LOGINMIAI lasted maybe forty-five minutes before exhaustion hit me like a freight train. The words on my screen started blurring. My head felt too heavy for my neck. “Mia.” Xavier’s voice seemed far away. “Hey. You okay?”I blinked, forcing myself back to the present. My head was drooping toward the keyboard.“Tired,” I mumbled, not sure if he heard what I actually said.“It’s fine. Come here.” He pulled my chair closer and guided my head to his shoulder. “Rest for a bit.”“We’re in public—”“So?” His arm came around me. “Close your eyes.”I meant to argue. But his shoulder was warm and solid and my eyes were already drifting shut.An incessant buzzing woke moments later.“Sorry,” he muttered to me, answering it. “Yeah?… Now?… I’m with Mia… Falcon, I can’t just—” He sighed. “Fine. I'll see you in twenty.”He hung up, looking torn.“Go,” I said, sitting up slowly. “I’ll be okay for twenty minutes.”I didn’t want to be the reason he ignored his responsibilities. I already felt enough like
MIAI don’t know why I thought I would feel better when I got used to the bracelet. Thinking the weakness was a bit exaggerated. But it’s been four days and I still feel like shit.Not like I was sick or anything. I was just… hollow. Yeah, that was the right word. It was like someone had scooped out my insides and left me running on fumes.I sat on the edge of Xavier’s bed in his apartment, staring at my shoes. It seemed like such a simple thing but the thought of bending down to put them on made me want to cry.We’d moved back to campus two days ago. Everyone thought it would be best if we didn’t let everything that was going on pause our lives. Xavier was more than happy for us to be living together… I guess, now.A lot of my clothes were moved here and I wasn't even thinking of my dorm anymore. And I have to say, I kind of liked living with him.“Just ask him,” I muttered to myself. “Stop being stubborn.”Xavier walked out of the bathroom, toweling his hair. He paused when his eyes
XAVIER“Time,” Mia repeated. “How much time?”“I don’t know. Your mother wore it for years. It kept her safe until…” He didn’t finish.Until they found her anyway. Until they killed her.“What’s the cost?” I cut in. “Nothing that powerful comes without a price.”Gabriel’s jaw tightened. “It will make her weak. The bracelet doesn’t just suppress her power—it contains it. Like wearing weighted chains on her soul. She’ll be physically limited. Tired. Fragile.”“How fragile?” I demanded.“I don’t know exactly. Every witch responds differently.” He looked at Mia. “But it’s better than burning out. Better than letting the Hunters sense her.”Mia reached for the box with trembling hands. Stared at the bracelet like it might bite her.“You don’t trust me,” Gabriel said. “I understand that. But I’m telling you the truth. This will buy you time. Time to find another solution. Time to prepare.”“Or time for you to finish whatever experiments you started,” Mia said coldly.Gabriel flinched. “I de
XAVIERMia was finally resting peacefully in my arms but I still couldn’t bring myself to sleep. Her father’s words kept echoing in my head.“The power consumes them.”“She’ll burn herself out.”“Months. Maybe a year.”My wolf was a mess inside me. Howling. Raging. Demanding I do something to fix this and protect our mate.But there was nothing to protect her from. Nothing I could fight.Just time. And a power that would kill her from the inside out.I looked down at her sleeping face. So beautiful it hurt. So precious I couldn’t breathe around the weight of it.I’d meant what I said. I would find a way to save her.Even if it killed me or if it meant challenging every law of nature.I would sell my soul to the same darkness that hunted her.I would not lose her.Kane agreed. ‘We protect mate. We save mate. No matter what.’Mia stirred against me, making a small sound in her sleep.I ran my fingers through her hair soothingly. Watching her relax back into deeper sleep.My phone buzzed
MIA“Little moon child. We’ve been searching for you.”My heart slammed against my ribs. Every instinct screamed to run, but my legs wouldn’t move. The necklace on my neck felt like it weighed a thousand pounds. It pressed down my shoulders, making my legs shake, my knees weak. I could barely hold myself up.Xavier’s hand found mine in the dark. His grip was the only thing keeping me grounded.“Stay behind me,” he growled.The humming grew louder. The air itself vibrated with it, making my teeth ache.All at once, the humming stopped. The presence I’d felt, that suffocating weight, just… vanished.The lights flickered back on. Everyone in the room was frozen, their eyes wide. Falcon had a defensive stance, ready to fight.“What the hell just happened?” Her voice cut through the stunned silence.Xavier’s father moved to the window. His expression was grim but oddly calm. Like he’d been expecting this.“They’re gone,” he said.“Gone?” Xavier’s grip on my hand tightened. “What do you mea
CHAPTER 68: AftershockMIASilence.Complete, suffocating silence.My father’s words hung in the air like a death sentence. I replayed it in my head.“You’re the only one who can kill them.”I stared at him, not sure what I was searching for. Maybe he should laugh and say this was all a fucked up joke? Or to take it back. I would appreciate him saying it’s a lie to cover up all his other lies.He didn’t.No one spoke. Probably frozen in shock as I am. I couldn’t feel anything. I couldn’t hear anything. It’s like my brain has shut down. It wasn’t processing anything. Because if I let myself think about what he just said—Xavier shifted beside me. Like his body was trying to shield mine without actually making contact.I focused on that and the warmth radiating from him. The steady sound of his breathing.Real things. Concrete things.Not the impossible weight of what my father just dropped on me.Falcon broke the silence first. Her voice was careful.“What does it cost her?”My fathe







