MasukTHE LAST THING SHE WAS HOLDINGEIRA'S POVI came in from the south.That is where Cassian placed me when we split the approach, with the south unit, twelve wolves who let me run beside them because Reece told them to and because not one of them was willing to be the person who tried to stop me. I had no weapon. I had no plan that extended beyond getting to my son. These are not the conditions under which a careful person enters a clearing full of hostile wolves.I stopped being careful approximately three seconds after Reece said the cells are empty.The war cry hits the air before I clear the tree line.It doesn't start as sound. It starts as pressure in the sternum, in the oldest part of the chest, in the place that existed before language and reason and the careful management of things too large to look at directly. It moves through the cold air like weather, like something the night itself has been holding and finally releases.I know that voice.I have spent five years trying to
CASSIAN'S WAR CRYCASSIAN'S POVI smell the camp at two hundred yards.Wood smoke and cold earth and the layered scent signatures of too many wolves gathered in one place for too long. Underneath all of that, fainter but unmistakable, the specific combination of pine resin and old stone and something warm and alive that I have been tracking since the moment Reece said the cells are empty.Kael.He's there.He's alive.I signal the unit to slow without looking back. A closed fist, dropped to hip height. Thirty wolves behind me go from moving pace to absolute stillness in the space of two steps. No sound. No shuffling. The particular disciplined silence of people who have drilled this enough times that their bodies obey before their minds have finished processing the command.Good.They're going to need that discipline in the next five minutes.I move to the tree line alone.The clearing opens ahead of me through the last row of trees. Wide. Round. Moonlit in a way that makes everything
The Stone TabletKAEL'S POVThe thing under my skin gets louder.I push.It pushes back.I breathe. In, out. Find the edges. Hold the shape of it.But I'm tired.I've been tired since the corridor. Since the bare cold feet on the forest floor. Since the moment I understood the adventure was a lie and started trying to figure out the lesser danger while my arms shook with the weight of keeping myself contained.I'm very tired.And the words keep coming.And the watching keeps pressing in from every side.And Japheth's voice gets more certain as the declaration progresses, more settled into its own rhythm, like a river that has found its channel and will now go where it was always going to go.Something shifts in the clearing.I feel it before I understand it.The ground.I look down at the ground under my feet.The dirt around the log is trembling.Very slightly. A vibration, barely visible, the kind that makes loose pebbles shift and soil compress and small things roll toward each oth
KAEL FIGHTS BACKKAEL'S POVThe kind-voiced man's name is Japheth.I know this now because Voss said it. Japheth, enough. He said it when Japheth got one step away from me and I still hadn't moved, still hadn't shown them anything, still hadn't given them what they came for. Voss said it like you say heel to a dog you trust to obey but want to remind who is in charge.Japheth stopped.He looked at Voss.Then he looked at me.And the kindness that was never really kindness was completely gone now. What was underneath it was something harder and colder and much more honest. He looked at me the way people look at problems they've run out of patience for."The boy is stalling," he said."The boy is five years old," Voss said. "Give him a moment.""We don't have moments to give.""We have exactly as many moments as I decide we have." Voss's voice didn't change volume or temperature but Japheth went quiet immediately. "Step back."Japheth stepped back.He kept his hand around the vial.A mo
KAEL'S POVI've been on this log for a long time when Voss finally walks toward me.I hear him coming before I see him. The clearing goes slightly quieter as he moves, the way spaces go quieter when the most important thing in them shifts position. The other wolves track him without looking directly at him. The kind-voiced man stops talking mid-sentence and watches.I put my hands flat on my knees.I sit straight.Voss stops in front of me.He's even bigger up close. He fills the air around him differently than other people. Like the air knows he's important and rearranges itself accordingly.He looks at me for a long moment without speaking.I look back.*Don't look away first,* I tell myself. *Mama never looks away first.*Something shifts in his expression. Not quite respect. Something like it."You're not afraid," he says.His voice is deep and slow. Like he decided long ago that words were worth taking time with."I didn't say that," I say.He tilts his head slightly. "Most child
THE SHADOW PACK'S CAMP KAEL'S POVThe man with the kind voice told me it was an adventure.That's what he said when he came to my room. He crouched down to my level the way grown-ups do when they want you to feel like they're not bigger than you, and he smiled and he said “come on, little one, your mother sent me, she wants you to see something, it'll be quick.”I knew him. He had a Beta smell. I didn't know exactly what Beta meant but I knew what the smell meant, important, someone my mama had to be polite to even when she didn't want to be. He came with the official smell. The pack smell. The kind that meant he belonged.He said mama sent him.So I went.I forgot my boots.I realized it three steps into the corridor and turned back for them but he said “it's all right, it won't take long” and he was already moving and I thought about the castle I was building and how I wanted to finish the tower before morning and I thought it won't take long so I went without them.That was a ver
Forty-eight: CrossroadsEIRA“What is the meaning of this?” His voice booms loud across the room. Henrik and Asha flinch, while Kael bursts into tears, running into my arms.I glare at Cassian. His eyes soften a bit before hardening again.His lips curl. “What is this, Henrik?”“Alpha David asked m
Fifty-Two: Leave, CassianCASSIAN“Your Majesty!” The door to the dining room barges open. Three families Omegas run in.Lysandra frowns. “What is the matter?”“Speak,” I order, pushing my plate of food away.The red-haired in the middle shudders. “It’s Eira…your Majesty.”I stand to my feet immedi
Fifty: New GuyEIRAI swallow thickly. “Let me go, Cassian.”“How can you expect me to do that, Eira Quinn. You’re my mate, it’s impossible to let you go.”My jaw tightens. I was his mate five years ago, and he still let me go. What’s the difference now?I’m probably still bitter about everything,
Forty-five: The Solution And RulesEIRASomehow, I had managed to convince Cassian that my people had died, and I’ve not met any others.It’s the truth. A little half-baked, but it’s true my parents were killed. Growing up in Ashbane pack was a luxury compared to going rogue.“I’m glad that you lo







