LOGINETHANI fought my way through the hallway like my whole life was on fire because it was. My mate was in there. My pups were in there. And a pack of rogues who wanted them dead was trying to reach them.Blood splattered across the white walls. I heard the sound of fangs and claws as bones broke and flesh tore. I didn't think about it. I just moved, fighting and doing what needed to be done.The fear coming through the bond was electric. I could feel Freya's terror and the babies' distress, all of it flooding through me like I was drowning.I burst into her room just as a rogue lunged at her bed.Everything in me went cold with rage. I snatched the wolf off her, tearing it apart with my bare hands, my claws, and my teeth. The other rogue scrambled backward, but I was already moving toward it to finish what needed to be finished.When I turned back to her, Freya was clutching both babies to her chest, her blue eyes wide and terrified, fixed on me like she couldn't believe I was standing
FREYAThe first one came fast, like he couldn't wait to meet us. One moment I was pushing with everything I had, and the next, there he was, looking tiny and perfect, covered in blood and vernix."It's a boy," the doctor said, and they placed him on my chest.I fell apart instantly.It wasn't graceful or beautiful or anything like the way they showed it in movies. It was ugly and desperate and full of a love so fierce that it terrified me. His tiny face was scrunched and red. His dark curls were exactly the same as Ethan's dark curls. His little fists were already clenched like he was ready to fight the world.My son. Our son."Hi, baby," I sobbed, pressing my face against his head, breathing him in like I could keep him inside me if I just held on tight enough. "Oh my God, hi."But I didn't get to hold onto that moment for long. The second twin was still fighting, and the monitor started beeping faster, a sound that made every nerve in my body go rigid."The second one's in distress,
ETHANFreya's screams came through the bond like fire. I felt every contraction like it was happening to me. I felt her pain, her fear, and her doubt equally, and it nearly brought me to my knees in the waiting room.Brian was still here. Of course, he was. And he was watching me with this small, satisfied smile that made my wolf want to rip his throat out.I'd paced for what felt like hours, my whole body vibrating with the need to get back to Freya and make her understand, to somehow force her to believe me through the bond that she was everything to me. That I'd never, never hurt her or hers.Finally, a doctor came out. "She's asking for you," he said. I practically sprinted.Freya looked small in the hospital bed, her black hair plastered to her face with sweat, her blue eyes exhausted and wary. When she saw me, something spread through her face; relief, then doubt, then something that looked dangerously close to despair."Don't ask any questions," I said, climbing into the bed b
FREYAThe hospital room smelled like antiseptic and fear. Machines beeped around me in a steady rhythm that made my skin crawl, and the smell of bleach mixed with something else that reminded me of death waiting in the corner.Twins. Two heartbeats instead of one.The doctor had said the word like it was supposed to be good news. Maybe it was. But right now, with everything falling apart, with those photos of Ethan burned into my brain, I couldn't feel anything but terror.My mind kept playing the images on a loop. Ethan standing near the trees where my brother died. Ethan with his hands—No. He said he was trying to stop it. He'd said that with his eyes locked on mine, and part of me wanted to believe him. The part that was mated to him, the part that felt everything he felt through our bond. But the other part, the smart part, the part that had learned not to trust so easily, kept asking the same question over and over: if he was trying to stop it, why was he standing right there?"
FREYACourt drained us in a way I hadn't expected, the tiredness not coming from fighting but from sitting still while strangers in suits picked apart my family's whole life.I testified on the third day, hands shaking slightly even though I'd promised myself I wouldn't let them see that. I talked about my father, the company he built from nothing, and the years Norwood Pack profited off land that was never legally theirs to take. I told them about my son, asleep at home with Gemma, and how this fight wasn't just about money or pride anymore. It was about protecting what little he had left to inherit."This land is my family's legacy," I told the judge, my voice sounding steady even as my heart pounded. "It belonged to my father, then to me. No corporation gets to take that just because they found a clever angle to do it from."Ethan sat behind me every single day, his presence comforting, even when the questions got ugly, even when the corporation's lawyer tried twisting my words in
FREYAPanic hit me the second the pain rolled through me again, sharper this time, so deep and wrong in a way that didn't feel like anything I'd read about in those pregnancy books Annie kept sending me."It's too early," I kept saying, like repeating it would somehow make it less true. "It's too early, Ethan.""I know, I know. Just breathe." He was carrying me before I even realized my feet had left the ground, moving quickly through the chaos of the mine entrance, shouting orders at anyone close enough to hear him. "Get the medical team ready now!"The car ride back felt like it lasted both ten seconds and ten years. I gripped his hand so hard I probably hurt him, but he never once complained. He just kept talking to me in a warm voice that usually worked to calm me down even when nothing else could."You're doing great," he said. "Our son is strong. He's going to be fine.""You don't know that.""Yes, I don’t," he admitted. "But I need you to believe it with me right now."That was
ETHANThe bullet was meant for me.I knew it the second I saw the angle of the wound. Whoever had fired was positioned to the left, and I'd been standing in front of Freya, but I turned away from her for exactly one second when she said my name. One second was all it had taken.She'd moved into the
FREYAThe world tilted sideways.That was the only way I could describe it. One second I was on one knee, fighting to stay upright, and the next the ground felt like it was moving under me. The dust from that bag was still hanging in the air, pale and thin, and every breath I pulled in made it wors
ETHANThree days wasn't long but we used every hour of them.I started training Freya the morning after she issued the challenge, out in the open field behind the Northern Pack house where the trees were close and the ground was soft enough for a fall. She showed up at six in the morning in workou
FREYAMy heart was beating so fast that I could hear it.I was standing in the middle of the Norwood Pack’s hall, which I had not been inside in over two years, and every single person in the room was looking at me like I'd just walked in on fire. The ceiling was high, the lights were bright, and t







