"I won't let him get away with this," Jake said, his voice thick with anger. His eyes were fixed on Lila, who lay motionless in the bed, her once lively presence now replaced by a quiet stillness that seemed unnatural. Lucas stood by her side, gripping her good hand with a tenderness that betrayed the depth of his feelings. His gaze never left her face, even though the sight was almost too much to bear."I know," Lucas replied, his voice strained but resolute. "But we need to focus on her right now. We can’t do anything if she’s not okay." Jake’s jaw tightened. “I’ve never felt this helpless. Watching her like this, it feels like a nightmare I can’t wake up from.”He took a step closer, his anger simmering beneath the surface, threatening to explode. His fists were clenched at his sides, but he did nothing with them. Instead, he let the rage build. "Lawrence is going to pay. For this. For everything. He won't get away with hurting her like this."Lucas turned his head slowly, meetin
Waking into Pain:"She moved."The voice was distant, yet urgent.Lila felt as if she were trapped under something heavy, her entire body aching in ways she couldn’t understand. A dull, throbbing pain pulsed in her head, and her limbs felt too weak to move. It was like waking up from a terrible dream, but the nightmare hadn’t ended—it had followed her into reality.A sharp sting burned her throat when she tried to swallow. Her lips felt dry, cracked, and raw. She attempted to lift her arm, but it wouldn’t respond. Her fingers twitched, but even that small movement sent a wave of agony through her."Lila?"The voice was closer now, deep and rough with emotion.She tried to turn her head toward the sound, but her body refused. Every part of her felt disconnected, like she was floating between pain and exhaustion.Something warm wrapped around her hand. A touch. Familiar. Safe."Can you hear me?"Lila wanted to answer, to let whoever was speaking know that she was here, but all that came
"Lila, breathe." The voice was steady, but she barely heard it over the pounding in her ears. Her heart raced, the erratic beeping of the monitor beside her growing louder with every second. She stared at them—both of them. Lucas. Jake. My mates. Her mind struggled to piece it together, to make sense of why the two men she had vowed to hate stood on either side of her bed, watching her like she was something fragile. This couldn’t be real. "Lila," Jake said her name softly, stepping closer. Something inside her reacted—a rush of warmth, a pull so deep it made her breath hitch. Her wolf. Her traitorous wolf, who had spent years snarling in anger at the mention of them, was now purring at their presence. No. No, no, no. Her breathing quickened. The beeping of the monitor spiked again. Jake's expression darkened with concern, and then—before she could stop him—his hand was on her face. The second his skin touched hers, everything inside her exploded. ---
“Lila? Can you hear me?”The voice was deep, steady—one she should recognize.She tried to open her eyes, but her body felt impossibly heavy, like she was sinking into an ocean with no way to reach the surface. Everything around her blurred between reality and dreams.A hand brushed her hair back gently. The touch sent warmth through her, a sensation she didn’t expect.“It’s okay,” the voice murmured. “Just rest.”She wanted to fight it. To demand answers. But exhaustion pulled her back into the dark.The next time she woke, the light was dim, but the air in the room was thick with something—something familiar.She shifted slightly, wincing at the dull ache in her body. Her senses sharpened just enough to notice the presence beside her.Jake.His head was lowered, his breathing even, but she knew he wasn’t asleep. He was waiting. Watching.Her throat was dry when she spoke. “You’re always here.”His head lifted immediately, his blue eyes locking onto hers.“You finally noticed?” he sai
“You’re beautiful.” Lila’s breath caught. She turned sharply to look at Jake, expecting to see amusement or sarcasm in his expression. Instead, he was watching her with a look so raw it sent a shiver down her spine. A bitter laugh escaped her lips. “I look like hell.” Jake’s eyes didn’t waver. “You don’t.” She scoffed, lifting her metal arm. The artificial fingers curled and uncurled, the movement eerily smooth. “You see this?” She tapped the metal plating, the sound hollow. “This isn’t beautiful. This is ruin.” His jaw tightened. “You’re not ruined, Lila.” She turned away, unable to look at him. How could he say that? Her skin was pale, her lips cracked, her face swollen from the weeks of unconsciousness. And now—this thing attached to her body, a constant reminder of everything she had lost. Jake reached out, but she shifted away before he could touch her. “I don’t need your pity.” “It’s not pity,” he said softly. “It’s the truth.” She clenched her jaw. H
“You’re not even listening.”Lucas blinked, forcing his mind back to the present. Across the desk, Caleb—the pack’s beta—was watching him with barely concealed irritation.“I heard you,” Lucas said, though he wasn’t sure that was true.Caleb exhaled sharply. “Alright. What did I just say?”Lucas stared at the documents scattered before him. Reports on pack affairs, financial records, and the latest updates on the false money laundering accusations. Important things. Things he should be focusing on.But all he could think about was her.“Lucas.” Caleb’s voice cut through his thoughts again.Lucas sighed and ran a hand down his face. “The accounts are still frozen. We’re being investigated. Lawrence left a mess.” He gestured vaguely at the papers. “Did I miss anything?”Caleb crossed his arms. “Only the part where we need a plan.”A plan. Right.Lucas tried to concentrate, but his mind kept drifting. A month. It had been over a month since the explosion. Over a month since Lila had been
