LOGINRhiannon’s gaze drops to our hands again.“So you stayed with the doctor.”“Yes.”“For two years?”I nod.“He was the only person who understood what was happening to me. Even then, he didn’t have all the answers.”I let out a slow breath.“He spent those two years teaching me how to control it. How to separate my emotions from everyone else’s. How to shut the ability down when I didn’t need it. How to keep the energy from reacting every time my emotions changed.”“And eventually I could control it…. Most of the time.”Her eyes narrow slightly.“Most?”I give her a faint, humorless smile.“I thought I had mastered it.”I glance toward the window.“For months, nothing happened. The energy stayed quiet. I could control my healing. I could control what I sensed. I could touch someone without immediately feeling everything inside them.”My gaze returns to hers.“I thought I was finally safe.”Rhiannon’s expression changes as she remembers tonight.The shaking.The heat coming from my skin
I watch Rhiannon closely as she listens.“The moonpriest expected my heart to stop completely,” I continue. “He thought that once my wolf left me, there would be nothing left to keep my body alive. But that didn’t happen.”Her fingers remain wrapped around mine.“My heart stopped,” I say quietly. “But my body kept fighting.”Rhiannon’s brows draw together.“The silver poisoning was still inside me. So was the Dark Witch’s fire. They should have destroyed what was left of me, but somehow…”I pause, remembering the first days after I woke.“They fused.”Her eyes widen slightly.“Fused?”I nod.“The moonpriest had never seen anything like it. He didn’t even know what to call it at first. He only knew that whatever happened inside my body was the reason I was still breathing.”Rhiannon studies my face.“What kept you alive?”I look down at our joined hands.“The doctor discovered something moving through my blood.”Her expression changes.“Something?”“An energy.”I swallow.“It was unfam
DRAVENI shouldn’t be reacting like this.That’s the first thought that cuts through everything else.I was sure I had this under control. Months of training it down. Months of learning how to silence what I couldn’t name at first. Orphe had been quiet lately. Almost obedient in a way that made me believe I had finally mastered whatever I became.So why now?Why the moment she stands in front of me again does everything start to slip?“Orphe…” Rhiannon’s voice breaks slightly when she says it. “What does that mean?”It hits me harder than I expect.Not because of the question.But because of her eyes when she asks it.There’s fear there. Real fear. The kind I told myself I would never put in her again.My chest tightens, and I feel it immediately—Orphe reacting under my skin. Not violent. Not loud. Just… awake.No.Not now.Not here.Not when she’s looking at me like that.I try to steady my breath, but it doesn’t fully settle. My hands are shaking, and I don’t realize it until she mo
The words stay between us. And I just watch him.Something shifts in his face.It’s small. Easy to miss if I wasn’t already looking too closely. His eyes hold mine for a second longer, then he looks away, like he needs that space just to breathe. His hand comes up, dragging slowly through his hair, pushing it back before falling again. It’s not a careless movement. It looks… strained.Like he’s holding something in.“I didn’t come back the same,” he says.His voice is quieter now. Rougher.I don’t interrupt.“I’m… wolfless.” He pauses, like the word itself doesn’t sit right in his mouth. “My wolf is inside you.”That second pulse that’s always beating in my chest.I feel it before I even think about it. Low and steady. My fingers press lightly against my shirt without meaning to.He looks at me again, softly this time.“I’ve missed you, Rhiannon.”Something in the way he says it makes my throat tighten.“It’s so hard to breathe right now. I—” He stops himself, like the rest of the wor
RHIANNONI don’t move after I say it.“You’re not dead.”The words sit between us longer than I expect. I can still hear them in my head, like I shouldn’t have said them out loud. Like once they’re out here, there’s no taking them back.He doesn’t answer immediately.He just looks at me.And the silence that follows isn’t empty. It feels… full. Like there’s something in it I can’t reach yet, something I don’t understand but can’t ignore either.My fingers twitch slightly at my side.I’m still watching him. Waiting for something to break. For something to shift, for this to fall apart the way it should if it isn’t real.Nothing changes.He breathes in slowly.I see it clearly. His chest rises, then falls again. Steady. Controlled. Not forced. It doesn't feel like my imagination.Too real.“I’m not dead,” he says.That’s it.My stomach tightens.Not dead.The words don’t settle the way they should. They don’t bring relief. They don’t make anything clearer. If anything, they make everyt
DRAVENThe engine is the only thing keeping me steady as I turn into her street.If it goes quiet, I know I’ll feel it.Everything.The distance. The time. The way a year can stretch into something that doesn’t feel real until you’re standing at the end of it.So I let the engine run a second longer than necessary before I cut it.The silence that follows settles immediately.Heavy.I don’t move at first.My hands stay on the handlebars, my grip tighter than it should be, like if I let go too quickly, something will shift and I won’t be ready for it.Then I lift my head.And I see her.She’s sitting right in front of the house.Exactly where the light from inside barely reaches her, leaving her half in shadow.For a second, nothing else exists.Not the road. Not the night. Not the distance I just crossed to get here.Just her.She looks the same.And she doesn’t.It’s small things.The way she’s sitting. The way her shoulders hold themselves. The quiet around her that wasn’t there bef
“Why her?” I whisper. “She was my best friend.”I watch his face change.The drop in his expression mirrors the way my stomach fell the day everything shattered. There’s no pretending he didn’t feel that. His wolf reacts too—I sense it, that low, wounded confusion rippling through the bond we never
Like they say, if you want to conquer the villain, you go the extra mile to prove your point.That thought settles deep in my chest the moment I open my eyes.The room is quiet, the early morning light barely slipping through the curtains, but my mind has been loud all night. I didn’t sleep. Every
RHIANNONThe ocean wind hits harder out here. Sharp. Cold enough to sting the edges of my skin, but honestly… maybe I need it. Perhaps I need something to shock my brain out of the spiral it keeps dragging me into.I close my eyes for a second, letting the breeze slap sense into me.Calix stands be
I’m sitting in front of the mirror with a mascara wand in my hand, trying to talk myself into caring about this stupid party. I don’t. At all. But Calix will drag me there if I don’t show up, so here I am, brushing on mascara like it’s some kind of duty. My hand keeps stopping every few seconds bec







