LOGINKrista*Now Jacob stood before me with that familiar, infuriatingly handsome grin on his face, watching our son struggle in my arms as if he had nowhere more important to be.He had come to take Luke for breakfast that morning, just as he had every morning since I told him the truth about our son's parentage. We had not yet sat down to discuss what came next for us, and neither of us had made any promises about what our relationship would become. There were still too many things between us, too many old wounds and unanswered questions to pretend that everything could be settled simply because we had found our way back to each other.But Jacob had never missed breakfast with Luke.If his duties allowed it, he would return for lunch, too. Dinner had become something the three of us shared whenever possible, and even on the days when his responsibilities kept him away, he always made time to see Luke before the little boy went to bed. He asked questions about the things Luke liked, list
Krista*“There things worse than being called a traitor.”I murmured the words to myself for what had to be the hundredth time in three days, staring absently at the silver beast lounging beside me in the quiet corners of my mind. My wolf had been listening to me go over the same words for so long that she had started treating my obsession with the matter as a personal inconvenience. She swatted her tail against the ground thoughtfully, her silver eyes fixed on me with an expression that suggested she was being considerably more patient than she felt.“Stop thinking about it,” she advised. “You will have your answer when you sit in on Elder Miriam’s interrogation.”“That is easy for you to say. Who knows when that will be?”Her ears twitched. “Is it? Because I have had to listen to you repeat those words for three days.”I scowled at her, which only earned me a smug flick of her tail. She was right, of course, and I hated that she was right. There was no point exhausting myself with
Krista*Her voice cracked, but she did not stop. “And what of your family? Have you even considered the stain you've put on their name? The stench of traitor will follow your kin long after this is over. Every wolf who hears what you've done will remember that your family produced someone willing to sell her own pack to its enemies!”Each word landed like a knife coated in poison. I watched Miriam absorb the accusations without flinching, her tearful gaze finally lifting to meet Agatha's hateful stare. She did not try to defend her family or argue that she had acted for some greater purpose. She did not even seem to hear the guards shifting impatiently beside her.For a long moment, she simply looked at Agatha.Then, in a voice so quiet that the entire room seemed to lean towards her, she spoke. “There are things worse than being called a traitor.”The words settled over us with an odd, uncomfortable weight.Agatha stared at her, her mouth still parted but nothing immediately followe
Krista*What I had not expected was the expression that flickered across her face.It was there and gone so quickly that I could not identify it. For a fraction of a second, something changed in her tearful gaze, something that did not seem to belong to the guilt or shame I had expected to find. It was almost as if she had seen something beyond the room, something the rest of us could not see, and had suddenly understood that there was no point in fighting any longer.The sensation it left behind was unpleasant enough to make me straighten in my chair.Before I could examine it, Miriam's resistance seemed to drain out of her. Her shoulders sagged. Her hands, which had been clenched at her sides, fell limp, and she stopped looking around the room for support. Then, without warning, she sank to her knees.A sob tore out of her. “Yes,” she whispered. The word was so quiet that I almost missed it. “Yes, it's true. I did it.”She bent forward, her shoulders beginning to shake as another s
Krista*For one suspended moment, nobody moved.Then a fresh flurry of gasps swept through the room, louder and more disbelieving than the first. Elder Agatha turned sharply towards Miriam, while Elder Seldrin stared at Jacob as if he had not heard correctly. Matthias's chair scraped against the floor as he shifted in his seat, his eyes widening.But the loudest gasp came from Miriam herself.She shot to her feet so abruptly that her chair struck the floor behind her. The sound cracked through the room, and every head turned towards her.“There must be a mistake!” she cried.Her face had changed. The composure she had maintained so effortlessly a moment earlier was giving way to a rising tide of panic. She looked at Jacob, then at me, her eyes wide as if she expected one of us to explain that this was some terrible misunderstanding.“I am not a spy!” she insisted. “I have done so such thing! Alpha, you cannot possibly believe that I would betray this pack. I have served Red Moon for
Krista*As Jacob and I approached the head of the table, all eight Elders rose to their feet.“Alpha,” they greeted him in unison. Then their gazes shifted to me. “Luna.”I inclined my head in acknowledgment, aware of the weight of their attention as I took my place beside Jacob. The title still carried a complicated weight for me. There had been a time when I had thought I would never return to Red Moon, much less stand at the head of its leadership beside the man who had broken our bond. Now, with our son sleeping safely under this roof and the future of the pack hanging in the balance, I had never been more conscious of what it meant to be here.Garrett and the four other guards stationed inside the room straightened as we reached the head of the table. “Alpha. Luna,” they greeted.Jacob pulled out my chair before taking his own seat beside me. The gesture was brief, almost absent-minded, but I appreciated it all the same. Once I had settled, he pushed his chair beneath him and su
KristaI stared at my reflection, willing the hollow look in my eyes to fade, forcing my lips to curve into a passable smile. But the result looked as tired and insincere as I felt inside. Tonight, of all nights, I couldn't afford to let my emotions slip through the cracks. Tonight was about duty,
KristaWhat had I expected? That Jacob would magically fall in love with me just because we’d spent a few years married? That he would look at me one day and suddenly see me, really see me, instead of the shadow I’d become in his life?I let out a bitter laugh, though it sounded more like a sob. Wh
KristaAs I entered the house, the door creaked softly behind me, though the faint murmur of activity throughout the manor drowned out any noise I made. Before I could even take another step, one of the maids rushed toward me, her face flushed with anxiety as she fumbled with a small notepad in her
Krista“And then there’s Liam,” she said, her tone dripping with drama. “I heard he’s been sneaking off to the human town again. You know what that means, don’t you?”I raised an eyebrow, leaning in just enough to show I was invested. “What does it mean?”Greta’s voice dropped even lower. “He’s see







