LOGINGideon’s POVThe air out there in the clearing got thick all of a sudden, like it was pressing down on my chest and making it hard to breathe. I just stood there, boots sinking into the moss, staring at Max. He was waiting, arms loose at his sides, eyes locked on me like he already knew something was off.I almost said it. Right there. The whole mess. That his sister was my fated mate, that my mother was out there somewhere hunting her like she was nothing but a trophy to hang on the wall, that I’d been losing my mind for the last day straight, heart racing every second I wasn’t with Tanya.But the second I opened my mouth, it all jammed up. Like my throat just slammed shut on its own. I looked at him then, really looked. That old sweater with the holes at the elbows. The rough hands from all those double shifts just to keep the lights on in this tiny cabin. Telling him would drag him straight into something he couldn’t fight. Put a bullseye on his back, too. No way.So the words chan
Gideon’s POVThe silence that followed Tanya’s frantic escape back to the cabin was heavy, thick with the scent of damp earth and the lingering, sweet fragrance of her hair. My eyes were still fixed on the corner of the house where she had disappeared. Even though she was gone, I could still feel the phantom heat of her gaze on my skin. She was vibrating with enough nervous energy to power a small city, and honestly? I couldn’t blame her.I stayed where I was, leaning against the silver birch, letting the forest air cool the fire in my lungs. My heart, which had been hammering against my ribs since I stepped onto this property, finally began to slow its frantic rhythm."She's a handful," Max said, his voice cutting through the stillness.I looked over at him. He was watching me with a look that was entirely too sharp for a guy who was just supposed to be a 'gym buddy' from a summer camp. He had his arms crossed over his chest, his posture relaxed, but his eyes were scanning me like h
Tanya’s POVEverything just… tilted.I stared at Gideon as my brain had short-circuited. This was my woods. My hiding spot. The place I came when everything else got too loud. Not Moonstone. Not some downtown bar. Home. And there he was, Gideon Hemisphere, hockey captain, fated-bloodline golden boy, nightmare-mom included, leaning against a birch tree as he belonged there.“What the fuck?” I said again, louder, voice cracking. “Gideon? How…why are you here? How do you even know where I live?”I braced for Max to lose it. For him to growl, shift, step in front of me, do anything a big brother should do when a strange Alpha shows up in the backyard. But nothing happened.I turned to Max, stomach dropping slowly, and sick. He wasn’t tense anymore. Shoulders loose. Face calm. Not shocked. Not mad. Calm. Like he’d been waiting for this.“Max?” My voice came out small. I took a step back, and my heel caught a root. “Max, why aren’t you saying anything?”Cold fear crawled up my spine. Did he
Tanya’s POVSunlight slipped through the gaps in my old curtains, but that wasn’t what pulled me awake. I opened my eyes and stared straight up at the ceiling. There they were, the glow-in-the-dark stars and planets I stuck up when I was eight. The edges were curling now, the glow barely there anymore, but they still felt like mine. The first thing I saw every time I came home was A little piece of the girl I used to be, before mate stuff, Alpha rules, and all the heartbreak that came after.I let out a long breath and stretched until my back cracked. The bed felt small compared to the one at Moonstone, but it was soft in the right places. I rolled onto my side and looked out the window. From here, I could see right into the thick dark woods. Nothing but trees and quiet.I loved that view. Max made it happen. A couple of years back, I kept complaining about how cramped the house felt, how I wished we had one of those big places in the city. We couldn’t buy anything new, so Max just…
Tanya’s POVThe bus ride took forever. Just gray road and streetlights flashing past. I leaned my head on the window. It felt cold. My chest stayed heavy the whole way.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Gideon again. That hurt look on his face when I told him we could never be anything. It kept playing over and over.My hands shook a bit in my lap. I could still hear our talk from the car ride to the station."You think being an Alpha means I get to pick what I want, Tanya?" he said. His voice sounded tight. Hands tight on the wheel, too. "Everything I do gets watched. Every word I say goes straight back to my mom. She does not want me leading. She wants me to be exactly like her. All plans and no feelings. My life is her game. And she already decided you don't belong in it."He looked over at me. Really looked. Like he needed me to say something. "I'm not part of anybody's game, Gideon," I said. My voice came out small. "I'm just me. I have family. People who need me. I'm not someth
GIDEON’S POVThe silence of my suite was deafening. It wasn’t the kind of silence that brings peace; it was the suffocating, heavy kind that made my chest feel like it was being compressed by a hydraulic press. I had stared at the ceiling for hours, tracing the intricate crown molding until the patterns began to blur into nothingness. My mind kept drifting back to that bus terminal. I could still see her walking away, her slight limp making every step look like a battle against the world.She was so fragile, yet she carried a spine of tempered steel. And I was stuck here, trapped in a gilded birdcage, surrounded by servants who were afraid to look me in the eye and a mother who viewed human connection as a business transaction.I couldn't take it anymore. The stillness was driving me toward the edge of a breakdown, or worse, toward a shift I wasn't ready to unleash. I needed to move. I needed to act.I hauled myself off the bed and made my way toward the dining wing. The mansion was v
GIDEON’S POVThe drive back from the bus station felt like a funeral procession. The empty passenger seat, which still held the faint, lingering scent of Tanya’s shampoo, something like wild jasmine and something sharper, like winter air, seemed to mock me. She had walked away, and for the first ti
TANYA’S POVThe drive from the campus gate was a blur of shadows and streetlights. I sat in the passenger seat of Gideon’s Jeep, my hands folded tightly in my lap, trying to make myself as small as possible. The interior smelled intensely of cedarwood and rain, and every time the car shifted gears,
GIDEON’S POVThe heavy oak doors of the lecture hall creaked as I shoved them open, the sound echoing through the tiered room. Every head snapped in my direction. The air was thick with the scent of old paper, floor wax, and the nervous sweat of fifty different wolves. I didn't slow down. I didn't
TANYA’S POVThe mid-term break was supposed to be a relief. It was the first time since the semester began that the campus would actually be quiet, a reprieve from the whispers, the glares, and the suffocating pressure of being the "Omega" everyone was afraid of. The hallways were already buzzing w







