come back. Hours had passed since he’d left with James to interrogate the hunter. When I finally heard the door to the room open, my body reacted before my mind did. I turned around instantly. Bright was standing there, framed in the doorway, and for a moment all I could do was look at him. His expression was hard, browed, eyes dark, breathing heavy. His jacket was stained, and his hands... his hands were red. “Bright…” my voice came out weaker than I expected. “What happened? James told me you were with the hunter.” He closed the door behind him and stood still, not answering right away. It only took me a second to notice he was holding something back, anger, tension, pain... I couldn’t tell. But it was as if the air between us had thickened. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and rough. “He talked.” A shiver ran down my spine. “What... what did he say?” Bright drew in a deep breath before answering. “He confirmed what we suspected.
Sophia The silence of the night was dense, almost unbearable. Outside, the wind lashed against the shelter's windows, making the glass tremble with a sound that blended with the uneven rhythm of my breathing. I had spent hours in the basement with James. Hours listening to the hunter resist, hours beating him, demanding answers. And, in the end, he gave them. Dante. It was him. Confirmed by the hunter himself. When I climbed the stairs, my hands were still warm, trembling with the rage that hadn’t yet left my body. I opened the door to the hallway and found her there, waiting for me. Sophia was standing in front of the unlit fireplace, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes fixed on the door, as if she had been waiting the whole time for me to come back. Her face lit up the moment she saw me, though the worry in her eyes was impossible to hide. “Bright…” she whispered, taking a step toward me. “What happened? James told me you were with the hunter.” I closed the door behi
Bright The smell of iron and sweat filled the room. The hunter was tied to a metal chair, his wrists bound by handcuffs and his head bowed. The spotlight hanging above him flickered now and then, casting shadows that moved like ghosts on the damp basement walls. James stood beside me, silent, arms crossed. His presence alone was enough to inspire fear, but the man in front of us didn’t seem willing to talk. We’d found him at dawn, hiding near the north edge of the woods, with a silver weapon and an encrypted radio. He wasn’t a simple hunter. He knew too much, and that was why he was there, in front of us. “I’m going to ask you one more time,” James said, in a firm, controlled voice. “Who sent you? You haven’t said anything since we captured you.” The hunter barely raised his head. His face was caked with dried blood and dirt. He looked at us with a mocking smile. “You have no idea who you’re messing with,” he muttered through his teeth. James sighed. “So you confirm there’s so
Sophia Bright was beside me, lying on the bed, his face turned toward me, and he looked as handsome as ever. The room was wrapped in a calm that weighed heavily on my chest. Only the wind outside and the faint creak of the wood could be heard. The moonlight streamed in through the window, drawing a soft shadow across his face that almost hurt to look at. Thank God he was still alive. After everything that had happened that night, after that infernal phone call, after believing he’d been killed, Bright was there, breathing beside me. But his silence hurt more than any words could. His eyes were fixed on the ceiling, as if there were something up there that could explain what I’d never known how to say. I watched him quietly for a while, too afraid to speak. I liked having him close, but I was scared, too, scared of breaking the fragile balance holding us together. I knew I’d hurt him. I saw it in his eyes every time they met mine, in that distant look that hadn’t been there befor