TyronI always hated nights like this. Too quiet. Too still. The kind of stillness that left too much room for memory to creep in.The Crescent Moon Pack house wasn’t unfamiliar anymore—too many days had passed since they unchained me, too many silent stares across their training grounds, too many stolen kisses with Winter in shadowed hallways when no one was watching. But it still wasn’t mine. Never would be.I lay on the bed they’d given me, the sheets too soft, the mattress too forgiving. The walls smelled of polished wood and lavender, a sharp contrast to the damp stone of the dungeon where I’d spent weeks chained. I should’ve felt grateful. I should’ve slept easy, knowing I wasn’t shackled and bleeding anymore.But sleep didn’t come without a price.And tonight, it came cruel.---It started the way it always did—shadows on the treeline, the distant howl of wolves that weren’t ours. The air reeked of smoke before the first flame even touched the ground.I was back there. Back in
Winter’s POVDinner felt like a test.The whole day, I’d been preparing myself for it — smoothing down my hair three times, changing dresses twice even though it was only a family meal, and still pacing the length of my room like I was waiting to be summoned to trial. Maybe that’s what it felt like. Tyron had been out of the dungeon for a week now, under the strict condition that he stayed within the Crescent Moon Pack’s grounds, under watch. Everyone knew my father didn’t trust him, Louis tolerated him at best, and the rest of the pack looked at him like a wolf who might bare his teeth at any second.And tonight, he was going to sit at my family’s table.I tried not to overthink it. But the truth was, I wanted them to see what I saw. Not the rogue, not the fighter with shadows in his eyes, but the man who had become impossible for me to stop thinking about. The man whose lips had pressed against mine more times than I could count when no one was watching. The one who made me feel pow
WinterIt had been a week since they’d let him out.I didn’t need reminding of the conditions — they’d been burned into me with every sharp word from Louis, every stiff look from my father, every whisper that followed me when I walked through the pack house. Tyron wasn’t free, not really. He was allowed to move through the house and the grounds immediately surrounding it, but no farther. He was watched, warned, tethered to a leash none of us could see but all of us felt. And that leash, whether I liked it or not, was me.This morning the air was sharp, cool, the kind that filled your lungs and set your nerves buzzing. Training. I’d been dreading it and craving it in equal measure. My body ached to move, to push, to release the coiled storm inside me that had only grown louder since the night I found him in the dungeon. But I also knew stepping back into training meant stepping back under a hundred eyes. My brother’s, my pack’s, and his.Especially his.I felt him before I saw him. My
Tyron Three days locked in silence, then suddenly freedom—at least, a version of it.Winter’s words still echo in my skull: Never, baby, never.The way she said it—bold, unflinching, as if I was hers to claim and she had no shame in staking that ground. My mate. My enemy. My ticket out.But the moment I tried to answer, her father stepped in, his scowl cutting through the air like a blade. Alpha Zander. I swear the man’s very presence is like iron chains. He made it clear enough: I wasn’t stepping out of this cell because he wanted me free. No, it was because of Winter, because she insisted.Still, there was a condition. The bond. The damn ritual. The tether that made me both stronger and weaker at once.I had to take it. I had no choice.The ritual burned, seared through my veins like fire and frost, and yet when her hand pressed against mine, when our bond snapped into place fully, I felt something I hadn’t expected. A grounding. A spark. A pull so violent it almost shattered my re
Three days.It has been three days since I saw her face.Three long, fucking days since I heard from her.The only thing I’ve been hearing through the mind link is my father’s voice, prying and pressing, asking if I was okay, asking how my plan was going. I give him vague answers, half-truths that keep him satisfied but still at a distance. I can’t give him more. Not yet.Right now, all I need to know is my fate.What the fuck are you doing, Winter?Are you hiding from me?The questions claw at my chest as I pace the confines of my cell, my boots dragging across the stone floor, the sound a reminder of the cage I’ve been forced into. I feel like I’m burning holes into the walls. I run my hand through my hair, tugging it, restless, tense, raw.Then—later in the afternoon—I feel it.Footsteps. A cluster of them moving in my direction. The air shifts, thick with anticipation. And then, like a spark catching dry leaves, it hits me—her scent. That intoxicating pull that no chain or wolfsba
The blazing sound of my alarm wakes me up before the sun has even touched my face.I groan, rolling over to check the time. 7:28 a.m. Way too early for my liking. But today I promised Casey I’d help her with her final assignments.Casey—my brother’s mate—never had the opportunity to get an education. Her previous pack was cruel, treating her like dirt simply because she was an orphan.Louis took it upon himself to make sure she got the best. She’s already incredibly skilled with beading and creating things, but school… that was always a tender spot for her. She felt too shy, too out of place to enroll in an actual classroom because of her age. So Louis hired her a private tutor instead.Now, she’s only a few months away from writing her GED. After that, maybe college—though I wouldn’t put it past her to end up pregnant first. And trust me, I know exactly what I’m saying.Dragging myself into the bathroom, I go through my morning routine: face wash, moisturizer, braiding my hair into F