Mag-log inRider's POV“It does not change anything,” I told her the second I walked fully into the room because pretending I had not been standing outside listening would have been pointless and because the look she gave me when she turned around made honesty feel less optional than breathing.Bailey held my gaze across the room, steady and calm in that dangerous way she gets when she has already reached a decision internally and is now just waiting to see who else catches up to it.“I know,” she replied quietly.I nodded once but stayed where I was for a second longer before finally sitting down across from her.“I need to say it anyway,” I admitted.
Rider's POV“Are you certain,” I asked her one last time before the doors closed fully because despite everything that had happened, despite the council and Voss and the clock running itself bloody outside these walls, I still needed her to have one final chance to walk away freely.Bailey looked directly at me, then at Raven, then at Declan.“Yes,” she said quietly, “I am done letting other people decide my life before I even get to stand inside it.”Declan exhaled softly beside me, something almost relieved in the sound, “Good answer.”Raven stepped closer to her, gaze steady, “If anything feels wrong during this, you say it immediately.”Bailey nodded once, “I know.”I looked at all three of them for a second and realized suddenly that there was no version of my life before this room that still fit me properly anymore.Then the ritual began.And afterward I understood why the old texts never described it properly.Not because they were protecting tradition, but because language its
Bailey's POV “Your great grandmother on your mother’s side was full fae,” Hera said quietly, and for a second I genuinely thought I had misheard her because the sentence did not fit anywhere inside my understanding of my own life.I stared at her.Raven had gone completely still behind me.“What,” I asked slowly.Hera did not look uncertain.“She took a wolf mate,” Hera continued, “and the bloodline diluted across generations until it became nearly undetectable.”“Nearly,” Raven repeated carefully.Hera nodded once.I laughed softly under my breath but there was no humor in it, just disbelief trying to find somewhere to land.“You are telling me,” I said, “that Voss knew I had fae blood before I even knew what I was.”“Yes,” Hera answered immediately.I leaned back in the chair slowly, my thoughts moving too fast and not fast enough at the same time.“That is why he bound me,” I murmured.“Yes.”“And why he selected me for the Thorne brothers.”“Yes,” she repeated again, and every an
Bailey's POV “This is not something you should be reading alone,” Raven said as soon as he placed the file in my hands, voice steady but lower than usual like he was trying not to push me in any direction.I took it anyway.I did not ask him to explain first, I just opened it because if I hesitated I knew I would start building walls inside my own head and I did not want that delay between me and whatever this was.It was medical record again.Same structure, same cold format, same kind of words that pretend they are not about a person.I read it once.Then I read it again.And the second time was worse because my brain stopped trying to protect me from it and started actually registering every line.Seven years old.Binding protocol.Crescent line designation.Council authorization signature.I kept staring at that last part for too long, like if I stared long enough it would turn into something else.It did not.Raven stayed quiet while I read it, not interrupting, not trying to in
Raven's POVDeclan told me in the corridor like it was something he was still processing himself and not something he had already accepted, and I remember looking at him and thinking he was watching my face more than he was trusting his own words.“Hera is coming,” he said, and he stopped walking like he expected me to react more than I did.I did not.I just nodded once, slow, controlled, like that would keep everything inside me from shifting too quickly.“Through Callum,” he added.I nodded again, “I see.”Declan kept watching me like I was going to break open or explode or do something that required interruption.“You are not surprised,” he said.“I am past surprise,” I answered, and I meant it more than I liked.He hesitated, then continued, “Rider called for her to be brought in.”That one landed heavier, not because it was unexpected, but because of what it meant.“I understand,” I said again, because understanding was easier than reaction.Declan studied me a moment longer, th
Bailey's POV “They moved it,” Declan said from the doorway, voice strained.I looked up from the table, from the half cold cup in my hands, “Moved what.”“The session,” Raven answered as he came in behind him, already holding the paper, already reading it like it might change if he stared hard enough, “thirty six hours from now.”Rider took it from Raven without a word and read it once, only once, then turned it face down on the table.“And,” I said finally, keeping my voice steady even though my stomach had already started dropping, “what else.”Declan exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck, “It requests your immediate temporary removal from Thorne territory pending review.”My heart dropped.“On what grounds,” I asked.Raven answered, calm but clipped, “Bond interference.”I nodded slowly, “So the binding.”“Yes,” Raven said, “Voss’s fae contact would have felt it break, and he is framing it as the brothers removing a binding they placed on you themselves to manufacture compliance.”
Bailey’s POVI couldn’t stop replaying Raven’s words in my head even after breakfast was long over, every step I took beside him feeling careful, measured, like I was walking on something fragile and didn’t want to be the one to crack it, and the worst part was that I didn’t even know what I was af
Bailey’s POVLaila didn’t answer me right away and the silence stretched long enough that I almost regretted asking, she looked like someone who had been handed a fragile thing she did not want to drop, her fingers twisting together in her lap, her gaze fixed on the wooden floor like waiting for it
Bailey’s POVI didn’t know what to do with Raven standing there in front of me like that because I was used to Rider’s anger that filled a room and Declan’s jokes that never stopped flowing, but Raven was quiet, still and intense in a way that made my thoughts scatter instead of sharpening, and it
Bailey’s POVI paced around my room throughout the day, restless as I waited for him to return. Hours passed slowly, stretching into evening, and eventually exhaustion won. I lay down on the bed, pulling the duvet up to my chest and tucking myself in.It was nearly midnight when I heard the sound of







