로그인DAMON'S POV.“I’ll drive you?” I offer the moment she tells me what she intends to do.I try my best not to comment on her puffy eyes, tear streaked cheeks, the way she'd left the study earlier like the world was falling apart and she was at its center.Or the fact that she'd asked for some more tear drop suppressants when she got back.I knew Michaela enough to know that pushing wouldn't get me anywhere with her, it'll only make her push back seven times harder.She looks up at me for a second. Then another, contemplating.“Okay.” She says finally.I sighed, relieved. For a second there I thought she wasn't going to let me be there for her at a moment where she'd obviously need someone by her side.“I'm coming too,” Cole says, stepping into the study and coming to a stop behind her.My gaze shifts towards him as he enters.“Naturally,” I reply, not at all surprised.For a fraction of a second, something sharp flashes through me.It's not anger.Not surprise.Just the uncomfortable
MICHAELA'S POV "Cole. You're here."I immediately wipe at my face.As though that will somehow erase the evidence.Cole's eyes narrow.His expression changes instantly."Mia?""I'm fine."The lie leaves my mouth automatically.Cole doesn't even pretend to believe it.I watch his gaze move over my face.The tears.My red eyes.The fact that I look like I've just lost a fight with my own emotions.His jaw tightens."What happened?"I look away.Because suddenly I don't want to answer.Don't want to talk about it.Don't want to think about it."Nothing," I say quickly.Too quickly.He studies me closely."It's nothing, really," I add.He doesn't buy it.Not for a second.I take in a deep breath and let the rest out with a sigh. "The council picked a date."The words come out smaller than I intend."The first trial is in two days."Something flashes across his face.Not surprise.Something else.Slowly, I realize he already knows.That immediately catches my attention."You already knew
MICHAELA'S POV For Goddess' sake, why the fuck was I crying? This wasn't the time for an emotional breakdown. If anything, this was the time to get angry. To make a plan. To prepare myself. To do literally anything other than whatever the hell I was doing. Yet here I was. After Soorayah delivered the news about the trials with smugness written all over her face, I didn't even remember leaving the study. One moment, I was standing there. The next, I was twisting the door handle. Walking into the hallway. Putting distance between myself and that room. Between myself and the words that kept echoing inside my head. Two days. Two days. Two days. The number follows me down the corridor like a curse. It was happening. The trials were actually happening. And I wasn't entirely sure what I was feeling. Fear? Anger? Frustration? Determination? All of it tangled together into something too large to properly understand. Too large to process. I didn't even know where I was
COLE'S POVThere's a lot to be said about the current mood of the pack house.Unusual is the first word that comes to mind.The atmosphere feels different the moment I walk through the front doors. It isn't louder. Nor quieter.Just different.I'm not entirely sure why. It could simply be because I haven't been here in a while.As I continue through the hallways, I occasionally pass servants moving with purpose. Conversations lower whenever people pass one another, as though everyone is discussing something they shouldn't.I don't think much of it at first.My mind is already occupied with too much.Two days.Just two days until Mia's trials begin.That knowledge alone is enough to consume my thoughts.A week ago, I would have spent the entire drive here thinking of nothing else.Thinking of ways around them.Ways to delay them.Ways to stop them entirely.Now there are far too many new pieces at play.Too many variables I hadn't known existed.Now I know this path may be inevitable.
MICHAELA'S POVI've been on edge the entire day, but I can't pinpoint why exactly.I don't even bother changing out of the sweat-dampened clothes I wore during training. Instead, I head straight to the kitchen.I spend the next few hours chatting with Georgia and playing Scrabble with Coby before finally giving up on delaying the inevitable.I heas upstairs toward Damon's study with a thousand words already waiting at the tip of my tongue.When he sees me, he slowly sets his phone down on the desk and shifts his attention to me.Good.“Why are you avoiding me, Carylon?”Damon doesn't try to deny it.In fact, he doesn't say anything at all.Then—“Michaela.”“No,” I say, my annoyance already boiling over.One brow lifts.“No?”“No,” I repeat, pointing a finger at him. “You don't get to do that.”“Do what?”“That thing where you say my name like it's a complete answer.”For a moment, Damon looks as though he's about to respond.Then he thinks better of it.I fold my arms and glare at hi
DAMON'S POV It has been proving very difficult to accomplish, but I try not to let my thoughts dwell on anything else as I bury myself in work. There has been no shortage of it since news of the wolf plague was made public.Though calling it an outbreak feels increasingly inaccurate.After returning to the pack, I gained access to documents that had previously been kept under Father's authority. Only then did I begin to understand the true scale of the crisis.The plague had spread much further than most people realized.Far enough that "outbreak" no longer seemed like the right word.For reasons I still don't fully understand, Father had chosen to withhold much of that information during his reign.The result is that I am now responsible for building containment measures almost from the ground up while researchers continue searching for a cure.Hence the endless meetings with Alphas from neighboring packs.As if that wasn't enough, the human rebels have become more active with ever
The room falls silent. I probably look like a gaping fish. Humans are usually paired with weaker weres. Something about “matched capabilities.” Ridiculous. I could put half this class on their backs—provided no one starts flashing claws. But the future Alpha? That’s different. Damon ha
DAMON'S POV I place one kiss on her forehead. Then another on her brow. She stirs. A small sound escapes her as she buries her face deeper into the sheets. Still asleep. I brush my lips against her temple. Then the bridge of her nose. “Michaela,” I whisper. A sleepy frown appears b
MICHAELA'S POV Dorion is already moving.His expression sharpens as he crosses the room and leans over the bed."How is he?" Rhoda asks.She moves to the opposite side of the bed, not sparing me another glance.Her attention never leaves Damon.Things between Rhoda and me have been even worse sinc
Rule number one for anyone living in a werewolf pack—especially if that person is human: Never humiliate the future Alpha. Rule number two? If you do, don’t get caught. I broke rule number one three hours ago. And right now, I just broke rule number two. “You can run, but you can't hide, h







