LOGINElara“My daughter did what?!”My father’s roar carried through the entire house. I wasn’t sure which daughter he was furious about — whether he had discovered that I was hiding Mandi and her mother on our lands, or whether this was about Louisa. I crept down the hall to his doorway and was immediately hit by the scent of cotton candy. My mouth watered before I could stop it. Biological response. Entirely involuntary.I angled myself to see into the room. Kaelen was seated across from my father’s desk, mostly with his back to me, his arm in a sling. “She has colluded with Julian to take over the pack,” he was saying. “When I refused to give them full control, they attacked me. I was caught off guard, outnumbered — I had no choice but to flee for my life.” He sighed with co
JulianThe night was dark and cold, a killing frost threatening in the still air. Autumn leaves had scattered across the training field, and it seemed the entire pack had assembled on the grass, their breath rising in small clouds. The anxiety was palpable — I could feel it, hear it in the low murmur of voices speculating around the edges of the circle that had begun to form.Wisdom and experience against youth and physical fitness. Many of them hadn’t seen me since Kaelen’s ascension, when I had been so diminished I could barely stand upright. I wasn’t that man anymore. The months of running — literally, through the woods, away from Louisa and everything that terrified me about her — had done their work. My body had remembered what it was.And now I had something worth fighting for.
JulianFor all intents and purposes, I had signed over everything I owned to Louisa and our unborn child. It wasn’t a great deal — some personal investments, a sum in savings — but it was enough to let her
KaelenFinally, Louisa and Julian were both out of the house at the same time, and I had the perfect opportunity to search the old Alpha suites for my mother’s gun. I had the master key in my pocket, but I didn’t even need it. Louisa never bothered to lock her door. What a trusting fool. I pushed it open and cringed against the scent that practically slapped me in the face. I never, in my life, smelled a woman who was so damn unappealing.As the door swung open, I took stock of the room. It bore very little resemblance to my mother's room anymore. Louisa had added her own little touches everywhere, and had filled the bland space with splashes of color. It was… not terrible. I took another step into the room, and then realized there was a door on the floor.What in the actual hell?The door that separated the two rooms was off its hinges and just lying on the carpet, for no apparent reason at all. Upon closer inspection, I saw that the door jamb and the handle had been damaged, like so
LouisaThat wasn’t exactly how I had planned for things to unfold, but the cat was well and truly out of the bag.“There are no take-backs, Missy!” Gerald Halfmoon said, once he had recovered enough to speak. “You may be regretting your decision, Julian, but the blood ceremony was performed. Unless Kaelen willingly passes the Alpha mantle back to you, what’s done is done. It’s irreversible.”“Nothing is irreversible,” Ruth said, waving her cookie in the air. “There is always an option to replace a weak Alpha. Julian will have to challenge him.”“But — an Alpha challenge is to the death!”“That’s right!” Gerald said, with entirely too much satisfac
JulianAll I wanted was to get back to Louisa.She had occupied every corner of my mind all day — her smiles, the soft sounds she made, the way she sighed in her sleep. And underneath all of it, steady and impossible and real, the sound of our baby’s heartbeat.I was still trying to make sense of the fact that our tiny, barely-formed child had somehow expelled Kaelen’s venom from Louisa’s blood and healed the mark entirely. Not a trace of a scar remained — I had confirmed that by close examination while she slept. I hadn’t known such a thing was possible. But it only reinforced what I already knew in my bones: Louisa was meant for me. The whole catastrophe with Kaelen had never been going to hold.And it had all come about because of me. Because I had been
LouisaSomething was going on. The whole house was in a tizzy — staff scrubbing windows, laundering drapes, shampooing carpets, polishing every surface to a shine. The level of industry was unprecedented.Kaelen was walking around looking insufferably smug and refused to tell me anything. When I qu
KaelenCould it really be that easy?If I needed any confirmation that I was on the right track, it was sitting on the desk in front of me. The universe was practically rolling out the red carpet. One night, and here we were. Further proof, as if I needed any, of my own potency.Sometimes I even su
LouisaI didn’t have to fake being nervous when the time finally came to make it official with Dr. Ramirez. Fooling Kaelen was one thing. Fooling an intelligent woman with a medical degree was considerably more intimidating. And going public with the pregnancy — even just this far — made me feel ex
ElaraI threw my phone down on the bed in disgust.Disgust with myself, disgust at the whole situation. My sister was pregnant, and that should have been joyful news. But my sister’s baby daddy was my fated mate.I couldn’t help turning it over — if she hadn’t stepped in to try and save me from the







