LOGIN~ Iris POV ~“Congratulations, Iris.”Her voice was smooth.Too smooth.Like silk wrapped around a blade.For a second, I couldn’t breathe.Eunice.Standing there as if she hadn’t vanished months ago. As if the world hadn’t burned and rebuilt itself in her absence.She looked… unchanged.Same dark hair cascading over her shoulders. Same sharp eyes that missed nothing. Same calculating calm.Only now, there was something else in her gaze.Interest.I swallowed slowly, forcing my spine straight.“Eunice,” I said evenly.The cashier shifted awkwardly between us, sensing something she couldn’t name.Eunice’s eyes drifted down.To my stomach.Her smile widened slightly.“So it’s true,” she murmured. “Twins.”My hands instinctively rested over my belly.Protective.Always protective now.“Yes.”
~ Iris POVThe estate was quiet that evening. The full moon hung low over the hills, silver light spilling into the gardens, casting long shadows over the stone paths. I sat on the veranda, my hands resting on my stomach, feeling the twins shift gently within me. Their tiny movements reminded me that life had a way of continuing, even after pain, even after loss.Duncan approached silently, as he always did, his presence commanding without being loud. He stopped behind me, hands resting lightly on my shoulders, and I leaned back into him instinctively. The scent of him,leather, cedar, and that unshakable Alpha essence,made my heart beat faster.“You’ve been quiet,” he murmured, voice low, warm.“I’m just… thinking,” I admitted, glancing up at the moon. “About everything. About us. About the pack. About the twins.”He smiled faintly, brushing a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “You don’t have to carry everything alone.”
~ Iris POVThe months that followed Alice’s sacrifice were the longest I had ever endured. Every day, every night, I felt her absence like a wound that refused to heal. I watched Duncan struggle to recover, watched his body broken, his chest scarred from the wolfsbane and poisons that had nearly ended him. The pack healers worked tirelessly, their chants, herbs, and silver remedies keeping him alive when even I had begun to fear he wouldn’t make it.I sat by his side for weeks, refusing to leave. Every breath he drew was a relief, every blink a small victory. I held his hand, pressed my forehead to his chest, whispered encouragements I wasn’t even sure he could hear over the pounding of my own fear.“Stay with me,” I begged one night as the firelight flickered across his face. “You promised. You have to stay.”His eyes fluttered open, glowing faintly even in weakness, and he reached for me, voice hoarse, “I’m not leaving… not w
~ Iris POVThe world went silent.Not completely, not truly, but enough that the screaming, the shifting, the chaos around the clearing felt distant, like it belonged to someone else.All that remained was her.Alice.Her body fell into my arms with a weight I wasn’t prepared for. Warm. Fragile. Broken. Blood bubbling from her lips, staining her skin, her dress, her innocence, all mingled with the scent of iron and fear.“No… no, no, no,” I whispered, shaking violently, my arms tightening around her. My fingers dug into her shoulders, my heart thrumming like a war drum in my chest, threatening to shatter from the intensity of it all.“I… I’ve got you,” I croaked, tears streaming freely now, hot and unrelenting, soaking her hair, her cheeks, my own hands. “I won’t let you…”But she coughed, weak, broken, and I felt the heat of her life slipping away. The poisons,wolfsbane, silver, whatever Cassian
~Duncan POVThe first shot rang out like a jagged crack of thunder. My heart lurched, my wolf flared, and my body moved before my mind even processed what was happening. Iris. My mate. My anchor. She was in the line of fire.I lunged. Every instinct screamed to protect her, to shield her from the storm that had finally reached us. The bullet hit me square in the chest. Pain exploded, white-hot and searing, but I didn’t even have time to react beyond the sheer, primal need to hold her safe. My robes darkened almost instantly with my blood, but I barely noticed. My world had shrunk to her, trembling, eyes wide, hands clamping onto my forearms as if she could anchor herself through sheer force of will.“Iris!” I roared, teeth gritted, voice raw with pain and rage. The clearing erupted into chaos. Pack members shouted, scrambled, wolves howled,none of it mattered. My mate. Only her mattered.God! This was supposed to be perfect, not another
~ Alice POVYesterday, I went straight to Cassian, after the whole dialogue with my father,After seeing that ky has been so close to iris. After seeing that I was just being childish.“You want to quit again Alice.”“ I'm tired Cassian, I guess I should just accept fate. I should just move…on.”He laughed,” your weak.”“ I'm not.”“ I'm very sure thats was how iris could toy with you up and down.”“ Shut up Cassian.”He held me by the neck,” don't you ever tell me to shut up.”“ Fine!” I agreed and he put me down.“ Alice you're brave. But they shouldn't just toy with you like that, make you feel stupid about yourself. After everything you did for iris. She's marrying your dad tomorrow.” Cassian said.” How does that sound ?”Stupid. “ It's fate. I guess.”“ That's nonsense Alice. You know, she won't be humiliated, it's you. People will mock you.”
Chapter 34~Iris I lay awake staring at the ceiling, counting the cracks like they might rearrange themselves into answers if I looked long enough.They didn’t.The bond was still there, quiet now, like an old bruise you forget about until you roll the wrong way. It pulsed beneath my ribs, dull an
~ AliceI hadn't planned on running into iris.If I were honest, i hadn't planned on seeing anyone this morning. I had gone to my father's estate for the simplest reason possible to grab a sealed envelope form his study. Old council documents he’d asked me to keep safe weeks ago. He’d already left
~ EuniceI didn’t need secrets to want Iris.I never did.People liked to dress it up as jealousy. As rivalry. As some warped extension of my relationship with my brother. They were wrong.I wanted Iris because she didn’t belong to anyone.Not truly.Yes, she was tangled up with my niece now.Emotio
~ IrisWeeks passed.Not the dramatic kind where everything heals neatly,but the quiet, convincing kind. The kind where routines return, laughter comes easier, and the sharpest edges of pain dull just enough to stop cutting every time you breathe.Alice and I found our rhythm again.Not perfect. No







