Haylee's POVThe beeping of the medical monitors keeps up its steady cadence in the infirmary where I am sitting between my sons’ beds, with one small hand in each of mine. Their breathing has evened out since Aiden did that strange ritual. but the faint markings still beat beneath their skin.Elara strides through the door, clipboard in hand, the rings around her eyes a dark pool. "How are they?" I say, my voice ragged from hours of anxious silence.“Stable, right now,” she answers, looking at the monitors. “But there’s something important I need to talk to you and Alpha Aiden about.”At this Aiden comes charging in. We hold eye contact for far too long before I drop my gaze, the thought of our almost-kiss still fresh on my lips."What have you found?" he asks Elara.She takes a deep breath. I’ve read their blood work, and they condition is extremely rare––it’s a blood exceptionality that’s happening to their wolf traits."Can it be treated?" I grip my sons’ hands more tightly."Yes,
Aiden's POVI hit the infirmary door at a run, my heart racing in my chest as Haylee’s scream for Lior still echoes in my ears. What I behold chills me to my core: my boys on the floor contort in agony, peculiar symbols inscribing their limbs.Haylee stands over Lior, panic written across her face as his eyes roll back. Kael struggles against the sheets, but the runes on his chest burn with unnatural brightness.“Get out of the way,” I snap, pushing my way through, and Elara is hot on my heels. The sound of my Alpha voice materializes without any intentional action and Haylee takes a step backwards on instinct, her eyes clouded with terror.I touch each boy’s chest, right over the glowing symbols. Old knowledge bubbles up within me—the pack lore passed down through generations of Alpha Fenrirs but unused until the present.“Sanguis patris, protego filios,” I mutter, as I feel power begin to flow through my veins. "*My blood, come back to me. *""What are you doing?" I can hear Haylee’
Haylee's POVI am wrenched from a dreamless sleep by the smell of antiseptic and sickness. For a split second, I’m disoriented, the unfamiliar ceiling hovering above me sending a surge of panic through my system before the reality hits. The twins. The illness. Aiden's territory.I sit bolt upright, and peek at my phone. Ten hours. I have been sleeping for ten hours, while my children —The door to the infirmary room is cracked, low voices coming from it. I am there in a flash, my heart beating against my ribs."That's it, little one. Small sips." Aiden’s voice too, gentle in a way I haven’t heard it in years.I stop in the doorway and first take a look at the room. Aiden perches on the end of Kael’s bed, assisting Kael to sip on some water, as Elara checks Lior’s physical state."Mom?" Kael’s fever-bright eyes locate me, and his voice is hoarse but stronger than it was yesterday.Aiden twists his dad’s ring around his finger, something indecipherable passing his face before he sets it
Haylee's POV I fold a tiny t-shirt that still bears faint puke stains, with hands that won’t stop shaking and try to lose myself in the simple step, pretend I’m not surrounded by madness. Kael's favorite stuffed wolf. Lior’s dog-eared book of wolf legends. Medications that did not work. Blankets that retained the smell of home."This is insanity, Haylee." I am drawn out of my carefully organised packing by Xavier’s voice. He’s standing in the threshold of the girls’ room, arms crossed, emanating disapproval. “There is no way you are seriously considering this.’"I'm not considering it. I'm doing it." Without looking up, I slide the folded clothes into the duffel bag. “The boys need care I can’t provide here.”“So you’re running back to him? After everything?" The pain in Xavier’s voice is enough to make me flinch. Almost.“I’m doing what I have to do to save my children.” I finally meet his gaze. “This is not about Aiden or you or me. It's about them."Xavier marches across the room
