LOGINI went upstairs. Found the second door on the right. Knocked quietly. "Come in." Hope's voice. Muffled. Like she'd been crying. Fuck. I'd made her cry. Had devastated my mate before even realizing she was my mate. I opened the door. Hope was sitting on her bed, eyes red, looking—looking vulner
"I didn't want to hurt her feelings. Didn't want to—to make things awkward since we're friends and train together and—" I stopped. "I was being a coward. Should have been honest months ago instead of letting her build expectations." "Yes. You should have." No judgment in Dad's voice. Just observat
The Next Generation Caden pov I watched Hope Reed-Castellan leave with her family, and something in my chest twisted. She'd looked—gutted. Devastated. Like something had broken when we were talking. And I—I didn't understand why. We'd just been having normal conversation. Me and Emily planning
"Hope Reed-Castellan." Caden's voice. Was it my imagination or did it sound—different? Deeper? "You're avoiding something. What's wrong?" The way he said my name. The intensity in his gray eyes. The—the way he was looking at me like he could see through every excuse. Did he know? Did he feel the
The Next Generation Hope pov I stood with my family at the pack gathering, trying to focus on Alpha Marcus's speech about the anniversary of the Great Integration War. Twenty years. Twenty years since my parents' generation fought extremists who wanted to eliminate hybrid babies like me. Twent
"Months." I looked at Rose. At Hope sleeping peacefully despite violence that had erupted around her. "Rose, we might—we might be able to go home. Back to Crescent Moon. Back to our life. In months. Maybe weeks if Uncle Cas's hunts go well." "Home." She said it like prayer. "Nate, we can—we can re
"We make them defend the indefensible," Jeremy finished. "They'd have to publicly argue that five-year-old Grace is a threat. That families like ours are dangerous. That species integration is wrong." "Most supernatural communities won't support that openly. The Council's held power because they'v
My Cheating Mate Jeremy pov Grace's fifth birthday party was winding down. The backyard was a mess of torn wrapping paper, half-eaten cake, and exhausted children running on pure sugar. Grace herself was showing Uncle Cas—she'd dropped the "Lord Castellan" entirely by age three—her new art suppl
"On it." Marcus was already moving. "Emma, call our coven allies. Every vampire group that's formed agreements with wolf packs. Tell them what's happening." She nodded, pulling out her own phone. "And Cas—" I looked at my friend. My daughter's Uncle Cas. The vampire lord who'd become family de
I looked at Grace, who'd successfully stacked three blocks and was clapping for herself with pure joy. "Is that why you're still here?" I asked quietly. "Because you think the threat is still active enough to need constant vampire presence?" "Partially." He didn't turn from the window. "But most







