LOGINALPHA GAVIN
The shack isn’t much. If anything, it looks like it should have collapsed years ago. Wood worn pale by the sun, corners softened by salt and time, the kind of place people forget exists until they accidentally stumble into it. Which makes it perfect. Because right now, I don’t want anything polished or controlled or intentional. I just want somewhere quiet enough that I don’t have to pretend I’m fine. The doorFor the first time in what feels like forever, no one is screaming. No alarms. No collapsing structures. No blood pooling where it shouldn’t. Just the quiet hum of equipment and the steady rhythm of the ocean somewhere beyond the temporary walls of the seaside facility. It should feel like relief. It almost does. But I don’t trust it. Not yet. Not after everything. Not after how close I came to losing them, how close I did lose them, if only for seconds that still feel carved into my chest like something permanent. So I stay busy. It’s easier that way. Easier than sitting still and letting my mind replay every moment where their breathing faltered, where their bodies gave out, where I thought… No. I don’t go there. Instead, I focus on what’s in front of me. On them. Luca is the first one to notice.
ALPHA HARLEY The pain doesn’t come in waves anymore. It stays. Constant. Crushing. Relentless in a way that makes it impossible to separate where it starts and where it ends. It feels like my body is giving up piece by piece, like whatever’s been holding me together since we escaped is finally tearing under pressure it was never meant to carry this long. Voices move around me, Lance, others, but they blur together, distorted and distant, like I’m already slipping somewhere I won’t come back from. I don’t fight it. Not at first. Because I’ve known this feeling before. Not like this, not this deep, not this final, but close enough to recognize what it means when your body starts losing the argument. My breath comes shallow, uneven, every inhale dragging through my chest like something is resisting it from the inside. And through all of it… There’s only one thought t
ALPHA HARLEY I wake up to the sound of the ocean. For a few seconds, that’s all there is. No pain. No urgency. No memory of where I am or what went wrong. Just the steady rhythm of waves breaking against the shore, rising and falling in a pattern that feels almost peaceful. It’s disorienting in the worst way because peace is the last thing I should be feeling. The moment stretches just long enough for me to almost believe it, almost convince myself that whatever happened in that lab, whatever we barely survived, is over. Then reality settles in. Not all at once, but in slow, unavoidable pieces. The stiffness in my limbs. The weight in my chest. The quiet, lingering weakness that makes even breathing feel heavier than it should. And beneath all of it… The bond. Still there. Still tethered. But not whole. My eyes open slowly,
ALPHA GAVIN The shack isn’t much. If anything, it looks like it should have collapsed years ago. Wood worn pale by the sun, corners softened by salt and time, the kind of place people forget exists until they accidentally stumble into it. Which makes it perfect. Because right now, I don’t want anything polished or controlled or intentional. I just want somewhere quiet enough that I don’t have to pretend I’m fine. The door creaks softly behind us when I push it closed, and for a second, neither of us moves. The air inside is warm, still carrying traces of heat from the early sun, and faintly smells like dried wood and sea air. It’s simple. Small. Too small, maybe. Because suddenly she feels closer. Too close to ignore. I let go of her hand, but only barely. My fingers don’t really leave hers. They just shift, like I’m not quite ready to lose t
ALPHA GAVIN I wake before the others. Not because I’ve rested, but because something inside me won’t let me stay under. For a few seconds, I don’t move. I lie there staring at the ceiling of the makeshift structure Lance’s team built along the shore, listening to the quiet hum of the generators outside and the distant rhythm of the waves beyond it. The air still carries salt and warmth, a strange contrast to the cold, sterile environment we were trapped in not long ago. It should feel like freedom. Instead, it feels like waiting. Last night I felt the bond shift. It wasn’t sharp enough to be painful, but it was strong enough to drag a breath from my chest as something unfamiliar rolled through me. Heat, pressure, or something deeper than either. My hand came up instinctively, pressing flat against my sternum as if I could contain it there. It didn’t hurt. Not exactly. It just felt lik
ALPHA LUCA I don’t remember deciding to move. One second, I’m standing there with her, the weight of everything we’ve said still settling between us, the bond humming low and steady beneath my skin… And the next, my hand is in hers, and we’re walking. Not back toward the others. Not toward the temporary structure Lance set up. But further down the shoreline, where the sand curves inward and the rocks rise just enough to shield a stretch of coast from the rest of the world. It isn’t far. But it feels… separate. Like stepping into a space that doesn’t belong to the chaos we left behind. The kind of place that exists quietly, waiting, untouched by everything else. “There’s a path,” she says softly, her fingers tightening slightly in mine as she nods toward a narrow opening between the rocks. I glance at it, then back at her. “You’ve been here before?” She s
To my surprise, I managed to survive almost an hour of being stuck in the same room as the two boys who I still can’t wrap my mind around were both my mates. Of course, it didn’t turn out to be as easy as I hoped it would be. One of the reasons being Luca kept flirting with me even though he was
Their heads instantly snapped back at each other, I almost thought they would come off. I’ve never seen such aggravated expressions on anyone’s face, combined with furrowed brows. So it seems they were disagreeing and based on how much it looked like Gavin was going to tear off Luca’s head, th
Mates, mates, mates… What in the world did my parents tell me about them again? I was very young the first time it came up. I think I was only about eight years old or so and the only reason I got curious about them was when I attended my first marking ceremony in the Pack. “What are they doing?
“Alpha Luca,” my courtier greeted before bowing as I entered the meeting room. Louis is spick and span with silk draped around him. I could tell they were new and it was definitely from my parents. They loved to spoil him. It only made sense since he is the one keeping the Pack back in Italy pre







