I was about to stand, about to thank Lyra for the brief moment of calm, when something caught my attention. A distant rumble. Then, the unmistakable sound of shouting. It didn’t take long for the noise to grow, escalating into a full-blown commotion. My heart skipped a beat as I straightened, eyes scanning the courtyard. Lyra’s expression shifted immediately from calm to tense. “We need to go inside,” she urged, her voice urgent, her body already moving toward the door. “It’s likely we’re under attack. It’s happening again.” I didn’t even question her. Panic had already started curling in my gut. My first instinct was to follow Lyra but as she moved toward the door, something—or rather, someone—caught my eye. I froze. At first, I couldn’t make sense of what I was seeing. I’d thought the shadows were playing tricks on me, but the sight wasn’t a trick—it was Ethan. His form was unmistakable. But what made me freeze was the sight of him surrounded by guards, his back arched like a
I waited. That’s literally all I could do—just sit there and count the seconds like some prisoner in a fairytale tower. I’d already tried pacing, already tried lying down, already tried staring at the ceiling until the cracks in the stone started looking like faces. None of it helped. So I just stuck to waiting. One hundred seconds. Five hundred. I lost track somewhere after a thousand. The sun shifted through the slit of a window, telling me it was later now—afternoon, maybe. My stomach grumbled in agreement, like it was keeping time too. Finally, a knock. Light, almost musical. My head snapped toward the door. “It’s me,” a voice chimed softly. Lyra. I swear I almost leapt to my feet. The door opened, and she stepped in, balancing a tray. Steam curled up from the dishes, carrying a sweet, earthy smell that made my stomach groan louder. I felt a little embarrassed, but she only smiled, like she’d been expecting it. “You kept your word,” she said warmly, setting the tray on
The next morning, I woke up to the faint creak of the door opening. I didn’t move right away. For a few seconds I just lay there, breathing slow, staring at the sunlight spilling across the floorboards. The soft shuffle of feet gave it away—someone was in the room. The steps were light, careful, like they were trying not to wake me. I turned my head and saw her. A girl. Young, maybe around my age, maybe older. Dressed in plain linen, hair braided neatly back, carrying a tray with food on it. Her eyes widened when she saw me awake. “Oh—” she whispered, like she’d been caught sneaking in. “You’re up.” I pushed myself up to sit, pulling the blanket around my shoulders because, yeah, modesty was still a thing even in enemy territory. “Apparently,” I said, voice still rough from sleep. She smiled nervously, setting the tray down on the table. “I brought you breakfast. Alpha said you might not eat last night.” Alpha. Not “your father.” Just “Alpha.” My stomach twisted at that. The way
I stared at him. Home? I wanted to laugh, maybe even choke on it, because the picture of “home” in my head wasn’t some glowing kingdom with red-haired strangers claiming blood ties. It was me and my mom in our tiny apartment, the one-bedroom place that always smelled faintly of coffee and fabric softener. I remembered curling up in my little room with its chipped nightstand and creaky bed, the way she used to sit on the edge of it and run her hand through my hair. Then, later, it was the mansion. The big house with polished floors, and expensive furniture that I never really felt safe in. I lived there, yes, but LIVED isn’t the same as HOME. It was like existing in a glass cage, being watched, trapped, weighed down by the tension in every wall and the secrets buried in every room. But then there was the cabin. The cabin where Ethan carried me when I was too tired to stand, where I laughed and cried and broke down in his arms. The smell of pine, the sound of the fireplace. That—th
He smiled. A strange, almost wistful smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. Then he did something I didn’t expect—he pressed both hands against his face, like he was trying to hold himself together. His shoulders shook once, and when he lowered his hands, that’s when I saw it. Tears. Actual tears shining in his eyes. And then he whispered, voice cracking in a way that shattered the air between us: “Goddess… you grew up to look just like your mother.” “Got her temper too,” he added with a soft chuckle. The words hit me like a punch to the chest. I blinked, hard, because what? My mouth moved before my brain even caught up. One word slipped out of me, shaky, small, like it had been hiding in my throat my whole life waiting for this exact moment. “Dad?” The silence that followed was suffocating. I didn’t even realize I was crying until the wetness blurred my vision. My cheeks burned hot, my chest squeezed so tight I thought I might stop breathing. My father. My father. Th
I tried the food. Honestly? I didn’t expect much, but damn—it was good. Sweet, soft, rich in a way I couldn’t quite place. Not like anything I’d eaten back home or even in Ethan’s pack. My stomach had been gnawing at itself for hours, so I didn’t waste time overthinking it. I just ate. Bite after bite, shoveling spoonfuls like someone who hadn’t seen food in days, because, well, I kinda hadn’t. I didn’t stop until my belly felt heavy and warm, the ache inside of me finally easing. It was… comforting in a way I hadn’t felt since everything had gone upside down. Comforting enough that my eyelids felt like weights. I curled up on the ridiculously soft bed, pressing my face into the pillow that smelled faintly of something spiced. I must have drifted off faster than I thought, because the next thing I knew, I was in that hazy, unsettling space where dreams feel real enough to cut. Ethan’s voice. I could hear it echoing faintly, calling my name through some kind of fog. “Camila!”