LOGINOLIVIA Kane's voice was always smooth, cultured, the voice of a man who had spent decades perfecting the art of seeming harmless. This voice was something else entirely. Cold. Ancient. A voice that had watched empires crumble and felt nothing."Is the girl asleep?" the voice asked again. He spoke about me like I was a possession, a specimen, a thing to be observed and catalogued.Zoey's hand was steady on the wheel, but I felt her shock ripple through our bond. *Who is that?*I didn't answer. I couldn't. The voice had stolen my words, my breath, my thoughts."Is she resting well?" the baritone voice continued, and there was something almost amused in the tone. "The blood loss was significant. We wouldn't want anything to happen to her. Not yet."The implication hung in the air like poison. Not yet.And Zoey hung up.The phone clattered to the floor of the truck, and she pressed the accelerator harder, the engine roaring in protest. The dark road stretched ahead, empty and endless, t
OLIVIA The night pressed against the window, dark and endless. I sat on the edge of the bed, my wrists still raw from the ropes, my body weak from the blood Benita had taken. But my mind was clear. Sharper than it had been in days.I could hear them downstairs—Kane's voice, low and controlled, Benita's sharper, more agitated. Then a door slammed. An engine started. Tires crunched on gravel.Through the gap in the curtains, I watched Kane's car disappear down the long drive, its tail lights swallowed by the darkness.He was gone.Benita was still here. I'd heard her door close a moment after his car pulled away.*He’s gone.* Zoey observed. *This is our chance. We need to move. *“Yeah. But we need to knock her out. If she wakes up before we're clear, she'll raise the alarm.” *Agreed. Let me take over. You're too weak.*I hesitated. Letting Zoey take control meant surrendering myself, becoming a passenger in my own body. But she has always been a fighter and she was stronger than me r
OLIVIA The large dining room was too quiet, and I was eating alone. Not because I wanted to. The nausea was constant now, a low, rolling wave that crested every morning and evening, leaving me weak and shaking. But I forced myself to chew, to swallow, to keep down whatever I could. I wasn't eating for me. I was eating for the tiny lives growing inside me.For my pups. I placed a hand on my still-flat stomach, imagining the two small hearts beating beneath my skin. For Killian's children.The thought of him was a knife in my chest. Did he know? Could he feel them, somehow? Or was he still lost in his rage, believing the lies Benita had fed him, believing I was a whore who had betrayed him?I pushed the food around my plate, trying not to think about it. Trying not to fall apart.The sound of tires on gravel broke the silence.My hand froze, fork halfway to my mouth. I set it down carefully, my heart already racing. Headlights swept across the dining room windows, illuminating the dark
KILLIAN"Jasmine." I kept my voice flat. "What are you doing here?"Jasmine stood at the entrance to the balcony, her silhouette backlit by the light from the hall. She was dressed in a simple black gown, her dark hair loose around her shoulders. When she stepped forward into the moonlight, I saw that she was smiling—a small, knowing smile that made my skin prickle."I was invited. Same as everyone else." She walked toward me, her heels clicking on the stone. "Goddess, you look like a man who's lost everything. But worry no more because I know how you can find Olivia."My heart stopped. "You do?” She stopped a few feet away, tilting her head. "Surprised?"I forced myself to calm down, to breathe, to think. Jasmine had been Olivia's enemy once. She'd tried to sabotage her, had schemed with Lucas, had been locked away for her troubles. But she'd also been the one to warn Olivia, to try to help her escape. Whatever her motives, she knew things. She'd been in Lucas's world, had seen the
KILLIANThe car hummed beneath us, smooth and steady, eating up the miles between the pack territory and the city where the Alpha gathering was being held. Caleb drove with his usual competence, one hand on the wheel, his eyes scanning the road ahead. I sat beside him, watching the dark landscape blur past, my mind elsewhere."Are you going to tell me what's really on your mind?" Caleb asked, breaking the comfortable silence. "Or are we going to pretend you're just enjoying the scenery?"I didn't answer immediately. Outside, the trees were giving way to the outskirts of the city, lights beginning to dot the darkness like scattered stars."The gathering," I said finally. "They're going to ask about my father."Caleb's grip on the wheel tightened. "You think they already know?""I made sure they knew. Couldn't have them finding out from gossip." I leaned my head back against the seat, staring at the ceiling of the car. "The contract was signed this morning. Word travels fast among Alpha
KILLIAN The morning light was pale as if the sun itself was reluctant to witness what was about to happen. I stood at the pack border, my hands clasped behind my back, my face a mask of cold authority. Behind me, the entire pack had assembled—warriors, elders, families, children. They lined the road in solemn rows, their faces a mixture of fear and curiosity.No one spoke. The silence was heavy, expectant, like the moment before a storm breaks.Beside me, Penelope stood with her hands folded, her expression serene but her eyes sharp. Rivers and Natasha flanked her, their youth showing in the way they fidgeted, exchanged glances, couldn't quite hold still.Jacob was not silent. He stood with Elena, his voice carrying in the quiet morning. "Finally. After all these years, finally. He's coming home."Elena nodded, her face alight with barely contained excitement. "The pack will be whole again. The way it should be."I said nothing. My jaw was so tight I thought my teeth might crack.Cal
KILLIAN For a few seconds, the world just stopped. The noise of the airport, the engines roaring, the smell of gasoline—it all vanished. There was only her face. A face from my nightmares. A face I had loved, and then hated more than anything in this world. Benita. She was here. Real. Breathi
OLIVIA “Oh, my god,” Madison breathed. She didn’t hesitate. She rushed forward, her hands coming up to my face but stopping just short, afraid to touch the mess of bruises and cuts. “Olivia, what have they done to you?”Tears, hot and sudden, flooded my sore eyes. I didn’t have an answer. I just s
OLIVIA POV The room was suddenly too full of noise, too full of angry faces. Lupiter’s sobs, Eric’s shouts, the growl of the crowd. I tried to push myself up on the bed, my body screaming in protest. I opened my mouth. I had to tell them. I had to say it was a lie.But the words were a dry whisper
OLIVIA POV The car ride was a silent, rolling nightmare. I sat in the back seat, my hands clenched in my lap, staring at the space where Lupiter sat up front with Eric, chattering excitedly about coming home, about her new clothes, about everything. She didn’t look at me once. The beautiful scene







