LOGINI woke to the sharp sting of ammonia in my nose. Hospital smell. That clean, burning scent that meant something had gone wrong."Ouch." I winced, my fingers brushing my right shoulder. Pain shot down my arm, hot and immediate. I pulled my hand back and blinked against the harsh overhead lights.White ceiling and walls. The steady beep of a monitor somewhere to my left.I was alive. That was the first thing. The second thing hit me harder."The baby." My voice came out hoarse, barely a whisper. I tried to sit up and immediately regretted it. My shoulder screamed in protest, and the room tilted sideways.A warm hand pressed gently against my good shoulder. "Easy." Malcolm. He was there, leaning over me, his face drawn and tired but his eyes were clear. Focused. He wasn't panicking anymore. "Lie still. You're okay. The baby's okay."I collapsed back against the pillows, my breath leaving me in a rush. "You're sure?""Dr. Liana checked you herself. Both of you." He pulled a chair close
"Fuck, fuck, who did this," Malcolm muttered as he touched the cardboard box, his voice rough.I froze, my breath catching in my throat. Slowly I stepped back, but my eyes couldn't look away. Several guards crowded around, their faces pale as sheets.It was Steven Howard's head. Our war general. The man who had earned the highest ranking for five consecutive years in every evaluation. The man who had never lost a strategic battle, who trained every soldier with an iron hand but fair judgment. Who always stood at Malcolm's right side in every council meeting.His neck had been severed brutally, flesh and muscle exposed in a cut that was clean yet cruel. His usually neat hair was now matted with dried blood. His eyes were still wide open, staring blankly at the garage ceiling, as if he still couldn't believe this was how it ended.My hands trembled. My knees went weak. I collapsed onto the cold concrete floor, but I didn't feel it. All I could see was Steven's head, staring at me from i
Malcolm didn't answer. Both hands were white-knuckled on the steering wheel, his eyes fixed on something ahead of us through the windshield.I followed his gaze, still struggling to catch my breath. The road stretched out before us, quiet and ordinary, the late afternoon sun slanting gold across the asphalt. For a heartbeat, I didn't see anything. Then the shape moved—something low and dark, darting across the road and vanishing into the brush on the other side.A deer. No, smaller than that. Whatever it was, it had come out of nowhere."Everyone okay?" Malcolm's voice was clipped, his Alpha composure slamming back into place even as I watched his pulse jump in his throat."I'm fine," Lira said shakily, one hand splayed protectively over her belly. Allison had a firm grip on her shoulder, his body angled in front of hers like a shield. "Just startled.""Okay here," I managed, rubbing my chest where the seatbelt had bitten in. I twisted around to look at Allison. "You?"Allison nodded
The doors swung open a second time, and Dr. Liana stepped out. Her scrub top was damp now across the chest and under both arms, and there was a stain on her sleeve I didn't want to look at too closely. She pulled her mask down and it left a red line across her cheeks.For a long moment she just stood there, breathing hard, like she'd been running. The alarms were still going off behind her, muffled now as someone closed an inner door.Hazel took a step toward her. "What happened? Is she—""She's alive," Dr. Liana said, holding up a hand to stop him before he could barrel through the doors. "But her heart stopped for just under a minute. We got her back, but only just." She wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist. "The condition is more aggressive than I initially thought. Her rib fractures are more extensive, and now there's fluid building around her heart. She's fighting, but her little body is working far too hard.""Then do something," Hazel said, his voice cracking. "Fix i
They didn’t let us into the main infirmary right away. Hazel and I stood in the narrow corridor just outside, shoulder to shoulder, breathing the sharp scent of antiseptic and something else I couldn’t name. The walls were a pale, tired green, the kind of color that’s seen too many anxious faces.Hazel hadn’t spoken since they took Hagar through those swinging doors. He just stood there, arms crossed tight over his chest, jaw working on nothing. Every time a nurse hurried past, he flinched.After what felt like a very long time, Dr. Liana came out. Her scrub top had a fresh damp patch near the collar, and the little lines around her eyes looked deeper than they had an hour ago. She pulled off her gloves one finger at a time, and that small, deliberate motion told me more than I wanted to know.“She’s stable for now,” Dr. Liana said, before either of us could ask. “But we’ve found the source of the problem, and it’s serious.”Hazel’s whole body went still. “What kind of serious?”“Haga
The clinic pavilion was quieter than the main infirmary. That was exactly why we had chosen it.Malcolm carried the tray himself the porridge, the thinly sliced roasted gosling, the ginger ginseng soup still steaming gently under its lid. I carried the milk for the twins. Lira walked beside me, her hands tucked into her jacket pockets, her breath visible in the cool morning air.Nobody spoke much on the way over. We were all still carrying last night with us.The sentinel at the door stepped aside the moment he saw Malcolm. Inside, the room was warm, softly lit. The twins’ crib sat near the window where the morning light came in pale and gentle.Hazel was standing in front of it.He was holding a glass of water with both hands, staring down at Hagar and Sarah with an expression that was somewhere between exhaustion and fierce, quiet devotion. He hadn’t heard us come in.“Morning,” Lira said softly.He startled, spinning around. Water sloshed over the rim of his glass.“Li— Lir
I couldn't even answer. I gripped her forearms, my knuckles turning white. The pain felt... rhythmic, but not like contractions. It felt cold, like a pulse of liquid silver was circulating through my veins. Every time the pain flared, I could feel a faint, metallic hum vibrating deep in my bones—th
"That blade is different," Malcolm insisted, his gaze fixed on the horizon as if he could see the enemy camp from here. "Whatever happens, that sword is the critical factor. It’s the key to defeating them if they decide to launch an all-out assault.""H-how could a single blade do that?" Elder Ken
"But I never said an alliance was impossible, did I?" Dad cut in, his voice dropping into that heavy, instructional tone he used when he was teaching Malcolm how to lead. "Malcolm, you’re an Alpha. You need to stop looking for one monster and start looking for the web. Possibilities A and B aren't
The mark looked like a botched tattoo, blurred and dark against his skin. I caught Malcolm’s eye; his pupils had narrowed to slits as he burned the image into his memory. Elias stood up, his expression unreadable as he calmly began placing the cuts of meat back into his cart."No harm done, Alpha