Aiden's POVI walk back and forth in my office, unwilling to even glance at the stack of reports Beta Marcus has for me. However, two weeks past the time I returned from Haylee’s plane, and I am still experiencing the phantom pressure of little arms about my neck, the phantom sound of childish laughter ringing in my head.The twins. They seem eerie to me, even beyond the connection to Haylee. There’s an unidentifiable tug I can’t explain, as if there is an echo of a connection I never knew existed.Suddenly, there is a loud rap at my door.I call. "It's open." I straighten my shoulders and slip on my Alpha mask like the second skin it is.Our pack healer, Elara, pushes her way through, her silver-streaked hair pulled into a stiff bun. "Alpha, I just got a bad call from the Northern Ridge Pack."Haylee's pack. My interest snaps to attention. "What's happened?"“It’s all about Luna’s kids. Elara's expression is grave. "They have gotten sick with, with symptoms I find … they are troublin
HAYLEE'S POVThe tension in this office is a genuine-thickness claw. Xavier stalks by the window, his image shattered in the dusk light, with Aiden sitting on the other side of my desk, ankle on his knee. Two large and dominant Alphas, two pairs of eyes trained on me.“This is not working,” I say at last. “The way it is at the moment, it’s chaos for both packs.Aiden's face is still and neutral. “Our trade talks are close to complete. Another week and—""I’m not discussing the negotiations."I interrupt, crushing my hand around the crescent moon at my throat. “I mean, how you’re still here right now.”Xavier halts his pacing, a smile appearing on his face but he quickly schools his expression."Then what is it exactly that you are suggesting?" Aiden inquires, his voice belying nothing even as his scent wavers with concern.“You need to get back to your territory. We can carry on with the trade deal, only with more space between us.”“Distancing,” Aiden repeats, struck flat."Yes. You'v
AIDEN'S POVMorning sun is pouring in through the window of my office as I look at the trade agreement papers for the third time. Each line must be perfect - this is not just pack business, but my opportunity to impress Haylee."Two hours until meeting, Alpha," Marcus says, standing in the doorway. “Team is prepped when you are.”I nod without looking up. "And the other matter?""All is in order as was requested." His voice drops. “But I do think it’s still risky.”“There are some risks that are worth taking,” I argue and then meet his look of concern.Marcus shifts uncomfortably. "Carters won't appreciate it. If he suspects you're—"“I’m not trying to undermine him,” I cut in, and we both know that’s not really true. “Haylee and me, we have our thing, okay?“Her fiancé might prefer it not be commented upon.” Marcus crosses his arms. "Be careful. We don't have the numbers for another war with Silver Moon Pack.”I get up, adjusting my tie. “I wouldn’t have rebuilt this pack from nothin
XAVIER'S POVHe is on her skin when she walks through our bedroom door. Aiden's scent lingers on her subtly, as invisible a stamp as it is distinct. The wolf wakes under my flesh, not snarling but with a melt of worry and the instinct, again, to Protect."How was the meeting?" I say, my voice relaxed as I undo my tie.Haylee dumps the contents of the briefcase by the dresser, fatigue visible in the tilt of her shoulders. "Productive. Frustrating. The usual.""Did he behave himself?" I step up behind her, hands on her shoulders, inhaling her from a little closer. Yes, there it is — the woodsy tang that is his.She stiffens slightly at my contact. "As well as can be expected.""Meaning?" I press my fingers into the tense muscles at the back of her neck.Which means he crossed the line.” She walks away from the bed, heads out to the bathroom. "But I handled it."I do as I’m told, propping up against the doorframe while she washes her face. "What boundaries exactly?"She meets my gaze in
AIDEN'S POVI keep my eyes on Haylee across the conference room; her back is straight as steel, and she won’t meet my eyes. She’s perfected the art of ignoring me as if I don’t even have a pulse; directing whatever questions she has to my Beta or to the papers laid before us as if I’m not even there.“The southeast will need more patrols,” she says, tapping the map with a manicured nail. "Our scouts have picked up increased wind and rogue activity in the area.I can take my warriors," I lean in. "We're doing all our patrols up in the north. It's a simple extension."Haylee’s eyes meet mine for only a brief moment and then they shoot away. "That won't be necessary. Xavier’s boys are handling it.”My blood boils with a rush of anger when I hear his name but I conceal it well behind an emotionless mask."With respect," I say, trying to sound neutral, "but we've had _way_ more rogue incursions than my pack. The landscape on the southeast border looks like our territory.”“It’s not experie