INICIAR SESIÓNI straightened up. My heart was pounding. I looked around the room and for a single, disorienting moment, I had no idea where I was. The black stone walls, the red sky beyond the window, the dead air of this place—none of it felt right. None of it felt like mine. I felt like a man who had woken up m
Andrei’s POVThe collar of my shirt was pissing me off.I had fastened it twice already and it still insisted on sitting crooked, pulling too tight on the left side. I undid it a third time and redid it, slower, watching my hands in the mirror rather than my own face. My reflection had been botherin
Natalia’s POVHe didn’t hesitate.The moment I swung the rod toward him, his hand shot out and closed around my wrist like a vise. My arm wrenched sideways, and I felt the bones grind together under his grip, and the rod fell. It clattered somewhere on the stone floor, rolling away into the darkness
Andrei’s POVThe room was warm. The bed was soft and plush, the pillows made of feathers and velvet. Everything smelled familiar, the kind of scent that you recognize from a past life but can never put a finger on its source.Home.The woman was laying next to me, just as she always did. Amber hair
But I would do it, because the alternative was my children going through whatever came next, and that was not something I was willing to consider.I wasn’t certain yet. That was the only reason I was still trying so hard now. Because there was still a small part of me that thought that there must be
Natalia’s POVThey came for me after what felt like a full day. I say felt like because it really could have been any amount of time, or none at all. But someone did bring me some slop to eat at some point, so that had to have meant that at least a full cycle had passed.I was on my feet before the
Celeste’s POVThe collision sent both Karl and Natalia tumbling to the cobblestones in a tangle of limbs and scattered flower petals. Karl’s face went bright red as he scrambled to help her up, apologizing profusely while she brushed dirt off her knees and laughed it off like it was nothing.My nost
“No, I don’t think I am. I walked in on her about to slap him across the face the other night. And I’ve seen her do it before. Don’t act like you’ve never noticed the bruises, Helena.”Helena rolled her eyes. “Of course I have. But young couples often have... passionate disagreements.”“Passionate d
Natalia’s POVTwo more days passed after that fateful night in Karl and Celeste’s room. By the second day, Max was well enough to sit up again without dissolving into a coughing fit, which meant that the healers allotted him two hours of being in the wheelchair.Jane and I spent those entire two hou
“I accept,” I said, stepping fully into the circle.The Gamma’s smile widened. She cracked her knuckles and rolled her shoulders, clearly relishing this.“Wait.” David appeared out of nowhere, still wearing his leathers and with a fine sheen of sweat across his brow from his recent patrol in the Tho







