LOGINVESPERA'S POV The power exploded out of me in a column of golden light that shot straight into the sky.It was massive. Blinding. The kind of light that could be seen for miles in every direction. I poured everything into it—fear for my pack, love for the wolves who'd trusted me, rage at Julian for making this necessary.The light burned brighter.I didn't know how long I held it. Long enough that my legs started shaking. Long enough that sweat soaked through my clothes despite the cold. Long enough that the baby started kicking frantically, protesting the drain on my energy.Then Nyx said, *Enough. They've seen it. Stop before you hurt the pup.*I let the power fade and collapsed to my knees in the dirt, gasping."Vespera!" Petra was beside me immediately. "You okay?""I'm fine. Just—tired." I pressed both hands against my belly, feeling the baby's agitated movements. "Did it work?"If that didn't draw attention, nothing will." She helped me stand. "Come on. Let's get you back to ca
VESPERA'S POV I couldn't sleep.The night before the raid, I lay in my shelter staring at the canvas ceiling and feeling the baby move restlessly inside me. Every kick reminded me that Anya and Kael and thirty other wolves were about to risk their lives because Julian couldn't let go of something that was never his.Around midnight I gave up on sleep entirely and walked to the main fire. I found Pip there, sitting alone and poking at the embers with a stick."You should be asleep," I said."So should you." He didn't look up. "Anya's leaving before dawn.""I know.""She told me to stay here. She said I'm too young for this kind of raid." His voice was bitter in a way that sounded too old for ten. "I'm not too young, Vespera. You know that. I've been training. I can fight.""You can," I agreed, sitting down carefully on a log. "But she's right to keep you here. Someone needs to help protect the camp while she's gone.""That's what she said too." He jabbed the stick harder into the coal
VESPERA'S POV The morning I was supposed to leave for Eternal Winter, a man showed up at camp with information instead of goods. Julian's supply routes, meticulously documented. Movement patterns, guard rotations and even the location of every depot and warehouse between here and Iron Claw territory."Why are you giving us this?" I'd asked him.He'd looked at my pregnant belly, then at the camp full of broken wolves. "Because Julian killed my daughter for refusing to join his pack. He said she was too weak to be useful." He'd spit in the dirt. "I can't fight him myself. But you can."Now I stood over the makeshift table Kael had built, studying the maps by firelight. The supply routes were clear once you knew what to look for—organized, efficient, exactly what you'd expect from an Alpha who ran his pack like a military operation.And they all led to one place."Here," I said, pointing at a mark thirty miles south of our position. "This is his main depot.""Julian is heading here and
VESPERAs POV The next day, I spent the morning watching Pip try to teach a younger wolf how to properly hold a blade.He was terrible at it but the younger wolf was worse. They fumbled through the basic stance three times before Anya walked over, sighed deeply, and showed them both how it was supposed to look. Pip's face lit up with understanding and he immediately tried again, this time getting it almost right."Good," Anya said, which was highest praise coming from her. "Now do it a hundred more times."Pip groaned but started repeating the movement anyway. The younger wolf followed his lead.I sat on a rock near the training area and felt something settle in my chest watching them. This. This was what we'd built. Not just a collection of refugees hiding in the Deadlands. Something real. Something that mattered.Petra appeared beside me with water. "You've been sitting out here for two hours.""Yeah.""You're leaving tomorrow, aren't you?""Yes... First thing by day light. "Then s
VESPERAs pov"They're calling it the Whispering Sickness," Petra said while we were sorting through stolen medical supplies, her hands pausing over a bundle of herbs. I looked up from the inventory list I'd been trying to make sense of."What's the Whispering Sickness?""You haven't heard?" She set the herbs down. "It's spreading through the kingdoms. Mated pairs getting sick. Their bonds just—breaking. Snapping like cut rope."My stomach dropped. "What do you mean breaking?""Exactly that. Healthy wolves wake up one morning and their mate bond is gone. Just gone. And then they start dying." She picked up another bundle, not meeting my eyes. "Some go mad first. Attack their mates. Try to kill them. Others just drop dead, hearts stopping at the exact same time."I pressed my hand against my belly without thinking. The baby kicked hard, like it knew something was wrong."How many?" I asked."Dozens and maybe more. It's hard to get accurate numbers when everyone's panicking." She finally
VESPERA'S POV I was sitting outside my shelter trying to mend a torn blanket when Anya brought him over. The new wolf. He was young, maybe eighteen, with a limp that suggested an old injury that had healed wrong."I found him at the border," Anya said. "He says his pack kicked him out for being too slow on hunts."The boy's eyes were on the ground, his shoulders hunched like he was waiting to be hit."What's your name?" I asked."Silas.""You want to stay here, Silas?"He looked up then, surprised. "You'd let me? Just like that?""Just like that." I gestured at the camp around us. "We don't care why your pack threw you away. If you want to stay, you stay. If you want to help, even better. But nobody here is going to judge you for whatever got you exiled."His eyes filled with tears. He tried to blink them back but they came anyway."Thank you," he said, his voice breaking. "Thank you."Two days later, three more showed up. A woman with burn scars across her back. An older male wolf w







