Mag-log inLUCIANThere’s a certain saying that’s always stuck in my mind. I liked to interpret my own way. Before shit actually hits the fan, you notice the stink little by little.The first thing that went wrong was how quiet the east wing felt.Dark Moon was never silent. Not truly. Even in the dead of night, the pack breathed. Guards rotated. Doors opened and shut. Wolves moved through corridors with the low, constant murmur of shared territory.But as I walked toward our room, something felt oddly hollow. The hairs along the back of my neck rose.I slowed, my steps instinctively cautious and my senses stretching outward. The corridor lay completely empty. There were no scent trails across the threshold that lead to her room. No recent movement, no familiar presence.I stopped outside the door. It was open. That alone was very wrong. Violet never slept with the door open. Not since the first night she'd we’d shared a room. According to her, it made her feel exposed and vulnerable. I remembe
VIOLETI came back to myself slowly.Not all at once. It never happened all at once. It came in fragments that didn't make sense. Sound came first. A low hum, like sound of blood rushing through my ears. Then cold. Stone beneath my back. Something tight around my wrists.I tried to move. Something I probably shouldn’t have done. The pain hit sharply, and my breath caught in my throat.“What the…?”I groaned softly, my head pounding as I forced my eyes open. Light stabbed into my vision, harsh and unforgiving, and I squeezed my eyes shut again immediately. My body felt wrong. All sorts of wrong. It felt heavy and sluggish, like it wasn't entirely mine anymore.A sedative.The thought came accompanied with a stab of dread, and my heartbeat instantly quickened. I forced myself to breathe slowly, even as panic tried to claw its way up my throat. When I opened my eyes again, I did it gradually, letting the blur resolve inch by inch.A stone ceiling. This wasn’t Dark Moon's. The realization
VIOLETI didn't remember deciding to leave. It was just a fraction of a second when staying felt like it would be too unbearable.Why stay where you weren’t loved? Weren’t even wanted?The room felt too small. The walls pressed in on me, the air thick and suffocating, every breath scraping my lungs like some sort of punishment. Reese was still talking. Her voice was soft, pleading and trying to anchor me. Still, but her words blurred together, almost sounding meaningless against the roar tearing at my skull.I never loved her.Lucian's voice wouldn't leave me alone.It played on repeat, each time sharper, each time cutting deeper, until I swore I could feel something inside my chest splitting open. The words had been delivered with such cold precision, as if he'd rehearsed them before coming to the chamber.As though every syllable had been weighed and measured for maximum impact. To make sure it cut as deeply as possible. And they had landed exactly as intended. Devastating, final, a
VIOLETThe judgement chamber had never felt so hostile. Or maybe I’d just never been in it before.I stood at the center of it, shoulders squared, chin lifted, and every instinct in my body screaming at me to run even as I forced myself to remain perfectly still. Tonight, the very walls I’d once admired felt like a cage closing in around me.Around the circular table, the senior members of the pack sat rigidly in their seats, their faces carved from stone and suspicion. Alphas from allied packs occupied the outer ring, their expressions guarded, and almost like blades. Did anyone else feel like they were drowning or was it just me?At the head of the chamber stood Lucian. He hadn't looked at me since I entered. Not once. Not even a glance.That absence of acknowledgement cut deeper than I wanted to admit. I kept my gaze trained on him anyway, willing him to meet my eyes, to give me something. Anything. Something that told me we were still on the same side. That what we had wasn't abou
VIOLETLucian didn’t follow close as I hoped he would. Yeah, it had stung a bit. I got that he had responsibilities that needed his attention.He was Alpha. He had a pack to lead. That was all understandable really. I couldn’t just expect him to make sacrifices for me all the time.Given, he’d already sacrificed so much. I wasn’t about to demand that he do that again. Not now, not ever.I would fight and do my best for him. I would stand by him and do what was right. And if that stopping whatever expectations of comfort I had from him, then so be it.I would have to sacrifice.“That was a lot,” Reese blew out a breath, running a hand over her tummy. I noticed she’d been doing that a lot.She did when she was tensed, when she was happy, and when she had absolutely no reason to even do so. It warmed my heart a bit to see her so…content.And I didn’t miss the way Zayn’s eyes always seemed to find her. It didn’t matter where she was, or what mood she was in.He watched, and waited with th
VIOLET“Good morning.”How do you act normal and fine when you’re hiding a secret that could set everything into straight chaos?I stared at the empty bed space, my heart churning once again.The morning had arrived too quickly. Memories of last night lingered in my head unending, and for the second time that morning, I was filled with the urge to just slumber forever.Morning had slowly crept its way into my room, the streaks of light almost unwelcomed as they illuminated the whole place. Even the very ceiling I’d spent the whole night staring up at.I’d been stupid to think I’d be able to get some sleep. It didn’t help that Lucian had been right beside me all this time. Sleep had come only in small fragments. A good amount of time, it had been brief, restless moments. Often it would be interrupted by the echo of Tristan’s voice in my head.I just want peace.Was that really all there is to what he actually wanted? Peace? Just peace? The weight on my own decision seemed to press heav
VIOLETLately, there weren’t a lot of things I found particularly scary. And this was considering the fact that I’d been wracked by nightmares countlessly.Most of it had stopped since we got rid of the pillow barricade back home, and since I succumbed to letting Lucian cuddle me to sleep.But seei
VIOLETLucian had been sweet. In a way that was very odd for the enigma that was Lucian. I’d expected him to bury himself in work again, maybe turn his office to the retreat and escape he’d turned it to the last time we shared a kiss at the partyBut oddly, that hadn’t been the case.We’d spent ni
VIOLET“An annual summit?”Lucian nodded, taking out his marker and gesturing to where he’d written annual summit on the whiteboard.“Yes,” His eyes lingered on the people present.To his credit, Zayn was listening attentively, even with his head pressed against Reese’s cheeks. Honestly, their clin
LUCIAN“How does that even work?”For the last ten minutes, I’d been trying to wrap my head around Violet’s explanation of how water wasn’t wet. This wasn’t the first of such arguments she’d be having with Reese. But this time, she’d taken it upon herself to have the discussion with me while we wa







