LOGINEvelynn POVI had imagined childbirth many ways. None of them included threatening murder between pushes.“If one more person tells me to breathe,” I snarled, “I will make myself a widow.”“No one say anything,” Rafe ordered immediately. Smart male.Maddox sat behind me on the bed, bracing my back against his chest, arms wrapped around me while I bore down through another contraction. Sweat dampened his skin. His heart hammered against my spine as hard as mine.Calder knelt at my side, steady as stone, pressing cool cloth to my wrist and speaking only when it mattered.Jaxon held my hand in both of his, muttering encouragement, profanity, and promises to kill anyone who had ever called this beautiful.Becky, traitor that she was, laughed openly.Then the healer’s voice cut through the haze. “I can see him." A beat later: " I have the head. One more time. Push one more time.”The room changed. Everything sharpened. Pain became purpose. Fear became focus. My wolf surged forward, fierce
Evelynn POVThornborne breathed differently now. It had taken me months to stop waiting for silence. For abandoned roads. For broken doors hanging crooked on old hinges. For fear living in every shadow.Now mornings came with hammering from new houses near the ridge, laughter from training yards, carts rolling through the gates, children racing where patrol wolves once bled.Life had returned stubbornly. Beautifully.The old packhouse had been rebuilt stone by stone, stronger than before. My father’s crest hung above the great doors again - not as a relic, but as promise.Thornborne stood. And so did I.Mostly.“Do not lift that.”I glanced over my shoulder to find Becky glaring at me from the nursery doorway.Becky had been one of the youngest omegas when we fled Ironfang together months ago. Sweet-faced, sharp-tongued, impossible to intimidate. Now she ruled the nursery like a warlord.“It’s a blanket,” I said.“It’s a basket of blankets.”“It weighs nothing.”“It weighs enough to n
Evelynn POVThe next morning peace ended exactly the way peace usually ended in pack life - with an announcement and too many opinions.Rafe found me halfway through breakfast, already dressed, already armed, already irritatingly efficient. “Morning love. Main hall. .”I looked up from my plate. “That sounds ominous.”“It’s a meeting.”“Same thing.”He ignored me. “Both packs gonna attend. Ironfang and the survivors from your lands.”I set the fork down slowly. “They know?”“That you’re alive?” Rafe asked.“Yes.”A rare softness crossed his expression. “They know.”Maddox entered behind him, carrying tea. He handed it to me before speaking.“They’re waiting.”No warning could have prepared me for the main hall. It was full.Ironfang wolves lined the long room in heavy rows - fighters, elders, healers, hunters, young wolves standing on toes to see better. And mixed among them were my people.Not all. Never again all. - That truth still hurt. - But enough to make my throat tighten. Face
Evelynn POVI woke tangled in warm limbs, heavy blankets, and the kind of deep satisfaction that made moving feel optional. For one lazy moment, I kept my eyes closed.Maddox’s arm was locked around my waist like a restraint device disguised as affection. Jaxon’s leg was thrown across the lower half of the bed with no respect for territory or anatomy. Calder slept on his back, somehow composed even unconscious.Rafe was awake. I knew it before I opened my eyes.His hand rested lightly over my stomach, thumb moving in absent circles, gaze fixed on the ceiling like he was planning six futures at once.“Good morning,” I murmured.His eyes slid to mine. “Debatable.”I smiled. “You’re brooding.”“I’m organizing.”“Same thing with better posture.” That got the faintest twitch at the corner of his mouth.Beside me, Maddox tightened his grip without waking. Reflexive possession. Ridiculous male.I shifted carefully and immediately regretted. I felt every muscle in my body.Rafe noticed. “You
Evelynn POV I threaded my fingers into his hair instead.“That was unclear,” Jaxon said helpfully.Maddox ignored him completely. The first touch of his mouth made my whole body jolt. Heat shot through me sharp and immediate. My head fell back into the pillows.“Oh.”Jaxon grinned against my throat. “Excellent start.”“Might kill him later,” I managed.“You say that often.”“And mean it every time.”Maddox’s hands tightened on my thighs as he kissed higher, slower, taking his time with a patience I did not believe he possessed.Every deliberate touch and lick pulled another sound from me. Every sound seemed to encourage him.Calder brushed damp hair back from my face, fingers gentle against my temple while the rest of me unraveled.“You’re shaking,” he murmured.“Your observation skills are useless.” I hissed.“Noted.”Rafe shifted closer, one hand sliding into mine. Grounding me. Holding me steady while Maddox did everything possible to destroy my ability to think.Pleasure built qu
Evelynn POVBodies shifted around me in the bed - warm skin, quiet laughter, the rustle of sheets and low male voices too close to my ear.Then Maddox’s hand returned to my thigh. Painfully slowly moving his fingers higher. I sucked in a breath.“There it is,” Jaxon murmured somewhere near my shoulder. “That sound.”“Be quiet,” I whispered.“Impossible.” His lips brushed the curve of my shoulder a second later, smiling against my skin.I turned toward the touch instinctively and found his mouth in the dark. Jaxon kissed like he lived his entire life convinced rules were suggestions. Teasing first. Light. Amused. Then deeper the moment I answered him back.He made a pleased sound low in his throat. “Missed that.”“Your ego?”“Also that.”A laugh escaped me, and Maddox used the distraction to drag me back against his chest. Strong arms wrapped around my waist, like he was saying: mine. Even without words, that was what he said every time he touched me.His mouth found the side of my nec
Calder’s POVBy the time I hit the door, my wolf had already shoved halfway through my skin. Claws cracked from my fingertips. My spine tried to lengthen. My teeth ached with the need to tear something apart.Something was wrong. Bad wrong.“Open it,” my wolf snarled inside me, pacing, frantic. “N
Maddox POVEvelynn slept like someone who had fought her way through fire and heartbreak. Too still. Too pale. Her chest rose, but each breath felt like it had to claw through pain before it could reach the surface. I sat in the room with her, the little half-burned sanctuary that used to be hers,
Aldric answered before any of us could push it: “Gone. She claimed what she wanted and left the place - left us - burned and she laughed on the way out.” He rocked on his heels. “I told Varrick she would do what he wanted. I told him she would make us right. I-” He pressed a hand to his temple as i
Rafe POVThe room smelled of lavender and ash, like someone had tried to polish a ruin. I held my ground by the bed, every muscle coiled. The photograph still smoldered at the edge of my vision - Luna in a gown, perfect and naive - and I hated how human that made her, how much I wanted to protect t







