LOGINFor a moment, he just stared at me then, slowly, his expression softened again, like he was slipping back into a version of himself that knew how to win me over.“You’re really choosing him,” he said quietly. “After everything I did for you?”I let out a short, humorless laugh. “You didn’t do anythi
Aria’s POVThe infirmary was too quiet, not peaceful—never peaceful—but had this kind of silence that felt forced, like the walls themselves were holding their breath. The smell of antiseptic was sharp enough to sting my nose the moment I stepped inside, and for a second I almost turned back.Almost
For a moment, he just stared at me then, slowly, his expression softened again, like he was slipping back into a version of himself that knew how to win me over.“You’re really choosing him,” he said quietly. “After everything I did for you?”I let out a short, humorless laugh. “You didn’t do anythi
Aria’s POVThe infirmary was too quiet, not peaceful—never peaceful—but had this kind of silence that felt forced, like the walls themselves were holding their breath. The smell of antiseptic was sharp enough to sting my nose the moment I stepped inside, and for a second I almost turned back.Almost
Aria's POVThe feeling wouldn't leave, it followed me through lunch, through the reports stacked on my desk, through every conversation I barely paid attention to and no matter how many times I reminded myself that Damon could handle himself, that he had survived far worse than a day spent with Kade
Aria’s POVSomething in me refused to settle and I know that it wasn’t exactly panic, but if it was, it wasn’t the mind that made you shake or lose breath. It was quieter than that, sharper too, like a thread pulled too tight under my skin, waiting to snap the moment I stopped paying attention. Dam
Steady. The word didn’t help.My mind drifted, uninvited, back to Damon. His voice in the ballroom, the way he looked at me when he asked questions he already feared the answers to and the way the entire room had shifted around his name like gravity had changed direction.And then I saw how the Elde
Aria’s POVI didn’t remember how I got out of the ballroom, only that my legs kept moving even after my mind stopped cooperating. The corridors of the packhouse blurred past me in pale streaks of gold and stone, torches flickering like distant warnings I couldn’t quite interpret. My hands were sti
Elder Marrow continued, unbothered by the rising tension. “The man attempted to destabilize pack leadership.”Silence.“He manipulated council records.”Silence again. Thick, suffocating, absolute. I could hear my own breathing now, too loud in my ears, too fast to control.Damon’s voice finally cam
The silence that followed Damon’s words felt wrong… not quiet, wrong, like the entire ballroom had forgotten how to breathe.I stood frozen in the center of the hall, my pulse hammering so violently I could feel it in my throat. Around me, hundreds of eyes stayed locked on us in stunned disbelief, b







