Masuk"And my white hair." Winter's voice was barely audible. "That's why you hated me at first. Because of my grandmother." " Your father told me a white-haired witch killed my mother." Ezekiel forced the words out even though they tasted like ash. "Blamed Morwenna. Made me hate witches. Especially white haired ones." "So when the mate bond snapped to me......" Winter's eyes were wide. Understanding dawning. "I looked exactly like the person you'd been taught to hate. The witch who supposedly destroyed your family." "Yes." The admission hurt. "Wanted to reject you. Push you away. But the bond was too strong. And you were scared and soft and nothing like the monster my father described." Ezekiel's voice dropped. "Watching you broke something in the curse. Made me feel things that shouldn't be possible." Winter was crying now. Silent tears tracking down her cheeks. "This is so messed up." "Yes." "My grandmother cursed you. Your father killed my father. Our families destroyed each othe
The words hit Ezekiel hard.. She hadn't left. Hadn't taken his offer. Someone had stolen her while he'd been waiting for her to prove she'd rather stay with him than run. (He'd been cruel. Given her an out while secretly hoping she'd refuse it. And when she'd disappeared he'd assumed the worst instead of considering she might have been taken against her will.) "You thought I left you." Winter was looking at him now with something that might have been understanding or pity. "All this time, you thought I chose to go." Ezekiel nodded once. His throat felt too tight for words. "I wouldn't have left." Winter's hands unclenched slightly. "I was scared of you. Terrified, actually. But I wasn't going to run. Not after touching your hand and feeling you touch back. Not after you called me Little Ghost like it was a name that actually meant something." The nickname hung between them. Ezekiel hadn't used it out loud since she'd disappeared. Had thought it constantly but speaking it would ha
Winter's alcove was smaller than Ezekiel expected. Barely room for the thin pallet on the floor, a wooden crate that served as a table, and Vex's massive bulk curled in the corner. The walls were rough stone, untouched by the smoothing magic that had been applied to the main chambers. Like this space had been carved out as an afterthought.She'd been living here for three weeks.The thought made something twist in Ezekiel's chest. His mate, who'd slept in silk sheets and had an entire wing of the citadel to herself (even if she'd been too afraid to explore most of it), had been reduced to this cave with its moss-light and hard floor.Winter sat on her pallet and gestured vaguely at the space across from her. "You can sit. If you want."Ezekiel sat. The stone floor was cold even through his pants. Vex watched him with yellow eyes that held more intelligence than most animals possessed. The beast's lip curled slightly, revealing teeth designed for tearing."He won't attack unless I tel
Ezekiel's golden eyes fixed on her. "Winter." "Is none of your concern." The woman's hands glowed faintly. Some kind of elemental magic preparing to manifest. "You need to leave. Now. Before we're forced to defend ourselves." "Winter," Ezekiel repeated. Not explanation. Not negotiation. Just stating the only thing that mattered. "She doesn't want to see you," another witch said. Younger, dark-haired, expression hostile. "She's finally safe from werewolf brutality and you think you can just--" "Liar." The word came out flat. Certain. "She sent a message. Wants to talk. You're keeping her here." The witches exchanged glances. Nervous. Like they hadn't known Winter had found a way to contact him. "Even if she did send a message," the older woman said carefully, "that doesn't give you the right to invade our sanctuary. To break our wards and threaten our people." Ezekiel took a step forward. The witches flinched back despite themselves. "Not threatening. Retrieving my mate." "Your
"Well," Jax said weakly. "They definitely know we're here now." Ezekiel's hand pressed harder. The curse responded, power flooding through his arm and into his palm. Raw force meeting magical resistance. The barrier held for approximately three seconds before crack lines appeared, spreading outward from where his skin touched magic. The wards shattered. Glass breaking in slow motion, pieces of crystallized light falling through air and dissolving before they hit ground. The shimmer disappeared. Where it had been stood a narrow cave entrance, almost invisible between two massive boulders. Easy to miss if you weren't looking for it. Impossible to miss once the concealment fell. "You just broke centuries-old protection wards," Jax said. His voice had gone quiet. Awed or horrified, hard to tell which. "Like they were nothing." They had been nothing. Not compared to the curse's power. Not compared to Ezekiel's need to reach Winter. The cave entrance was dark. Narrow. Barely wide eno
The bat arrived at dawn.Ezekiel was in the courtyard when the creature swooped through the broken window of what used to be a guest wing. Small thing, wings barely making sound, navigating the pre-morning darkness like it owned the space. It landed on a chunk of rubble that had once been part of a decorative pillar and sat there. Staring at him.Ezekiel stared back.Bats didn't usually approach werewolves. They had better survival instincts than that. But this one just perched on its broken stone and watched him with black eyes that reflected nothing.Something was tied to its leg.. Small. Dark against dark.Ezekiel moved fast. Not running (he didn't run unless chasing prey), just closing the distance between them in three strides. The bat didn't flee. Just sat there while Ezekiel's massive fingers carefully, impossibly gently, worked the binding loose.Cloth. Pale fabric tied with what looked like a hair tie. The kind women used for braids.The bat chittered once and launched itself
[Crescent Citadel, West Wing Garden, Late Autumn Afternoon, Three Days After the Storm]Winter had been walking the library garden for nearly an hour, her fingers trailing over the rough bark of the gnarled trees, her breath misting faintly in the cooling air. Gareth stood his usual post by the ir
She found him in the northern forge, just as Jax had described. It wasn’t a weapons smithy, but a smaller, private place. The air was hot and thick with the smell of metal and coal smoke. The forge fire burned low, casting the room in a hellish red orange light. He was standing by a quenching barr
“It’s just a cake, Snow,” Jax sighed. “It’s not going to bite.”As if summoned by the tension, the bond’s hum intensified slightly. Winter’s gaze flickered to the main door. The shadows in the small gap beneath it seemed to shift. He was out there. Listening.She stared at the cake, her stomach twi
The silence he left behind was louder than a scream. Winter sat frozen on the hard wooden chair, her entire being vibrating with the aftershocks of his presence. Her mind was a kaleidoscope of fractured images: the terrifying intensity of his golden eyes, the shocking heat of his body so close t







