Mag-log inREINAI went to his office to ask about Sofia.That was all.Just a simple question about whether Sofia could stay for another week. Whether it was safe. Whether Zaden thought the situation was stable enough.A simple question.I knocked.No answer.I knocked again.Still nothing.I pushed the door open.He was asleep at his desk.Still in yesterday's clothes. Head resting on his folded arms.I almost left.I should have left.But I stood in the doorway for a moment just, looking at him.Because I had never seen him like this before. Zaden Cole, Alpha, the most controlled man I had ever met in my life, asleep at his desk like a person. Just a person. Tired and human and completely unguarded in a way he never was when he was awake.Something in my chest did something quiet.I stepped inside.Walked toward the desk to leave a note instead.And then I saw it.It was sitting right there on top of his papers.A thin silver chain.Small moon charm.I stopped walking.My heart stopped with m
ZADENI couldn't sleep.Nothing new about that. I had not been sleeping well for months.But tonight was different. Tonight the restlessness was like something pressing from the inside and getting louder and I was running out of ways to turn the volume down.I gave up at midnight.Got up. Went to my office. Sat at my desk.Opened my laptop.Closed it.Stood up. Went to the window. Looked at the dark courtyard below.Sat back down.My wolf would not settle.That was the thing.For months his behavior had been…pressing. Urgent. Focused in the direction of the east wing in a way I had been managing by simply refusing to examine it too closely.Tonight it was different.Tonight he wasn't pressing.He was certain.There's a difference. Pressing is wanting something. Certain is knowing something. And my wolf tonight had the specific energy of an animal who had already made up his mindI didn't know what he knew.I didn't know why tonight felt different from every other night.I just knew I
REINAI was standing in the entrance hall when the car pulled through the gates.I had been standing there for forty minutes.Lena had tried to get me to sit down. I couldn't sit down. I stood at the window and watched the driveway and told myself over and over that Sofia was fine, she was in the car, she was safe, she was coming.It didn't help.Not until the car actually stopped.Not until the door opened and she stepped out.I was through the front door before she reached the steps.She saw me and her face did something and then we were just… holding on.Both of us. In the middle of the entrance, her bag dropping somewhere, my hands in her hair checking her face checking her arms checking everything while she was saying I'm fine I'm fine I'm fine and I was saying nothing because I couldn't.I just held on.She let me.For a long time she just let me."I'm okay," she said eventually. Into my shoulder. "Reina. I'm actually okay.""I know," I said."You can let go now.""In a minute,"
SOFIAI almost didn't notice.That was the scary part.She seemed completely normal.Maya. My study partner for three years. The person I called when I was stressed about exams and she called me when she was stressed about boys and we had never once had a reason not to trust each other.She texted me at seven.Come study at mine. I made pasta.Normal. Completely normal.I grabbed my bag and went.I noticed something was wrong when I got to her door.I don't know what it was exactly. Something in the air.Maya's apartment was never quiet, she had a roommate and a loud TV and neighbours who argued through the walls.Tonight it was silent.I knocked.The door opened.It wasn't Maya.A man I had never seen before. Big. Wrong smile. The kind of smile that didn't reach anything above the mouth."Sofia Castillo," he said.My stomach dropped.He knew my name.I ran.I didn't think about it. Didn't decide. My body just moved, down the corridor, down the stairs, out the building door before he
REINAI stood at the back of that room for a long time after everyone left.Just standing there.The chairs empty. The table cleared. The room quiet.His words still in the air.Do not make me choose between that respect and my wife.My wife.He said my wife.In a room full of people. In front of the elders and the warriors and everyone who had ever looked at me like I didn't belong here.My wife.I pressed my hand flat against the wall.Breathed.Then I went to the garden.The garden always helped.I didn't even know what I was doing when I got there. Just crouching in the soil. Hands in the dirt. Letting my body do something familiar while my head tried to catch up with what I had just heard.Lena found me twenty minutes later.She didn't say anything at first. Just sat on the stone border with two mugs of tea and handed one to me.I took it.We sat quietly for a bit.Then Lena said "I heard what he said.""How?" I said. "You weren't in the room.""Cade told me." She wrapped both ha
ZADENThe letter from Elder Miriam arrived Monday morning.Emergency council session. Noon.I read it once.Set it down."Call the session," I told Damian. "Full council. Every senior warrior. I want the room full."Damian looked at me carefully. "You want witnesses.""I want everyone," I said. "Every person in this pack who has an opinion about my wife's position here. I want them all in that room today."Damian said nothing for a moment.Then he picked up his phone.I walked into the council room at noon exactly.The room was full. Twelve elders. Ten senior warriors. Damian at my right. Every seat taken and people standing at the back.Good.I sat at the head of the table.I didn't speak.I looked around the room slowly. Every face. Every person. I took my time. Let them feel it. Let the silence sit until it had weight.Nobody said anything.Nobody moved.Then Miriam stood.She was the oldest elder. Sharp. Experienced. Someone I had respected for years."Alpha," she said. "Thank you
ZADENThe house was quiet.Too quiet.I stood in my office long after midnight, the only light coming from the desk lamp that cast long shadows across the dark wood. My side still throbbed from the wound Reina had cleaned earlier. I could still feel the ghost of her fingers on my skin, gentle, trem
REINAThe afternoon light was soft as it filtered through the tall windows of the main sitting room. I had come here to escape the heavy silence of my bedroom, carrying a book I wasn’t really reading. I mostly just needed something to do with my hands, something to occupy my mind so it wouldn’t kee
ZADENI was in the office by six fifteen.The wedding was yesterday. I'm aware of this the way I'm aware of any completed task. It happened, it's done and doesn't need any more of my attention. The account is closed. The arrangement is in place. Whatever comes next in that particular part of my lif
REINANobody tells you what it actually feels like.The movies give you nerves and flowers and a father crying at the end of the aisle and a groom who looks at you like you just answered a question he's been asking his whole life. The reality…my reality is a borrowed dress and eleven minutes and a







