ログインDax’s POVA sharp knock on the door dragged me out of sleep.I opened my eyes slowly, disoriented for half a second before everything from earlier came rushing back at once. Purple eyes. My essence. Ciara fighting me with strength that should not have belonged to her. Ayla’s voice over the phone. You were right. The memories I had tried not to remember.My head turned immediately towards the bed.Ciara was still there and she looked soundly asleep.I stood so quickly that the chair beside me scraped lightly against the floor, then crossed to her before whoever was outside could knock again. Her breathing remained calm and even, her face soft against the pillow as though nothing had happened. I pressed two fingers carefully against her wrist, counting the steady beats, then rested my palm over the curve of her stomach.The pup responded almost immediately.Strong current and very stable.I released a breath I had not realized I was holding.“Good.”My hand remained there a little longe
Dax’s pov.My brows pulled together. “Coming where?”“To the human realm.” she scoffed and I actually stared at the phone.“You hate the human realm.”“I also hate unsolved anomalies more.” I could still hear the sounds coming from her lab“Ayla.”“I’m already packing.”“You cannot just leave Shadowfen without...”“Watch me.”I rubbed my forehead. “How long?”“I said I’m coming. Stop asking useless questions and focus on Ciara.”There was a sudden clang, followed by Ayla muttering something foul under her breath.Then she spoke again, rapid and firm. “Do not let anyone give her human sedatives. Do not let anybody draw blood unless I am present. Keep her away from active Blackthorne essence, especially Asher. If her eyes change again, call me before you do anything stupid. And for the love of every cursed ancestor we have, do not let her near any Vane relics if there's any in the human realm”I frowned. “Why?”Ayla paused.Fuck... that pause again.“Ayla.”“I’ll explain when I get ther
Dax’s POVFor a few seconds after Ayla cursed, there was nothing but silence between us.I stood beside the bed with the phone pressed hard against my ear, listening to my own heartbeat slam against my ribs while my eyes stayed on Ciara. She was still unconscious, breathing steadily, looking painfully normal despite the faint purple current that occasionally flickered beneath her skin. Every time it appeared, my stomach tightened all over again.Ayla finally spoke, and for once, there was no sarcasm in her voice. “Are you sure?”I swallowed. “About what?”“Don’t play stupid with me right now, Dax.” I heard something metal scrape violently across a surface on her end. “Are you absolutely sure I'm right? Did she react to your true essence the way they do?”My gaze lowered to Ciara’s hand.I remembered the way her eyes changed when the scent of my essence hit her and whatever was inside her came alive immediately. The hunger. The strange voice. The way she demanded more, not just from me
Dax’s pov “Little moon?”Her body hung limply against me, and for one horrible second, everything inside me stopped. I could hear her heartbeat, fast and uneven but still there, and that was the only thing keeping me from completely losing my mind. My hand immediately moved to her stomach, palm spreading over the curve as I searched desperately for the pup’s current. The moment I felt the strong, warm and alive feeling, my knees almost gave out beneath me.My wolf’s voice came quieter this time, stripped of the anger he had used only seconds ago. "Get them on the bed. Carefully."I could barely think, but my body listened. I lifted Ciara properly into my arms and carried her towards the bed, though my legs felt strangely weak beneath me. I had walked away from battles with broken bones and half my body covered in blood without feeling this unsteady, yet carrying her those few steps felt harder than anything I had done in centuries. I lowered her onto the mattress as gently as poss
Dax’s POVFor several seconds, I forgot how to move.Ciara stood only a few feet away from me, yet the woman looking through her eyes was not my little moon. Purple light crawled beneath her skin in thin, living veins, gathering around her throat, her wrists and the curve of her stomach before disappearing again. Her eyes were completely wrong, beautiful, yes, but wrong. They were suddenly too bright, old and there was no confusion in them anymore, none of the fear I had seen only moments ago when she fought whatever was trying to push her out of her own body.There was hunger.Pure, shameless hunger.The golden-red threads of my true essence remained suspended between us, twisting slowly in the air, and she watched them the way a starving beast watched fresh blood. Then her lips curved into a smile.My chest went cold, that's not Ciara’s smile.Ciara smiled with her whole face when she was genuinely happy. Her nose wrinkled slightly when she tried not to laugh, and when she was plo
Ciara’s povMy fingers turned cold.“Ciara?”I shook my head hard, and the presence seemed to retreat, although not completely. “It spoke again.”Dax’s entire body went rigid. His eyes sharpened, and that dark pressure I had felt earlier returned around him. “What did it say?”I hesitated for only a second before forcing the truth out. “It told me not to let you test me.”Something changed in Dax then. The uncertainty did not disappear, but it became determination.“Then we are testing you.”“Dax...”“If something inside my mate understands enough to interfere with what you tell me, especially when it is asking you to collect essence from me and my brothers, I am not leaving it alone.”The Alpha beneath his calm voice made the words feel final.I hated that part of me agreed with him.Fear sat like a stone inside my stomach, yet ignoring the thing felt worse. It had already started speaking outside the void. What happened if next time it did more than speak?“Fine,” I whispered.Dax n







