MasukMIRA'S POVThe examination took longer than usual.I lay there watching Elara's face the whole time because that was the only way I ever really knew what was happening. She didn't give much away but I'd gotten good at reading her over the past few months. The small tightening around her eyes when something made her pause. The way her hands slowed down when she found something that needed more thought. She was slow and careful and quiet, and I watched every single shift in her expression like it was going to tell me something before she did.Rowan stood against the wall with his arms crossed. He looked calm. He was trying very hard to look calm. I could feel through the bond exactly how hard he was trying, and honestly it was almost sweet if it wasn't also making my chest tight.When Elara finally sat back I felt myself brace."The baby has dropped into position," she said. "Earlier than I would have liked.""How early?" I asked."Not dangerously so. But earlier than expected given eve
MIRA'S POVI had the whole thing figured out before I even got out of bed.I just laid there for a while, turning it over in my head, looking for the part where it fell apart. I couldn't find one. So I got up before Rowan was even done with his morning briefing and walked straight to his study.His advisor opened his mouth the second I walked in. I told him to give us the room. He looked at Rowan, Rowan nodded once, and the man was gone without another word. I was still not fully used to that. The fact that when I walked into a room, people actually moved. I spent years in a pack where I could have been screaming and nobody would have turned their head. So yeah, it still caught me off guard sometimes. The way people just listened now.I didn't waste time. I laid the whole thing out.Instead of opposing Cato's territorial council challenge the way everyone was expecting us to, I wanted to invite him. Formally. Give him a seat at the constitutional council session as a proper participan
ISLA'S POVTobias found me that same evening. I was sitting in the small, makeshift office they’d given me, staring at a stack of maps I didn’t really want to see. When the door opened, I didn’t even have to look up to know it was him. He didn't say anything at first. He just pulled out the chair across from me and sat down. He looked tired. There were dark circles under his eyes that hadn’t been there a week ago. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the wooden surface, and looked me straight in the eye."Tell me about Cato," he said. "I want to know everything you have on him."I leaned back and let out a breath I’d been holding for hours. "You want to know about Cato? Where do you even want me to start, Tobias? There’s a lot.""Start from the beginning," he replied, pulling a pen and a notepad from his jacket pocket. "What makes him tick? How does he move?""He doesn't move unless he’s already won," I said. I felt a cold chill go down my spine just thinking about the way Cato o
ROWAN'S POVThe document stayed pressed against my chest the entire ride back, and I didn't open it once.It wasn't mine to open. My mother had addressed it clearly, and whatever was inside belonged to Mira before it belonged to anyone else, including me. I didn't know what my mother had written, and I found that I wasn't ready to know anyway. There was something that felt almost sacred about that ignorance, and I held onto it the way I held the sealed paper — carefully, because pressure alone might break something.Tobias rode beside me and said nothing the entire journey back, because he knew better than to ask.~~~I found Mira in the training yard when I arrived, working with one of the senior warriors, and the first thing I noticed was how different she moved now. Her wolf was fully present in the way her body responded — sharper, more certain, more settled in herself than the woman who had arrived here months ago barely standing. She noticed me the moment I crossed into the ya
Rowan's POVIf there was a place in the world that was more deserted than a fucking desert, it would be this place. There were no pack markings on any of the posts lining the road, no flags, no territorial symbols of any kind, and the whole place had the feeling of somewhere that had been built to be overlooked rather than found. Small, plain, unremarkable in every direction I looked.The settlement...Tobias stayed back with the horses without me having to say anything because he read the situation the way he always does and found a spot near the tree line where he could watch the road without being obvious about it. I walked through the settlement on my own, counting the doors as I passed them, keeping my pace steady and my face neutral the way I'd trained myself to do in situations where I didn't yet know what I was walking into.Third on the left.I knocked once and the door opened before I even finished the motion, which meant she'd been standing right behind it, waiting.Dara
Rowan's POVI read the message three times.The first time I thought I misunderstood it. The second time I felt something cold settle in my chest. The third time I put the radio down and just stood there for a second, staring at nothing.Mira was watching me. I could feel her through the bond, that quiet little pull she does when she's trying to figure me out without asking outright. She wasn't getting anything from my face though. I made sure of that. I wasn't ready to talk about it yet, mostly because I didn't know what I would even say. I didn't fully understand it myself.I found Tobias outside near the east post and told him I needed horses arranged for first light. Just two. No guard detail, no extra riders.He looked at me for a second. "Just the two of you?""Yes."He nodded and that was it. He didn't push, didn't ask where I was going or why I didn't want backup. That's the thing about Tobias. He reads a room better than most people and he knows when a question would be one t
MIRA'S POVI stood near the door of the south room while Rowan sat across from Isla at the small table. Tobias was standing behind Rowan, arms folded. No one had asked me to leave, and no one had asked me to stay, so I stayed.Rowan leaned back in his chair and looked at Isla directly. "I'm not acc
MIRA’S POVThe heavy doors had closed behind Finn, but his voice still seemed to ring in the chamber. My hands were pressed against my stomach, my fingers digging into the fabric of my dress. I could feel my heart hammering against my ribs. Rowan was standing nearby, his shoulder bleeding, but my
Finn’s POVI stopped outside Mira’s door before leaving, the heavy wood of the portal a barrier between my world of power and the woman who refused to submit.The guards straightened immediately when they saw me, the sharp click of their heels hitting the stone floor echoing through the narrow corr
FinnIsla hesitated, her eyes searching mine for a reassurance I wasn’t sure I could give. “What if that wasn't enough? What if he brought in outside Seers? What if he demanded she be examined by neutral parties?”“It wasn't,” I said sharply, cutting her off before the doubt could take root.A heav