"I want to leave." Lila’s voice was quiet but firm, cutting through the sterile silence of the hospital room. Jake, who had been adjusting the blanket around her, stilled. His eyes met hers, searching. "You’re not ready." "I don’t care." Her hands trembled as she gripped the sheet, but she refused to let the weakness show. "I can’t stay here." Jake sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "Lila—" "I feel like I’m suffocating," she interrupted. "The beeping machines, the doctors poking at me, the way they look at me—like I’m broken. I can’t take it anymore." Jake hesitated, and for a moment, she thought he would argue. Then, after a long pause, he spoke. "You’re being discharged tomorrow." Relief crashed into her so hard she nearly choked on it. "Tomorrow?" He nodded. "Lucas and I arranged it." Her stomach twisted at the mention of his name. "Lucas," she repeated, voice flat. Jake watched her carefully. "You’ll be coming with us." The relief died instantly. Lila’
The house was bigger than she expected. Warm lighting. Large windows. A fire crackling in the living room. It felt… lived in. Jake carried her bag upstairs, stopping in front of a door. "This is yours." Lila stepped inside without a word. The room was simple. A bed. A dresser. A window overlooking the forest. It was nice. Too nice. She hated it. She turned to face Jake. "How long do I have to stay?" Jake hesitated. "As long as it takes." "For what?" "For you to heal." Her chest tightened. "And after that?" Jake’s expression darkened, but before he could answer, Lucas spoke from the doorway. "You’ll leave," he said, voice unreadable. Lila turned to him, startled by his presence. He was leaning against the frame, arms crossed, watching her with that same guarded expression. Something sharp twisted in her stomach. Lucas held her gaze. "If that’s what you want." She should have felt relieved. She should have felt something like victory, like freedom w
The locket in Arika’s hand glinted one last time in the fading light before she tucked it into the folds of her coat, her fingers twitching as though the cold no longer bothered her—just the past that still clung to her skin.But Lila wasn’t finished.Not yet.She turned slowly, like a predator toying with a rival too confident for her own good. “You know,” she said conversationally, her voice laced with honeyed venom, “for someone who prides herself on good taste, I’m surprised you didn’t notice the warning signs.”Arika’s head tilted. “What signs?”Lila’s smile was all razor-edge charm. “Oh, just that Salicus was riddled with diseases. Biochemical ones. I should know—I left him with a few.”The blow landed with precision. A flicker of something passed through Arika’s expression—a stutter in her breath, a twitch at the corner of her mouth. She masked it quickly, but not quickly enough.“You’re bluffing,” Arika said, voice clipped.“Am I?” Lila stepped closer, letting her words drip.
Lila’s lips parted slightly, but no words came out. That sentence—so personal, so venomous—stuck in her like a blade wedged between ribs.Arika didn’t wait for her to recover. She turned and walked slowly toward the edge of the clearing, her fingers brushing the frost-covered rail of a long-abandoned cargo lift. The silence between them thickened.“I had a guest once,” Arika called over her shoulder, too casual. “You might know him. Salicus Grante.”Lila’s body snapped to attention.The name landed like a hammer.“You’re lying.”Arika looked back, one eyebrow raised. “Am I?”“Salicus is dead.”Arika gave a mocking little shrug. “Is that what you tell yourself to sleep at night? Or just what you hope is true?”Lila took a shaky step forward. Her pulse thundered in her ears. “Where. Did. You. See. Him.”“Here. There. Doesn’t matter,” Arika said. “He’s a wanderer. A very persistent one. Had a few... interesting stories about you, too. I see where you get your taste in men.”Lila’s hands
Chapter Title: Blood Tides and Buried Truths"You look older than I imagined. The cold's not kind to you, huh?"Lila’s voice cut through the air, sharp as shattered ice.Arika smirked, slow and poisonous. “And you still greet people like you’re handing out ultimatums.”“I only greet the ones who fake their deaths and sell lies for a living.”Arika’s eyes flicked down her nose, unfazed. “Still bitter, I see. At least that hasn’t aged.”The wind between them twisted, biting through cloth and bone alike. They stood ten paces apart in the heart of the abandoned clearing, surrounded by cracked concrete and frost-covered crates. The silence of the ruin only emphasized how violently the past clawed its way into the present.“You died,” Lila said, voice low now. Controlled. “That’s what they told me. What you let them tell me.”“They weren’t wrong,” Arika replied smoothly. “Not entirely.”Lila scoffed. “You faked your death and vanished. What else was I supposed to believe?”“That I had a rea
