ANMELDENBella’s POVWe gathered around the kitchen table at dawn, everyone hollow-eyed from a night nobody had actually slept through, and I set down the notepad I’d filled with half-formed ideas somewhere around three in the morning. The house smelled of coffee that had gone cold already. Nobody could drink it fast before it lost the warmth it had started with. I could feel the chill, in the air.“We cannot keep reacting " I said. "Every thing that has happened since the tournament we have been responding to her moves instead of making our own. That ends today.”Draven studied me across the table pride threading through his exhaustion. I watched him feeling a mix of hope and fear.“What did you have in mind.”"The organization she runs is not unified " I said. I looked over at my aunt to see if she agreed. "You told us that yourself. There are factions. There are disagreements about how to do things. If that is true then there must be people in that organization who can be talked into someth
Draven’s POVI found Jennifer in the garage past midnight, sitting on the same crate Bella had claimed the night before, a bottle of something amber and unopened resting on her knee. The garage lights were off. Only moonlight came through the windows. She looked smaller in that light. She did not have that confidence I always saw in her since she first showed up in our lives.“I could not sleep either " I said. I sat down on the bench across from her.“Nobody, in this compound is sleeping lately." She turned the bottle over in her hands without opening the bottle. It was a habit of restraint. I recognized that habit from years of watching people carry burdens that they refused to let go. "I keep thinking about the elders. I keep thinking about how this all turned.” A council chamber full of people who’d been quietly compliant for decades, and it took one afternoon of defiance to get two of them killed.”“You’re not responsible for that.”“I know." She met my eyes, her expression tired
Bella’s POV“Elder. Answer me.”Draven’s voice had become sharp enough to cut. I crossed the kitchen quickly close enough to hear the silence, on the end of the line. The silence felt wrong in a way I could not name away. My heart hammered against my ribs counting seconds that seemed to stretch longer than they should.Then faint and strained Draven’s voice answered.I am here.The relief that crashed through the room felt almost physical. Thor’s shoulders. Aunt pressed a hand flat against her own chest as if she could hold her heart steady with sheer effort. My knees weakened slightly. Adrenaline finally found a place to go now that the worst possibility had not come true.“What happened,” Draven asked, already moving toward the door, grabbing his jacket with his free hand.“Someone tried the door " the elder said, breathless, the elder’s voice carrying the strain of someone who had just run. "I heard the lock give before I heard the knock. I got out through the kitchen window before
Bella’s POV Thor had the news feed pulled up on the kitchen table by the time I made it inside, his face grim in a way that told me whatever this was, it wasn’t going to be easy to hear. I crossed the kitchen fast, my pulse already climbing before I’d even seen what had put that particular tension into his shoulders.He said that two of the four elders who stood against her were found dead. The younger one who spoke first and the woman who joined him were the ones who died. They were found dead in their homes this morning. The police say they died from causes.The kitchen was really quiet all of a sudden.I said it again my voice was very quiet. Both of the elders died on the morning.Thors face was very angry. He said it was the morning that they both died. There was no fight, no signs of anything they just died from heart problems. It is weird that two people who are pretty healthy would die on the day just a few hours apart.Draven quickly walked across the room to look at the pap
Bella’s POVI found Ronan sitting alone on the porch steps, staring out at nothing in particular, a mug of coffee gone cold in his hands.“You’ve been here for a while " I said, sitting down on the step next to him without asking for permission. The morning air still had the cold from the night and I pulled my sleeves over my hands looking at him closely to see what was making his face look so empty.“I couldn’t sleep " he said. He didn’t look at me his eyes were on something beyond the trees. "I kept thinking about the letter. About how she has been watching us all this time. Every decision we thought was our own.”“That’s not really what is keeping you awake though is it.”He stayed quiet for a time and when he finally spoke his voice was rough, in a way I don’t hear from him very often."I keep thinking about the mask coming off " he said. "About your face when you realized it was me. I've replayed that moment times than I can count and every single time some part of me still tries
Draven’s POVThe dog kept barking, sharp and insistent, and I was moving before Bella had fully registered what the sound meant."Stay here " I said and I was already putting on my boots."Draven " I called out to her."Stay please " I told her and I looked into her eyes. I tried to stay calm even though I was getting really worried. "If everything is okay I will be back in five minutes.. If something is wrong I need to know that you are safe inside not standing outside with me where something bad could happen."Draven did not say anything and that told me how tired we both were.Thor was waiting for me at the east fence of the compound. He already had his crossbow with him. I could see that he was really tense like he was ready, for something to happen."There " he said, pointing toward the tree line. "Something moved. It might be an animal. It might be something "We moved slowly carefully all our senses focused on the dark beyond the fence. The dog had stopped making noise which wo
Bella's POV I began to run as fast as my legs could carry me, even though I was wolfless. I was agile and had always secretly trained myself to be strong, even though I had no wolf. A Luna was supposed to have strength to defend the pack alongside her Alpha. I had done all these so that I coul
Bella's POVRonan almost fell to the floor as he coughed up blood, his body folding in on itself as if he were weakly—no, even weaker than I was ever supposed to be.“How dare you, Bella?” He snapped, his voice hoarse yet filled with disbelief. As if the idea of me rejecting him first was something
Bella's POVThe rain was incessant as it destroyed all the dishes and cakes I had made for our night dining with Ronan.He hadn't come for the hotel reservation I made for the both of us, wanting to celebrate our anniversary.And I wasn't ready to give up celebrating it because of the bad incidents
Bella's POVToday was my fourth anniversary with my mate Ronan, the alpha prince of Moonstone pack, but instead of happiness, I had mixed feelings.I held the test strip in my hands as I hid myself in the crowd, watching the bikers on track racing."You're infetile, luna Bella" the doctor's voice e







