LOGINLilyâs POVI felt a sense of peace as the hot water from the faucet rained on my body. I dropped the faucet and turned on the shower. I sat on the cold tile with my knee to my chest and my head placed on top of my knee.I reflected on the recent happenings and how my love story, which I had thought would be tragic, took a drastic turn. I never believed I would have alone time with Darius while breathing Selene-free air. My mind suddenly went to Alpha Malik who had given me time to think about his proposal. I knew there was nothing to think about but I didnât want to reject him just like that. There was nothing to think about. I had known who I wanted right from day one. I wasnât in doubt because I was doubting my feelings for Alpha Darius. I had loved him from the bottom of my heart. I had never once doubted my love for him. I was just scared that something or someone might try to take him away from me again.I had wanted to stall for time and the right moment to reject him in a co
Lilyâs POVThe kiss changed something between us. Not dramatically â we didnât suddenly leap into a complete relationship â but it shifted the basis weâd been carefully building. Maybe I gave myself permission to fall in love with Darius again, maybe that made everything else seems possible. The only thing different now was that it was still up to me. Not fate, not the bond, but my own choice to let him meet the person He truly was â someone who had hurt me, but someone who was genuinely trying to be better. A wave of gratefulness washed over me and for the first time, I noticed how different the bond felt when I wasnât still fighting it. I had blanket-scrambled my knowledge of it for the last few weeks, tried to pretend that itâs a cage I needed to get out of. Now I just let myself my feelings pour â it didnât feel like a chain anymore. It felt like a bridge. A piece of invisible, intangible connection that united two whole, full people experiences fully without losing themselves in
DariusI woke up to sunlight in the study, and Lily was still sleeping on my shoulder. Her hair spilled across my chest, and she seemed so peaceful. I stayed frozen for a moment, afraid to move and prove the previous night to just be a dream. She had chosen me. Not as an obligation due to our connection, not because she had no other choice, but for her, this was a real decision. A real chance. Lily stirred awake; her blue eyes opened slowly. Confusion flashed over her face for a moment; then, memory hit her. âGood morning,â I greeted her quietly. âMorning,â she replied, sitting up. âI should go. People will talk if they find me here.â âLet them,â I shrugged. âOr, sorry, if you would prefer.â She looked at me, and her face softened into a slight smile. âYouâll do this all the time now, arenât you?â âYes,â I promised. âUntil you believe that I mean it.â âThat might take a while,â she warned. âI have a lot of time,â I told her. âAll the time in the world.â She stood up and stretc
Lily's POVI couldn't sleep. The next full moon, tomorrow night, and if I decided to go through with it, Darius and I would do the spell that had the potential to break our connection once and for all.Should have been a simple call. He had violated me, forced a connection I absolutely did not want. And of course it should want broken.But I had spent the evening in his study, and our conversation had knocked something loose. The way heâd claimed that to live without my forgiveness was already a death. How utterly convinced heâd been when he vowed to help me sever the bond, even if it meant killing him.This was evidence that I had been waiting to see. And he'd passed.I felt myself walking downstairs to his study with no deliberate direction. I knocked softly, half hoping that he would be asleep.But the door opened immediately. "Lily," he said, surprised. "Is everything alright?""I couldn't sleep," I admitted. "Can we talk?""Of course. Come in."We sat down by the fire again, in t
Darius's POVLilyâs words lingered between us, weighted with an absolute sense of finality. âI want to talk about the bond. About breaking it."My âwolf howled in my body with a sound of pure pain. Every instinct demanded that he say no, fight it out, use the bond to make her see how very wrong this was.But Iâd vowed to honor her decisions, even when they killed me.Naturally," I lied, trying to sound even when I wasnât. "What do you want to know?"She leaned back in the chair opposite my desk. âIâm gonna need to know if you really meant that. For helping me break the bond, if thatâs what I choose. Or was that more of a virtue-signal honor to which you were just all talk but no action?âThe question stung. "I meant it. If you want it broken, Iâll help break it. No matter what it costs."âIf it means giving up your life?â she asked quietly.I stared at her. "What?"âBreaking a forced mating isnât just easy,â lily replied. "I've been researching it. The rituals are risky, potentially l
Lily's POVThere was something between me and Darius changed by the conversation in the library. Not in any dramatic way â I didnât suddenly forgive him or give him another chance. But my wall of protection had a few crevasses in it, through which the possibility that maybe, someday things could be different began to seep.In the coming days, I kept wanting him around. Not on purpose, at firstâIâd tell myself I was just going to the library at my regular time, or looking into pack business that turned out to be him. But slowly, I had to face the truth.I wanted to talk to him.Our talks began tentatively â we were both so careful, I remember, not to say something that would shatter the fragile truce weâd brokered. We discussed pack business, the changes he was making, the difficulties and demands of leadership.But eventually, inevitably, we started discussing other things. Recollections from our childhood - the time when he was just Darius and I was just Lily, before ranks and duties







