MasukLincoln's POVAs I walk in, the noise settles slightly as heads turn. I’m still something they’re getting used to. Several she-wolves bat their eyelashes and wave. I ignore them, heading up to the top table, where my unit, any visiting packs and I eat on a raised dais at the end of the room, the rest of it laid out in rows of tables for the pack. As much as possible, I encourage everyone to eat at the same time, to help build pack unity and camaraderie. It also means we can monitor the mutterings more closely. Since Brant arrived, the mutterings have diminished, if not vanished.I take my seat at the head of the table, Brant opposite me. I watch as he texts someone, smiling, and I know it’s his mate. She’s pregnant. They just found out, hence why she didn’t come. Brant didn’t want her near potential threats. I’ve seen Arlo and Rolo checking their phones obsessively over the last few days, waiting for their mates to share the news. Once a Luna’s unit is complete, their heat cycles sync
Lincioln's POVI stand at the edge of the training field, Brant, Arlo and Rollo beside me, and watch as Isaac implements our new training programme with the warriors.There’s a lot of grumbling, which I expected.Brant and his team have been instrumental in helping me get a hold of the pack. After I challenged my father, the pack members who had fled returned, and we cleared out the drugs, but for the last ten days we’ve faced near-constant backlash and attempted coups. My idiot brother and his friends decided to garner favour with as many people as they could muster and tried to sever from the main pack, breaking off and claiming half the territory as their own. The council intervened and stipulated they had to challenge me or leave the pack and become rogues, but we had a stalemate for about ten days, with the pack choosing sides, no one working, and no income coming in.Then I called Brant. He and his warriors arrived 3 days ago and crushed the attempted split without bloodshed, br
Xander's POVI startle back to consciousness, disorientated and befuddled, and look around the dimly lit room. The smell hits me first, the hospital... and Zahra. I look over at the bed and see her there, but something’s wrong. She’s shaking. Hard, like she’s shivering. My hand in hers is being squeezed so tightly my fingers are turning blue. I can hear her teeth chattering behind her closed lips.I sit up, leaning in, the back of my hand pressing against her forehead. Has she got a fever? Is there an infection? She doesn’t feel feverish. I’m about to link Dr Jarvis when she opens her mouth and lets out the most blood-curdling scream I’ve ever heard. She convulses so hard terror shoots through me. Fuck, what’s wrong? Is she suffering some terrible internal pain?‘She’s asleep. Zanthe is trying to reach her, but she’s having a nightmare.’Relief, then fear and helplessness, surge through me so violently it leaves me reeling. Relief that she’s not in physical pain, fear and helplessness
Xander's POVI sit on the chair beside the bed as Zahra relaxes into sleep. She drops off almost immediately, exhaustion consuming her. Max tucks the blankets around her frail body once more, then settles into the chair opposite me, his red eyes locked onto her face.Then he looks at me. “Is this real? Is she really here?” His voice sounds too vulnerable, too terrified of what I might say.I smile at him. “It’s real. She’s really here.”He sighs, his eyes scrunching closed, and then a tear escapes the corner of one eye. I want to go to him, to hold him, but I know he wouldn’t want that right now. Our history is too muddy, too complicated, and I know he feels guilty for the slip-up all those months ago. So do I, but I’m not the one in the relationship, and I hate that some part of me still wishes I was.The thought shocks me. I’ve always had a protective attraction to Zahra, but over the years I’ve managed to fool myself into thinking of her like a sister. I don’t know when I stopped d
Zahra's POVBut he pulls back at the same moment.The absence hits harder than it should, leaving me reeling for a second, breath catching.Goddess, what’s wrong with me?I’m with Max, for fuck’s sake.But why don’t I feel any guilt? No remorse for what I almost did, for what I still want to do?What about Max?Zanthe just hums in my mind, completely ignoring the question.She’s no help sometimes.What’s wrong with me?I’ve been aching to get back to Max for months, since I left him at camp back in August. Now I’m back with him, it feels good… but maybe not as intense as it did last summer. What does that say about me?And then there’s this with Xander.I’ve always liked him. Always been attracted to him. But he’s my brother’s best friend and my future Alpha. He’s always been off-limits, always had a girlfriend… or Max.But now?Fuck, I don’t have any idea.Maybe it’s the trauma talking.Xander leans back, scrunching his eyes closed and breathing heavily. He’s sitting on the bed besid
Zahra's POVThe freezing water hits my body, the force of the jets burning and stinging as the cold instantly numbs everything. It’s forced into my eyes and mouth and I’m spluttering and coughing, driven back against the wall, unable to escape. The pressure is wrong somehow, too hard, too endless, the water seeming to come from everywhere at once until I can’t tell what’s spray and what’s drowning.Then it cuts off.I’m freezing, shaking so hard my teeth knock together, when someone stamps down hard on my ankle, snapping it cleanly in two. The pain forces a scream out of me like nothing I’ve ever made before, my whole body jerking around it. I whimper and try to get away, but I can’t. The pain and the cold crash over me together until I can barely think through either of them. I try to fight, but my hands are bound, stretched out on either side of me, a collar around my neck, the cold bite of silver digging into my skin. Every movement sends searing pain through my broken ankle where
Xander's POVFear slams into my chest so hard it steals my breath. It is sudden and absolute, a raw, blinding surge that lances straight through me. I nearly cry out. I don’t even realise I’ve moved until I’m already on my feet, chair scraping back against the floor. Panic, terror, and anger crash
Zarha's POVAfter breakfast, we report to the training centre as usual and take our seats in the stands. Liam, Morgan, and Jed stick close to me. Henry sits behind us with his little pack of idiots—Montague and Jameson included.At least they’re keeping their mouths shut now.The commanders and cap
Lincoln's POVI pull out the blindfold and place it over my eyes. Sam steps in and does it up behind my head for me, and I’m plunged into complete darkness. Fuck knows what this thing is made of, because I can’t see shit. Not even light around the edges.Someone, Baxter I assume, clasps my shoulder
Zahra's POVMax’s lips on mine feel unreal, almost too good. I don’t remember a kiss ever feeling like this. My heart is actually about to burst with how stupidly happy I am. His tongue makes slow, gentle sweeps inside my mouth, and I mirror the movement, tentative at first. He lets out a small moa







