We waited in silence, just me and Aries, curled up against each other—his arms steady, his warmth grounding. It felt like hours, but it was only ten minutes before the door creaked open and they all walked in.Lucy. Robin. Julian. Rose. Lily.It was time.Time to hear what they’d found. Time to face whatever hope or risk they brought with them.Aries helped me sit upright against the pillows. His hand hovered at my back like he was scared I’d fall apart again.“Alright,” he said, his voice firm but tired. “Now that everyone’s here, let’s hear it. Robin?”Robin stepped forward, eyes flickering to me, then to Lucy.“Well, Alpha… Elegida,” he began. “Back at the Banished camp, there was a woman—she wasn’t a witch, but she was good with spells. I remembered something she always said, and when I told Lucy, she agreed it might work.”“What did she say?” I asked, my voice dry but steady.“She always said: ‘A new shift has the power to unravel any and all spells.’ And since you haven’t fully
I hadn’t passed out again—not since the reunion with Rose, Julian, and everyone else. My eyes had stayed open, and I intended to keep it that way. It was the least I could do, knowing everyone was turning over every stone to get the globe out of me.Ria still hadn’t spoken, but I could feel her presence inside me now, quiet but steady. And that gave me hope—hope that she was okay, that we were okay.Robin had visited after the others left. Like everyone else, he blamed himself—for not protecting me, for Maron’s death. I had to make him understand: it wasn’t his fault. It wasn’t any of theirs. The blame belonged to Ron, and Ron alone.I hadn’t gone to Maron’s grave yet, but it would be the first place I visited once I could get out of this bed. I’d been here a day now, and Aries told me I could finally move back to our room this morning. I was sitting up, waiting for him to come take me there—to take me home.I was still being drained. I could feel it, like a slow leak in my soul. Ever
Ron’s POVThe stench of smoke still hung in the air—thick, bitter, and suffocating. The taste of failure.I stood in the ruins of the eastern wing, fists clenched so tight my claws cut into my own skin. Blood dripped, unnoticed, onto the cracked stone floor. But even that pain didn’t come close to the fury simmering in my chest.They took her.They took Rex.I could still feel the faint echo of her power lingering in the walls. She was here—chained, broken, mine. I was so close. So damn close to having her the way she was meant to be.Now the cell was empty. Chains shattered. Blood dried. And the air was tainted with the scent of that cursed Alpha—Aries.A roar tore out of me, ripping through the air. The walls trembled, dust raining down from above.Two guards froze at the entrance, too afraid to meet my eyes.“You let them in,” I growled, my voice low, seething with venom. “You let them take her right from under your nose.”One of them dared to speak—tried to explain.“They came dur
The scent was the first thing I noticed before my eyes even fluttered open. That sharp sting of disinfectant—and something softer, familiar. Earthy. Warm. Aries.I could hear soft murmurs dancing around me, voices like distant music just beyond my understanding. I shifted slightly, and a dull ache burned across my back. It still hurt—but not like before.“Rex?”A voice I’d recognize in any lifetime.Aries.I forced my eyelids open.The lights weren’t harsh this time. They were softer, clearer. My blurry vision settled, registering what my heart already knew—we weren’t in the tent anymore.Shapes began to form. Then faces.And then I felt his hand wrap around mine—steady, grounding. A touch I had grown used to these past few days.“You’re home now,” Aries whispered.“Home?” I rasped, my voice raw.He nodded gently, eyes locked on mine. I turned my head slowly, scanning the room—and that’s when I saw them.Rose, curled in a corner, her knees to her chest. Her eyes were red, but they lit
Aries POV The journey back to the pack was too quiet. The kind of quiet that made every crunch of leaves and every gust of wind sound like a threat. I couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling that the ghosts of the Blue Crescent Pack would leap from the shadows and snatch her away from me again. I looked down at Rex—still unconscious in my arms, fragile and far too pale. I had carried her the entire way, refusing to let anyone else touch her. Julian offered once, but I declined without hesitation. I wouldn’t feel safe unless she was this close to me. She hadn’t woken up. Not even once. She shifted slightly from time to time, her brow twitching like she was stuck in some nightmare. I adjusted my grip gently, walking slower than the others so I wouldn’t jostle her already battered body. I trailed behind the rest of the crew—Julian, Robin, and Lilly were ahead, probably talking strategy. A conversation I should’ve been part of… but I couldn’t leave her. Not again. A few long hours passed
It felt like I was drowning. I couldn’t tell if this was a dream or not—each breath I took was thick and wrong, like breathing through water. My body ached in places I didn’t even know could feel pain. But something was… off. The air was still. Clean. Too clean. Not the suffocating stench of damp stone and blood I’d grown used to. There were no chains. No darkness. Just warmth. And something steady. No—someone. A heartbeat, strong and calm beneath the storm of my broken body. The ache returned slowly, like a shadow remembering where it lives. My back throbbed. My wrists burned. My limbs felt like they were carved from stone. But I could breathe. Freely. That alone made my eyes flutter open. I tried to move, and pain exploded through my entire body. A hiss escaped my lips as I clenched my jaw, refusing to cry out. Blinking against the soft glow, I turned my head—slowly. This wasn’t the dungeon. Dim lantern light flickered from a corner, casting a warm golden hue on rough