MasukIlyra sat on one side of the bed, Caelum on the other. Two generations of Moon-Wolves, holding the hands of the woman who'd survived everything.Sable drifted in and out of sleep. Her breathing was shallow, and her scarred hands were cold, but her amber-gold eyes still flickered open every few hours. She looked at Ilyra, and her cracked lips curved into something that was almost a smile."You're still here," Sable whispered."I'm not going anywhere." Ilyra squeezed her sister's hand. "I spent thirty years in a tank. You think I'm going to miss this?""You were always stubborn. Even when we were children. Remember the river? When you fell in and refused to cry?""I remember you jumped in after me. You almost drowned.""You were my baby sister. I wasn't going to let you drown." Sable's eyes drifted closed, then open again. "I'm sorry I left you. In the river. I searched for weeks, but I couldn't find you. I thought you were dead."Ilyra's gold eyes glistened. "I know. Corvus told me. He
Theron came home with a black eye and a proud smile. "You should see the other guy."I set down the report I had been reading and looked at my thirteen-year-old son. He stood in the doorway of our quarters with his dark hair disheveled and his white wolf flickering under his skin and a bruise blooming across his cheekbone that was already turning purple. His gold eyes were bright with satisfaction."The other guy," I repeated. "Who was the other guy?""Some beta from the Ridgeback territory. He was picking on a younger Moon-Wolf in the training yard. Calling him a half-breed. Saying his wolf was weak." Theron's jaw tightened. "I told him to stop. He didn't stop.""So you hit him.""I hit him twice. Then he stopped."Bastian appeared behind Theron, and his gold eyes swept over our son's bruised face with an expression that was equal parts pride and exasperation. "He got the black eye because the beta's friend jumped in. Two against one. He still won.""Of course he won. You've been tra
Wren looked at Cain for a long moment, then said, "I was born in a laboratory too. You're not the only one who doesn't know how to be a person."The school at Mirren's Promise had grown over the past decade. What had started as a few classrooms in a converted fortress was now a sprawling campus of stone buildings and training yards and gardens that bloomed even in the northern cold. Young Moon-Wolves from every territory in the Accord came here to learn control and connection.Cain stood at the edge of the main courtyard, his silver eyes tracking the students as they moved through their morning exercises. His scarred hands hung at his sides. He hadn't spoken since we arrived."I was born in a cell," Wren continued, and her voice was calm. "Bred to be a soldier. I didn't know what the sky looked like until I was twelve. I didn't know what kindness was until I was sixteen." She stepped closer to Cain, and her gold-flickering eyes were steady. "I learned. Slowly. You can too."Cain's sil
The children ran to meet us, Theron in the lead, the twins tumbling behind. They stopped short when they saw Cain. "Who's that?" Mirren asked. "He smells like you, Papa. But empty."The main gate of Silver Hollow was crowded with wolves who had been waiting for our return. Sable was there, leaning on her cane, her amber-gold eyes bright with relief. Wren stood beside her with Thorne. Tide had come from the Delta with the rescued children, who were recovering in the medic tent. Even Veris had traveled from the Sunken Valley, her white hair gleaming in the spring sunlight.But the children reached us first. Theron was thirteen now, tall and confident, his white wolf flickering under his skin. He stopped in front of me and threw his arms around my waist. "You're back. Papa Bastian, you're walking. Papa Kellan, you're not bleeding. Papa Archer, you look tired.""I'm always tired," Archer said, but he was smiling. "It's a permanent condition."The twins were less restrained. Sable—the youn
Voss was cornered. His soldiers were defeated, his weapon had turned, and all he had left was a lifetime of hate and a silver blade.The control room was a nest of monitors and cables, screens flickering with data from decades of experiments. Voss stood at the center, his gaunt frame stooped, his pale eyes blazing with the same righteous certainty he had worn when he told me about Theron's execution. The silver blade in his hand was the same one he had stabbed me with on the Conclave platform. He had kept it all these years."You think you've won," Voss said, and his voice was still calm. Still measured. "You've destroyed one facility. One project. But the Solitary was just the beginning. I've seeded my research across a dozen hidden labs. Even if you kill me, my work will continue."I stepped into the room, and my alphas flanked me. Bastian's blade was drawn. Kellan's cold fury radiated through the second bond. Archer's steady warmth pressed against my back."I'm not going to kill yo
Cain didn't attack. He just walked through us, touching each alpha in turn—Bastian, then Kellan, then Archer—and with each touch, the bond web shuddered.He moved like a ghost. Silent. Slow. His bare feet left wet prints on the stone floor, and his scarred hand reached out with the hesitation of someone who had never been allowed to touch anything.Bastian tensed when Cain's fingers brushed his chest. Through the first bond, I felt his instinct to strike, to protect. But he held still. "What is he doing?""Feeling," I said. "He's feeling the bonds. The way they connect."Cain's silver eyes flickered. "It's warm. I didn't know bonds were warm." He moved to Kellan and touched his shoulder. Through the second bond, I felt Kellan's cold assessment warring with something softer. Curiosity. Compassion."You were created without the capacity for bonds," Kellan said quietly. "But you can still perceive them.""I can perceive them. I can't have them." Cain moved to Archer and touched his hand.
They shoved Bastian into the pit before I could even stand. The crowd roared. And I felt the first blow land in my own ribs. An enforcer with a scar splitting his chin dragged me up a set of stone steps to a wooden ledge that overlooked the fighting pit. The chamber was underground, carved into th
Bastian's hands were still raised when the first arrow punched into his shoulder. He didn't flinch. He just looked at me—claimed, bleeding, mine—and said, "Keep your head down. No matter what." The enforcers swarmed the clearing before I could answer. Maren Holt barked orders, and her wolves fanne
I couldn't fight. I couldn't shift. But when the first rogue lunged through the cave mouth, my body moved before my mind could stop it.The attack came fast. Three wolves burst through the entrance with snapping jaws and matted fur, their ribs showing through patchy coats. They smelled like rot and
Silas’s boot drove into my stomach, and I folded around the pain without a sound. Ten years in this pack had taught me one thing: noise makes it worse.I hit the training yard dirt on my side, and a puff of dust coated my tongue. Silas stood over me with his sandy hair cropped close to his skull, h







