LOGINAvaThe first thing I heard was a low, tired voice, reading words I couldn't quite catch yet. My body felt heavy under the sheets, pinning me to the bed. I could hear the steady rasp of my own breathing. My open eyes blinked dryly in the dim light.I opened my eyes wider. A small, pale room with a c
AvaDad let go of the shackle and sat back, his face relaxing from the concentration. He was quiet for a long moment. Then his eyes met mine."Baby," he said gently, "do you want to know what happened?"Something in his tone made my chest tighten. I had a feeling that this was a truth I wasn't ready
AvaHe stepped out of the blackness, edging closer, until I could finally see him. Unbelievable. He was so young, the age he was when...when he died. His warm brown eyes, both of them, looked at me with a fond smile.I stared, my mouth hanging open, unable to make a sound. My dad. Standing in front
LeviI settled into the chair by her bed and took her hand in mine, rubbing my thumb over the back of it. "Hey, Ava. It's Levi," I said, trying to keep my voice steady. "I just talked to Sofia. We had some things to say to each other."I sat there, rubbing her hand, trying to find the words Maya and
LeviI sat with my father in his room, a week after Hilda's funeral. Some families had already packed up and left the pack after becoming human. Others had stayed, unsure of where else to go.My father wheezed beside me, the hiss of his oxygen tank an ever-present sound now. He was thinner, frail, h
MayaI zipped Sofia's dress as best I could with my good hand. The collar was tricky. I fiddled clumsily with the small metal fastening. "There, perfect," I said, releasing the dress and stepping back.Sofia blinked hard at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair was pulled back in a neat bun. The dr
EvelynThomas caught my arm at the pass. He didn’t grip, just rested his palm there, thumb warm against my skin.“You’ve been gone a lot,” he said, voice so low I almost missed it. “I thought you might not come back.”I stared at the floor. The urge to snap at him, to break the tension with sarcasm,
She looked up then, eyes shining with tears she’d been holding back since before I even entered the room. The color of them caught me—whiskey brown, the same as always, but sharper, too, cut with something new and wild.I didn’t wait. I stepped forward and hugged her, one arm behind her head, the ot
EvelynI kept to the edge of the patio, arms folded and mug balanced in the crook of my elbow, trying to look like a parent chaperoning recess and not a scientist observing a controlled detonation.Thomas had taken over. He always did, eventually. It was a relief, in a way, to be on the sidelines, w
EvelynThe wolf exploded off the patio, fur and teeth and weight enough to topple a linebacker. Thomas caught it, just barely. His head cracked against the flagstone with a dull, flat thud I felt in the backs of my own teeth.He’d gotten his forearms up in time. The jaws closed on his sleeve, tearin







