LOGINIt shouldn’t have to be difficult, Ashton,” I uttered, my voice quivering as I stared at him. “It was a mistake, Novah,” he sighed, closing the door on my face. “I love you,” I whispered, my heart cracking as I stared at the door. He was never going to see me as anything other than his pathetic step sister. I could never be more. Novah’s life wasn’t as perfect as the world thought. Trapped in a house that felt too cold to be called a home. With a father who barely looked at her, without hatred in his eyes. But the world didn’t know that, all they saw was the perfect daughter, and a great student. All Novah has ever wanted was love, someone who sees her to be just as more than just a nerd. Worlds collide when she realises that the boy she had been crushing on for two years would be her step-brother. Will Novah kill the feelings that she had harboured for years? Or will she act on them and deepen the rift between her and her father? In the toss of family and love, where do morals stand?
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Lean Marquise melemparkan tatapan tajam dan kalimat sinisnya pada lelaki yang kini tengah berdiri di samping wanita lain yang tak lain adalah sahabatnya.Sore tadi, lelaki yang masih sebagai tunangan Lean itu menghubungi ayah Lean dan memutuskan pertalian itu tanpa sebab. Namun, melihat pemandangan di hadapannya, kini ia tahu mengapa lelaki itu membuangnya."Kau tidak berhak menyalahkan orang lain, Lean." Lelaki itu tampak tidak senang atas ucapan Lean tadi, sementara sang wanita yang berdiri di sampingnya terus menatap Lean dengan wajah gusar."Seharusnya kau sadar diri, Lean Marquiese! Kau sudah tahu, 'kan kalau kekasihku ini sama sekali tidak suka padamu?" Wanita itu kini turut angkat bicara.Mendengar kata ‘kekasih’ meluncur enteng dari mulut mantan sahabatnya membuat dengusan keluar secara spontan di bibir Lean."Oh? Benarkah?" katanya sembari tersenyum miring. "Bukankah sudah jelas karena kau yang telah menggodanya?" sela Lean."Itu karena salahmu!" tuding wanita itu tak mau kalah, lalu menoleh ke arah kekasihnya. "Brad, tolong katakan sesuatu padanya, mengapa kau hanya diam saja melihat dia menghinaku?!" protesnya pada Brad.Di hadapan Lean, Brad tampak menghela nafas. Lalu dengan arogan, mantan tunangannya itu berkata, "Bisakah kau tidak menyalahkan orang lain atas kelemahanmu, Lean?” Brad lalu memandang sekujur tubuh Lean dengan pandangan menilai. “Kau terlalu polos. Kau bahkan tidak pernah berdandan, dan tidak mau kusentuh. Kau juga terlalu sibuk. Aku tidak ingin menikahi wanita membosankan sepertimu!” "Aku… membosankan?" jantung Lean berdegup penuh kemarahan ketika ia mendengar ucapan Brad itu. Sama sekali tidak pernah menduga bahwa alasan Brad memutuskan pertunangan mereka ternyata sangat klise. Apakah selama ini ia yang terlalu memandang tinggi Brad? Padahal pria itu hanyalah seorang pria biasa yang tidak bisa menjaga hatinya dengan baik.Melihat keterkejutan di wajah Lean, Isla justru tersenyum penuh kemenangan. "Kau dengar, 'kan? Jika Brad sampai meninggalkanmu, itu karena kau memang pantas untuk ditinggalkan!"Tak menunggu waktu, tangan Lean yang sedari tadi mengepal karena menahan emosinya itu lantas terayun ke atas.Plakk!!Satu tamparan keras mendarat ke pipi Isla. Beberapa tamu pesta bahkan sampai melirik, karena suara tamparan yang terdengar cukup nyaring.“Kurang ajar!” Plakk!!Tak terima kekasih barunya dipermalukan, Brad pun naik pitam dan membalas tamparan Lean.Pipi Lean memerah, sejalan dengan air matanya yang mengembun, tak menyangka lelaki yang dulu dicintainya tega mengayunkan tangan padanya.