LOGINJACKSON’S POVThe words hit me like a slap in the face. The room tilted sideways. My knees buckled and I had to grab onto my desk to stay upright.“What?” The word came out strangled. “What do you mean, taken? How—when—” I couldn’t even bring myself to formulate a proper sentence. My mind kept snagging on the sentence like a hook caught in fabric.Taken. Taken.It didn’t feel real. None of it felt real. I stood there with my mouth open and nothing else coming out.“I don’t know,” Kieran said, his voice shaky. He ran a trembling hand through his hair, pacing the small space between my bed and the door. “I told him the barriers were secure. I told him no one had crossed over. I was so certain, but she must’ve found a way. She must be more powerful than I anticipated, to phase through. And now she has him, and I don’t—I don’t know where they are or what she’s doing to him, or—”My heart dropped into my stomach. At first, I didn’t want to believe him—I tried to convince myself I was heari
FROST’S POVI launched ice shards at her, an outburst meant to force her back, but she moved through them like it was nothing, her whip deflecting what she couldn’t dodge.Each crack of force against ice sent shivers down my spine.We fought across the overlook, neither of us giving way easily. My ice met her whip again and again, the sound of our combat echoing off the surrounding area.She was faster, more skilled, but I was stronger here—this was the human realm, and unlike her I’d practiced and mastered how this plane worked.This was my strength and that was her weakness.I managed to catch her whip in a trail of ice, yanking hard. She let go rather than be pulled off balance, and for a moment we faced each other empty-handed.Then she smiled and pulled two daggers from somewhere in her minimal armor.Of course she had backup weapons.“Certainly you didn’t think I came unprepared?”The fight became more brutal. More desperate. She drove me back from the overlook, down the trail,
FROST POV“What’s this?” Seraphina said as she slowly approached me. “The great Winter’s Crest Alpha suddenly can’t speak? What happened to all that mouth you had back then?”I was still a frozen mess.Despite her being only a few feet away, it felt like miles. My vision swam, my breath came in shallow gasps, and my body and mind refused to believe what was right in front of me—even though she was undeniably here.The sound of my heartbeat pounded in my ears, so loud I was certain even she could hear it.“Unlike you, who ran away like a coward… I stayed by my family and my pack. And because of them, I will fight for my honor.”“I didn’t run away,” I found myself saying, despite how shaken I still was.My voice came out rougher than I expected, dread cutting through the fear. “I was banished. Exiled. Thrown away like garbage because I told the truth. I just wanted my pack and my family to accept me for who I was—not who they expected me to be.”“Silence!” Seraphina’s voice cracked like
JACKSON’S POVMy room was exactly as I’d left it—untouched, organized to a T, every surface carefully curated to look like the room of the perfect son.Trophies from academic competitions. Photos from family vacations where I was smiling but never quite looked happy. Books I’d never chosen myself arranged alphabetically on shelves.It was like a museum exhibit.A shrine to someone who’d never really existed.I closed the door behind me and finally let the tears come, spilling down in waves. I muffled my sobs with my hand as I slid to the floor, my back hitting the wall. Thoughts crashed through my mind as my vision blurred.What was I going to do?What the hell was I going to do?!My parents weren’t joking around. They were serious—dead serious. I wasn’t going back to school, and I sure as hell wasn’t going back to my apartment.They were going to keep me here, trapped until I either break or found a way to escape.And until then, I couldn’t see Frost or Maya or anyone from the life I
JACKSON’S POVMom was openly crying now, her mascara running down her cheeks in black streaks.“Jackson, please. You’re not thinking clearly. This man—this Frost—he’s confused you. Made you think you’re something you’re not—”“He didn’t make me think anything!” I stood up, my chair scraping against the hardwood. They could talk smack about me but not Frost.“He just made me brave enough to admit what I’ve always been too scared to realize on my own. My life was on mute before him, Mom. On hold. Like I was just going through the motions of being whoever you wanted me to be. And then I met him and everything changed. I changed. And I’m not going back.”She laughed—a low, broken sound that made my chest ache.“Changed?” She choked out, “Jackson, you’re throwing away your entire future! Your education, your reputation, your relationship with Tammy, your family, everything we’ve worked for, everything we’ve built—” She was hyperventilating now, her voice climbing higher with each word.“Fo
JACKSON’S POVIt was the next day, and I was seated in the dining area, face-to-face with my raging parents.Apparently, they hadn’t been in the mood to talk to me this entire time because they still needed time to “process things.”Now it was about seven in the morning. I was sleep-deprived, running on little to no energy, and the worst part was—I hadn’t talked to Frost since last night. My phone had died, and of course, I’d forgotten my charger all at once.“I don’t know what you did with my son, but I want him back!”I actually laughed.I couldn’t help it—the sound burst out of me before I could stop it, sharp and humorless, filling the room.I found it genuinely unbelievable that she’d rather believe I’d been abducted by aliens or that my boyfriend was using voodoo on me than just accept that this is who I am.“You think this is funny?” Her voice climbed higher now, that cracking edge of panic creeping in. “You think your father and I find any of this amusing?”“No, Mom. I think i
FROST’S POV“Kieran?” I took a step toward him. “What’s wrong? Why are you—”A tear slipped down his cheek, and then another, and suddenly he was full-blown crying, his shoulders shaking as he tried and failed to hold it back.“I’m sorry,” he choked out, wiping furiously at his face. “I just—I’m so
Jackson POV“I can feel it,” he said, excitement in his voice. “My wolf recognizes you. He knows you. This pull I’ve felt since I first woke up and saw your face—it wasn’t just simple gratitude or affection. It was so much more and I just didn’t know it.”“W–what are you saying?” I stuttered, bare
JACKSON POV“Don’t.” I choked the words again, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “Just…please. Don’t.”How could he say that? How could he look me in the eye and say something like that? That he would give up his pack—his family—because of me?Bullshit.This wasn’t what I wanted. Not even cl
JACKSON’S POVThey’d seen everything. The destroyed apartment, the evidence of whatever breakdown I’d had. And now I’d have to explain it.Explain why I’d trashed my own place, why I hadn’t been answering their calls, why I’d completely ghosted them after the dinner party disaster.How was I suppos







