ANMELDENLila’s POV I laughed before I could stop myself, the sound surprising even me. "You say that like children are supposed to be easy.""Aren't they?" Dante asked, one brow lifted, and for a moment I forgot he was the man half the world feared."They're a joy," I said, softer now, thinking of Ash's small mouth finally opening for that spoon. "A hard, exhausting joy. But a joy.""You handled him well tonight," I added. "Better than I expected."He shrugged like it cost him nothing, but something in his jaw shifted, like the compliment had landed somewhere he wasn't used to being touched. "I had good motivation. He looked like he was about to cry in front of the entire hall. Didn't want to explain to my betas why I let a toddler outshine me.""Thank you," I said, and I meant it more than the lightness in my voice let on. "For helping. You didn't have to.""I know," he said again, the same thing he'd told me outside Ash's door, and we stood there in that quiet hallway with too much unsaid
Dante’s POV The hall was loud with laughter and the clink of goblets, and I let it wash over me the way I always did at these gatherings, present but somewhere else at the same time. The wine was good, my wine, and the food kept coming out of the kitchens like it never ran out, roasted meats and bread still warm enough to steam when it was torn open. Everyone was in good spirits. I should have been too.Instead my eyes kept finding her.Lila sat further down the table, bent low over her son, trying to coax a spoon between his lips. Ash turned his head away from her every time, small fists pressed to his mouth, and I watched her patience fray at the edges even as she kept her voice soft for him. She didn't know I was watching. Or maybe she did and simply didn't care.I told myself it meant nothing, the way my attention kept drifting to her end of the table. I pushed the thought down the way I pushed down most things that made me uncomfortable, but it kept climbing back up, stubborn as
Lila’s POV The invitation came on a small card, slipped under my door sometime between when I finally stopped crying and when Ash fell asleep against my arm.Dinner. Seven o'clock. I expect you to attend.No signature. He didn't need one.Eryndra stirred the moment I read it, rising up in my chest like she'd been waiting. She had been unusually present since we returned to the Citadel, closer to the surface than usual, and I knew it was because of him. Because he was somewhere in this building right now, eating or giving orders or doing whatever Dante did when he wasn't being the Alpha King in front of an audience, and she could feel that. She always could.Wear something nice, she said."I'm exhausted."I know. Wear something nice.I looked at myself in the mirror above the basin. My hair was a disaster and there were shadows under my eyes deep enough to have their own shadows. I looked like a woman who had broken into a government facility, killed several people, found her son in a
Lila’s POV Maids poured into the entrance hall, healers directing traffic, voices overlapping, hands reaching. Someone took bags. Someone else appeared with towels. The whole machine of the pack activated around them and I stood in the center of it holding Ash and felt nothing except the weight of him in my arms.He was real. That was still the only thought I could complete.Ari was pressed against my side, her fingers twisted into the hem of my shirt. She hadn't let go since we climbed out of the vehicle and she hadn't spoken much either, just kept touching Ash, his arm, his shoulder, the back of his wrist, small quick checks, the way you touch a flame to see if it's still warm.A maid stepped toward us, young, with a kind face. "Luna, we can take the children to the—""No." I said it before she finished.She hesitated."Thank you," I added, because she meant nothing by it. "No."Marcus materialized beside me the way he always did. Joan was leaning against him, upright but barely, h
Lila’s POV The remaining Amber Witches, four of them, stationed throughout level four, attacked simultaneously.The battle was brutal. Fire and amber and shadow magic exploded in every direction. Blackwood wolves fought alongside me, their supernatural strength clashing with witch magic in devastating combinations.Dante fought at my side throughout, shifted and unshifted, adapting, commanding, fighting with a ferocity that took my breath away. We moved together instinctively, covering each other’s weaknesses, amplifying each other’s strengths.It wasn’t just a strategy. It was chemistry. Real, undeniable chemistry that had nothing to do with fate and everything to do with who we were as individuals.When one witch cornered me with a containment spell, Dante was there instantly, breaking the spell with pure willpower and pulling me against him. We were face to face for one breathless second, his arm around my waist, his eyes burning into mine.“You okay?” he asked, his voice rough.“
Lila’s POV The facility sat nestled in the Montana wilderness like a cancer, sleek, modern, deliberately hidden beneath layers of concealment wards. From the outside, it looked like nothing. A stretch of unremarkable forest.From the inside, Dante’s scouts reported, it was a nightmare.“Forty-two guards,” Dante briefed us in the war room, his voice carrying the calm authority of someone who’d planned raids his entire life. “Twelve are supernatural, enhanced humans, mostly. The rest are military. Three witch sentinels maintain the outer wards. The internal layout suggests four underground levels. Medical on level two, containment on three, research on four.”“Research,” I whispered, that word making my stomach turn. “That’s where they’d keep Ash.”“Level four, yes.” Dante’s ice-blue eyes found mine across the map, and something in his expression softened, just barely, just enough to notice. “We’ll get him back, Lila.”The way he said my name, quiet, almost tender, made my chest ache.
Lila’s POV “Before I leave, I need to see your son.”Kai looked up from the travel preparations, confusion crossing his face. “What? Why?”“Because your child is cursed, and you know it.” I glanced at Raven, who’d gone pale. “And because I’m apparently the breaker of curses. So let me break this o
Lila’s POV “We need to move now,” Marcus said, examining the cell door lock. “If we wait until morning, we’ll lose any advantage we have.”“Wait.” Elena’s voice came through the wall gap, urgent but strangely soft. “Marcus, come here. Let me see your hand.”Marcus looked confused but moved to the
Lila’s POV Raven stood outside the cell bars, her Luna robes immaculate, her expression a careful mask of superiority. But I could see through it now, see the calculation, the fear barely hidden beneath the polish.“You’re stupider than I thought,” Raven said, her voice carrying that familiar cond
Lila’s POV They didn’t take us back to the guest house.The guards marched us across the pack grounds to a building I’d hoped never to see again, the detention center. Where rogues and traitors were held before judgment.“You’re putting us in the cells?” I demanded as they shoved us through the re







