LOGINMAYAThe number flashing on my phone screen was Selene’s.I watched it ring until the call ended, then went back to my reading. The phone rang again almost immediately. My thumb hovered over the screen as a wave of unease settled in my stomach. I didn’t want to talk to her. Finally, I took a deep breath and accepted the call.“Hello?”“I was wondering if you’d pick up,” she said, skipping any greeting.I gritted my teeth. “What do you want, Selene? If you have something to say, get to the point.”She huffed in disbelief. “Two days,” she shouted. “I sent you that address two days ago, waited for you, and you didn’t even bother to show up?”I leaned back in the leather armchair as a wry smile played on my lips. “Oh, I was busy… still busy. You could have checked if I was free before sending me random addresses, you know.”The line went quiet for a moment. When Selene spoke again, her voice was tight with frustration. “Where are you now?” she snapped.“The library,” I responded. “What d
MAYAOn the first day of my training, Kael didn’t show up.I should have been glad. I tried to convince myself I was relieved, but the truth was I felt annoyed instead. What was I expecting? He was never someone who kept his word. Not really. Not when it came to me.“I know I said we’ll train for an hour every morning,” Finn said apologetically as we stood on the training field behind the pack house, “but I’ll have to leave after thirty minutes. I have a lot of things to check and the only way I can—”“It’s fine, Finn,” I cut him off gently. “Just do the best you can. I’m not exactly in the mood for long training either.”He nodded, studying my face for a second longer than necessary before we began.In the next few minutes, Finn walked me through basic training tactics and routines. Some of them I was already familiar with from the self-defense classes I’d taken back in the human world. He showed me proper stances, breathing techniques, and simple ways to channel energy even without
MIRIAMI sat alone in the temple. The golden rays of the evening sun filtered through the stained-glass windows and cast long, colorful shadows across the polished marble floors. I had chosen one of the smaller meditation alcoves, tucked away from the main altar.My fingers trembled slightly as I traced the outline of the figure on the screen of my phone. The photo was old, slightly blurred, but it was him, my mate, smiling in that rare, unguarded way he only ever showed me. I held back the tears that threatened to spill, drawing in a shaky breath.I had been coming here every single day since I arrived, kneeling in silence, praying for him. I wanted to mourn him properly, to let the anguish in my heart finally break free and pour out, but I couldn’t.Most of all, his last message to me, sent two days before he died, kept echoing in my mind. He had asked for a chance to reconcile. To finally confess everything to our daughter. But as usual, I had been adamant. Stubborn. I thought we h
MAYAFinn’s car idled quietly outside the Ashbourne pack house. We’d pulled up nearly twenty minutes ago. Neither of us moved to get out.I sat with my hands folded in my lap, absently tracing the edge of my blouse with one fingertip. My mind kept replaying the day in loops.Heat crept up my cheeks. Gods, how embarrassing. Did he think I was just using him as a shield? A convenient way to shut Kael down? The shame twisted in my stomach. I shook my head sharply, trying to dislodge the thought, but it clung.The silence between us stretched. Finally, Finn broke it.“Did you mean it?” he asked quietly. “About accepting my proposal?”My heart gave a hard, unsteady thud. I turned to him. The dashboard lights cast faint blue shadows across his face, highlighting the sincerity in his eyes. Swallowing past the sudden tightness in my throat, I nodded.“I do.”A small smile touched his lips, then widened into a full, relieved grin that made my chest ache with fresh guilt and uncertainty. “Okay,
KAEL“I was never raised with being able to express how I feel,” I stated in a rough tone. “Sometimes when I want to say I love you, I end up saying it wrongly. The domestic staff raised me in the pack house. Love to me meant eating dinner and occasionally going hunting. All of this is alien to me, Maya. You should at least give me a second chance to redeem myself, and I will learn how to love you since my methods didn’t work the first time.”She stared at me for a long moment. Then she drew in a shaky breath.“I’m going to marry Finn,” she announced, sniffing back tears. “You can go ahead and get married to Selene. I no longer care.”“You want to punish me, Maya…” My voice cracked. “I get it. But you don’t have to go to such extremes. You’ll…” A tear slipped free; I didn’t bother wiping it away. “You’ll kill me.”“And yet you haven’t died after four years of waiting,” she said woodenly. “There’s nothing for us again, Kael. I cannot bring myself to forget. Finn asked me to be his Luna
KAELThe only thing standing between Fenrir manifesting was me.He snarled inside my chest, furious, claws scraping against the bars I’d built to keep him contained. Our mate’s denial had sliced through him like silver. And Finn’s smug little smile wasn’t helping. Every time the Alpha’s eyes flicked toward me with that quiet, victorious amusement, Fenrir lunged harder.I waited until the hall thinned out. Elders filed past in low murmurs. The priestess had already departed for her evening rites. Soon it was just the three of us.Maya must have sensed me coming because the moment I took a step forward, she started walking again. Finn matched her pace easily, calm and composed beside her, but his eyes kept darting back to me, amused, almost daring.“Maya,” I called out. “A minute.”“Not now, Kael,” she answered without slowing. “It’s almost evening, and it’s a four-hour ride to Ashbourne. We want to get home before dusk.”I wanted to approach this objectively. I wanted to sound less lik
KAEL“What?” I let out a bitter laugh. “My mate? A wolfless deviant? That’s… awfully ridiculous.”“You can stop hiding it from me, Alpha.” Tobias’s words hit me like a blow. “You rushed to that forest for her, even after I told you it wasn’t wise. No other woman could’ve ever made you do that… exce
KAELDawn’s light hit my face as I released myself back into the great stream of ‘reality’ for another day. The hot water provided no escape from the dull ache in my chest as I staggered from the shower to the bedroom.As I dried and changed, I reminded myself that I did what was necessary, but Fen
KAELI shivered in the midnight air as I entered the pack house. Shifting back to human, I braced myself against the doorframe and drew in a ragged breath.The Gravok’s void-like face and the ferals’ disturbing restraint looped through my head like a riddle I couldn’t unravel.Why the fuck didn’t t
MAYAMy head spun, and my breath came out uneven from the intensity of the most shattering orgasm I’d ever experienced. A small, fleeting smile tugged at the corners of my lips.Alpha Kael is my mate.The thought settled over me like a balm.Finally… finally, the agonizing heat cycles would end. I