“Jangan pernah lagi menyentuh Isla!” ancam Brad, sementara bisik-bisik dari para tamu pesta mulai terdengar. “Berkacalah agar kau sadar kalau kau tidak pantas untukku!”Hati Lean sudah teramat sakit. Diputuskan tanpa sebab, lalu mengetahui ia dikhianati oleh sahabatnya sendiri, hingga dipermalukan oleh mantan tunangannya … membuat Lean kini berani menatap Brad dengan tajam.Tidak ada sepatah kata pun terucap dari Lean. Bahkan hingga Brad membawa pergi Isla dari hadapannya, Lean masih menatap penuh dendam ke arah mereka.Tatapan Lean baru terputus saat suara seorang wanita terdengar khawatir menghampirinya."Lean? Apa kau baru saja bertengkar dengan Brad?”Lean menghela nafas, lalu melemparkan pandangannya pada Eve, saudarinya. Dan, alih-alih menjawab pertanyaan Eve, Lean justru mengambil segelas whisky dari pelayan yang melintas di hadapannya dan menghabiskan minuman tersebut dalam satu kali tenggak.Lean menatap frustrasi saudarinya. Ia juga meletakkan gelas whisky yang telah kosong dengan kasar."Oh? Jadi Kakak sudah tahu kalau dia akan datang?” cecarnya. “Bukankah Kakak yang menyuruhku datang ke sini untuk melupakan kesedihanku?!" protes Lean. “Dia … dia diundang bosku karena perusahaannya adalah klien kami.” Eve mencoba menjelaskan dengan wajah yang terlihat cemas.Lean berdecak, lalu ketika seorang pelayan lewat di depannya, wanita itu memesan minuman di bawah tatapan Eve yang penuh waspada.Setelah itu, barulah ia berkata lagi pada Eve, "Pergilah, Kak! Aku ingin sendiri. Kakak tidak perlu khawatir, aku janji tidak akan membuat keributan lagi.”Tak lama setelah kepergian Eve, pelayan tadi kembali datang membawakan jus jeruk pesanannya. Perlahan, Lean menyesap minumannya yang terasa menyegarkan. Saking wanita itu menikmati minumannya, juga terlena akan pikirannya sendiri … ia tidak menyadari, jika dari kejauhan seorang wanita tengah tersenyum sinis manakala Lean meneguk jusnya.Ketika minumannya tandas, Lean yang baru saja berniat meninggalkan lokasi pesta tiba-tiba merasakan keanehan di sekujur tubuhnya.Napasnya seketika memburu, seiring suhu ruangan yang tiba-tiba terasa begitu panas hingga membuat keringatnya bercucuran."Mengapa sangat panas sekali di sini?" Dua tangan wanita itu mengusap peluh yang berjatuhan bahkan mengalir hingga lehernya yang jenjang.Di tengah kebingungan itu, tak jauh dari hadapannya muncul dua orang pria asing. Tatapan haus, juga seringai menjijikkan yang dikeluarkan para pria itu membuat Lean semakin panik. Terlebih, saat dua pria itu mencoba meraih tubuhnya dari arah yang berlawanan."Siapa kalian?!" hardik Lean, mulai terpojok ke tembok dengan dua pria yang semakin menghimpit di kedua sisinya. Lean semakin gusar mana kala mereka mulai berani menyentuh lengannya. "Kalian ... apa yang ingin kalian lakukan padaku?"Dengan sisa kekuatan yang ia miliki, Lean berusaha memberontak. Namun sayang, semakin ia banyak bergerak tubuhnya justru semakin lemas dengan pandangan yang mulai kabur.Tepat saat dua pria itu hendak membawanya, tiba-tiba suara bariton seorang pria terdengar menginterupsi, “Siapa kalian berani berbuat keributan di tempatku?!”Novah’s POV The afternoon offered a fragile escape. The herb garden, tucked against the south wall, was a pocket of stubborn life. Weak winter sun struggled through high clouds, warming the dark earth fractionally. Meredith was already there, her hands buried in the soil, tending rosemary and thyme that defied the frost. The air was clean, sharp with the scent of damp earth and sage, a stark, blessed contrast to the Keep’s thick atmosphere. I knelt beside her, mimicking her movements, pulling weeds with clumsy, city-soft fingers. The physical act helped. Grounding. *Anchor.* Earth. Cold, clean air. The scent of green defiance. *Layer calm.* The pack pulse was muffled here, softened by stone and distance, though the underlying anxiety still thrummed, a constant, low drone."He pushes harder," I said quietly, wrestling with a tenacious root.Meredith sighed, a soft exhalation like wind through bare branches. "Fear feeds his boldness. Danger’s shadow makes him taller. He scents blood, c
