He didn’t flinch. Just bowed his head and let the droplets fall onto the stone.Then, slowly, he leaned forward and pressed his forehead to the altar.The stone accepted him. As it had all who came before.Then it was Mason’s turn.My brother walked steadily, a ribbon of tension in his shoulders. He
ELENAThe torches lining the path flickered like stars pulled down to earth. Each one stood tall and still, the flames flickering gently in the mountain air. The pack moved slowly, reverently, their bodies hushed in instinctive deference to the night and what it represented.Beside me, Aiden held my
“Thank you. For all you’re doing. For the rogues. For me.”Elena nodded, and I saw the glassy sheen in her eyes before she blinked it away.The Sentinels stepped forward. Maggie didn’t resist. She walked with them, back straight, out of the chamber and into whatever came next.The rest of the room s
DEREKThey were already seated when I arrived.The sentencing chamber in the central courthouse had the hushed, heavy atmosphere of a room waiting to breathe. The kind of place where sound never echoed quite right, and even the air felt weighted—thick with old grief and new judgment.Stone walls loo
“I WIN!” he shouted, throwing his arms in the air like a champion at the Games.Jacob rolled in behind him at an impressive lack of speed, finally coming to a stop and slumping over the handlebars like he’d just crossed a mountain range.“You… are… ruthless,” he panted.“You said anything,” Aiden sa
ELENAJacob and I had just finished going over the last of the moving logistics when Aiden flopped—very dramatically—onto the Moonstone Packhouse rug, sighing as though life had wronged him personally.“You good?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder as I tucked the last checklist into my folder.“No.