The cold gnawed at Lila’s exposed cheeks as she emerged from the warehouse’s side exit and stepped into the clearing.A vast, open yard stretched before her.Flat, white, endless.The area must have once been the central cargo bay—a wide slab of cracked concrete now buried beneath ice and powdery snow. Massive tracks were etched faintly beneath the layers, ghost-lines of long-dead machinery. Here, where shipments had once been loaded, goods transferred, and orders barked, now only wind howled and silence ruled.She stepped forward slowly.Her boots sank with every crunching step, leaving deep impressions behind her. The expanse was so open, it felt vulnerable. Naked. No cover. No shadows to slip into. Just the broad chest of the clearing exposed to the grey sky overhead.Lila exhaled through her nose, eyes scanning left to right, then back again.No movement.No signs.And yet her pulse wouldn’t slow.Something didn’t add up.If this was Arika’s meeting point, where the hell was the e
The snow swallowed their steps as they began to move again.None of them spoke.The world had gone eerily still, as if holding its breath. Lila led the way, eyes narrowed against the wind, with Jake close behind her left shoulder and Lucas covering their right flank. Their boots crunched against the crusted snow, the only sound in an otherwise dead landscape.With every step forward, the forest behind them shrank, consumed by the encroaching white.“This is madness,” Jake muttered under his breath, his voice muffled beneath his scarf. “Visibility’s garbage. We’re tracking straight into open ground. Arika wants us blind.”“She wants a meeting,” Lila shot back, not looking over her shoulder. “And I’m not turning back.”Lucas scanned the tree line one last time before sighing. “Yeah, well, if we die out here in the snow, at least it’ll be poetic.”The wind howled in answer.Their pace slowed as the ground sloped downward, snow now knee-deep. Every few steps, one of them stumbled. Lila’s
Lila froze.The crimson dot shimmered against her coat, small but deadly. Her breath caught in her throat, her muscles wound tight. Not a single sound echoed behind her—no footsteps, no shouts, no signs of the guards or her brothers intervening. Just that quiet, icy stillness and the whine of wind over rusted steel.Where are you, Arika? she thought, pulse hammering.She didn’t raise her hands. She didn’t flinch. Instead, she stared up at the ridge. “You’re not going to shoot me,” she said, her voice even despite the cold in her spine. “If you were, you already would have.”A long beat of silence. Then a laugh—faint, hollow, metallic.The laser dot vanished.Lila exhaled slowly. Her hand dropped to her side, fingers brushing the outline of her weapon, but she didn’t draw it. That would only escalate things. She was here for answers, not war. Still, her unease grew by the second. Not because of the target on her chest.But because her wolf was silent.Utterly.Painfully.Silent.Why ar
Through the Snow:"You're seriously doing this now? In this weather?" Jake's voice was low but taut, his breath misting in the cold air.Lila didn’t flinch. "The message said tomorrow. It’s already morning. Waiting is not an option."Lucas glanced toward the gray sky, his jaw flexing. "Visibility’s down to nothing. If this is a trap—""Then I’d rather spring it on my terms," Lila cut in, her arms crossed beneath her coat. The biting wind whipped strands of her dark hair across her face, but she stood her ground at the mouth of the estate garage, eyes fierce beneath the gloom."You’re making a mistake," Jake muttered, zipping up his jacket. "We could wait an hour. Maybe the snow will break."Lila turned to him. "Or maybe Arika will take the servers offline in that hour. We don’t know what she’s capable of anymore. We can’t afford to gamble."The heavy garage doors groaned open behind them, revealing three armed guards preparing the convoy. The steel-blue SUV at the front revved to life
Lila's fingers twitched restlessly against her thigh, the room tightening around her as the conversation spiraled deeper into familiar but no less agonizing territory."If you come," she said, her voice breaking against the lump in her throat, "if either of you are seen—Arika could destroy everything. She won't hesitate, Lucas. You don't know her like I do."Lucas exhaled sharply through his nose, leaning forward, elbows braced on his knees. His gaze cut into her with razor precision, but there was no anger there. Only relentless, painful patience."I know you think she's a monster," Lucas said slowly. "But even monsters hesitate when they have something they value."Jake nodded, standing just behind Lucas like a second pillar of quiet strength. "She won't destroy the servers. She’s desperate for them. She made that clear when she sent you that message.""You’re wrong," Lila whispered, shaking her head. Her heart banged painfully against her ribs, desperate to be heard. "You’re both w
The clock ticked forward, dragging them closer to sunset, closer to whatever fate waited at the abandoned harbor.---"You’re not going alone," Lucas said flatly, his voice sharp enough to slice through steel.Lila flinched at the force of it but said nothing, fingers tightening around the hem of her jacket."I second that," Jake added, stepping in front of her, effectively boxing her between them. His expression was grim, his posture bristling with protective energy. "This isn’t up for negotiation, Lila."She opened her mouth to argue but found no words ready on her tongue. Their eyes burned into her, filled with something fiercer than anger—fear. Not for themselves. For her."I have to go alone," she whispered hoarsely, but it sounded weak even to her own ears.Lucas crossed his arms over his chest, a living wall of defiance. "Over my dead body."Jake didn’t speak this time—he didn’t have to. His glower said it all.Lila bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to taste blood, frustr