Novah's POVDawn wasn’t gentle. It seeped through the arrow slit like grey sludge, leaching colour from the stones, failing to touch the chill deep in the Keep’s bones. I lay still, eyes closed, breathing shallow. Not listening, exactly. *Feeling*. The pack pulse.Low tide again. Not the frantic surge of crisis, nor the suffocating undertow of grief. This was slower, denser. A thick, viscous thrumming beneath the skin of the world. *Anxiety. North.* It coated everything, sticky and cold. *Weariness.* Bone-deep, the kind that settled after too many hollow-eyed returns from the hunt. *Watchfulness.* Sharp, brittle shards – Thorne’s faction, coiled and waiting. And beneath it all, the bedrock: *Grief.* For Finn’s mother. For Finn. Settled now, not a wound but a constant ache, like damp wool against the skin. *Grief. Finn.*I pushed myself up. The stone floor bit into my bare soles, a familiar, grounding shock. *Anchor.* Cold. Solid. Unyielding. Yesterday’s raw edges – Doric’s fury, Maren
Novah’s POV The word hung in the suddenly silent hall, sharp as a shard of ice. *Distraction.* Heat flooded my face, a mix of scalding anger and cold humiliation. The wolf surged, a silent snarl building in my chest. *Guardian!* I clenched my fists under the table, nails biting crescents into my palms. *Anchor.* Stone. Breath. The scrape of Torin’s spoon. *Layer calm. Layer calm.* Not for Thorne. For the pack. For the frightened eyes watching. *Show them the banks hold.*Torin’s voice cut through the brittle air, low and hard as the mountain itself. "Every soul under this roof *is* the core, Thorne. From the greybeards to the weanlings. Protect one, protect all. That’s the strength of the bond." He held Thorne’s gaze. "Or have the years worn that truth thin?"Thorne’s smile was a thin, bloodless line. "I forget nothing, Beta. Least of all the cost of misplaced… sentiment." He pushed his barely-touched bowl away. "We’ll see how enduring that bond feels when the enemy’s breath mists th
Novah's POVThe cold wasn't just in the stones anymore. It had seeped into the marrow of the Keep, into the spaces between breaths. Dawn was a reluctant smear of grey beyond my slit window, offering no warmth, only the slow reveal of another day heavy with unspoken things. I lay still, eyes closed, listening. Not just to the distant drip of melting frost, but to the *hum*. The pack pulse.It was a low tide today. Not the crashing waves of yesterday’s confrontation at the forge, nor the suffocating undertow of Maren’s grief. This was deeper, slower. A thick, viscous thrumming beneath the skin of the world. *Anxiety. North.* It coated everything, sticky and cold. *Weariness.* Bone-deep, from hunters returning hollow-eyed under a moon that offered no prey. *Watchfulness.* Sharp, brittle, like shards of ice – Thorne’s faction, coiled and waiting. And beneath it all, the bedrock layer: *Grief.* For Finn’s mother. For Finn. Settled now, not sharp, but pervasive, like damp in old wool. *Grie
Novah’s POV It was fragile. The grief surged, threatening to swamp her meager focus. She gritted her teeth, breathing harder, forcing her attention back to the stone, the wool of her trousers, the sound of her own exhale. *Anchor. Layer calm.* Slowly, agonizingly slowly, the overwhelming *weight*
Novah’s POV Torin touched her shoulder, a brief, heavy pressure. Time to go. Novah rose silently, her legs stiff. She followed him out, the door closing softly behind them. Leaning against the cold corridor wall, she took deep, shuddering breaths, rebuilding her layered calm brick by psychic brick
Novah's POVThe silence after Torin closed the door on Rylan’s report wasn’t truly silent. Not anymore. It was layered. The faint scrape of boots on stone down the corridor, a guard shifting position. The distant, rhythmic clang from the forge deep within the Keep’s belly, a heartbeat for the armou
Novah’s POV The word hung in the air, sharp as a knife. *Distraction.* Heat flooded my face, a mix of anger and humiliation. The wolf surged again, a protective snarl building in my chest. *Guardian!* I clenched my fists under the table, nails digging into my palms. *Anchor.* Stone. Breath. The sc












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