LOGINFaye pov The voice inside her mind had been growing clearer with each passing moment, evolving from a faint whisper that felt almost like her own thoughts into something undeniably separate, something with its own weight and presence that she could no longer dismiss as a product of stress or fear. It was no longer brushing against the edges of her consciousness like wind against glass. Instead, it had settled into her awareness with the kind of permanence that suggested it had always been there, waiting patiently beneath the surface for the right moment to reveal itself fully.Faye felt the shift happen as the baby's glow steadied in her arms, no longer flickering erratically but pulsing with a rhythm that felt ancient and deliberate, like the heartbeat of something far older than anything she had ever encountered. The battlefield around her remained frozen in the aftermath of the surge, wolves scattered and disoriented, some struggling to rise while others remained motionless wh
Faye POV The battlefield fell silent so suddenly that it felt like the world itself had drawn a breath and held it. Wolves paused mid-step, teeth bared but still, ears swiveling toward the faint hum that seemed to rise from the baby against my chest. Even the corrupted ones—the twisted shadows of the pack—stopped moving as though some invisible force had frozen them in place. The echo, my child’s connection to the Lunaris bloodline, had shifted again. No longer pulsing outward in defense, no longer flaring in reaction to threat—it was listening. Waiting.My heart pounded against my ribs as I tried to make sense of it. Not fear, not anticipation—something deeper, something infinite, threaded through the silence. It brushed against my thoughts like wind across a calm lake, unsettling and intimate all at once.“You are not meant to carry it alone,” a voice whispered inside my mind, soft and steady, yet resonating with power far beyond anything I had ever felt.The grip on the baby tight
JacobThe ground beneath him was still trembling faintly when Jacob forced himself to rise from where the shockwave had thrown him, his body protesting every movement with sharp reminders of the impact he had taken. His ribs ached deeply on his left side, the kind of pain that suggested bruising at minimum, possibly something worse that he did not have time to assess properly. His shoulder throbbed where it had struck the ground first, absorbing most of the force that would have otherwise gone to his head, and his hands were scraped raw from the instinctive attempt to brace himself during the fall.But none of that mattered in the moment he managed to push himself upright and turn his attention back toward the center of the clearing where Faye had been standing when everything exploded outward.He looked at her across the distance that now separated them, his vision still adjusting to the residual light lingering in the air, and the moment his eyes focused clearly enough to see her
Faye pov The explosion of power that followed my decision was even worse than anything that had come before, tearing through the space around me with a violence that made the previous surges feel like nothing more than gentle ripples across still water. This time, the echo did not simply expand outward in waves of silver light that pushed against resistance with gradual pressure. This time, it erupted with the kind of raw, uncontrolled force that belonged to something that had been held back for far too long and finally allowed to break free without restriction. It was not just light anymore. It was force in its purest, most destructive form, a shockwave that radiated outward from the baby in my arms with enough intensity to distort the very air it passed through. I felt the pressure of it building for only a fraction of a second before it released, and in that brief window of awareness, I understood with terrible clarity that I had made a choice I could not take back, no m
Faye pov I saw it happening before my mind could fully process what I was witnessing, the sequence of events unfolding with a terrible clarity that made every second stretch into something far longer than it should have been. Jacob was locked in battle with Korran, his movements fast and relentless as he drove forward with an intensity I had rarely seen from him before. Every strike he threw carried the weight of desperation behind it, the kind that came from knowing there was no room left for hesitation or measured calculation. But he was not moving toward me anymore. He was contained, held exactly where Korran wanted him, fighting with everything he had while the real threat continued to move unchecked. The wolves were closing in from multiple directions now, their movements synchronized in a way that should not have been possible for individuals acting independently. They were not rushing forward in a chaotic surge. They were advancing with deliberate coordination, each
Jacob I broke through the containment with more force than precision, tearing past the wolves who had been positioned to slow me down as though they were nothing more than obstacles in a path I had already committed to crossing. Whatever restraint I had been holding onto, whatever part of me had still been calculating cost and consequence with each movement, was gone now. It had burned away the moment I watched Riven fall, and it had turned to ash entirely when I saw Korran step closer to Faye with that calm, measured expression that treated her suffering like an experiment worth observing. I did not care anymore who these wolves used to be, what names they carried, or what roles they had once filled within the pack. They were between her and me, and that was the only detail that mattered now. My strikes were not gentle. They were not calculated to minimize harm or preserve the possibility of recovery later. They were direct, efficient, and brutal in their simplicity, des
Faye povI sat on the edge of my cot with my daughter cradled in my arms again. She nursed quietly, with her small mouth working in steady pulls that made my chest ache in the best way. Every time she fed it reminded me why I had stepped forward in the courtyard, and why I had offered my life witho
Faye pov The soft light filtering through the white canvas felt gentle on my face when I first opened my eyes. It was morning, or close to it. The tent smelled like wood smoke, herbs, and the faint metallic tang of healing salves. My body felt heavy, as though every muscle had been squeezed and le
Faye povI had barely finished the tea Lila brought earlier, barely had time to hold my daughter close and breathe in her clean baby smell, when the tent flap opened and three warriors stepped inside. They wore the pack’s dark green tunics, with their faces serious, and weapons at their sides. One
Faye povThe hospital room felt too bright and too cold as the machines beeped softly and steadily beside the bed. My body hurt everywhere. My stomach felt tight and sore from the surgery. I lay on the bed with pillows propped behind my head. The blanket covered me up to my chest. My arms felt heav