LOGINCassidy POV“I didn’t ask for this, Cass.”Headlights drifted past the ice cream parlor window, smearing white and red across the glass. I kept my eyes on the street while Kieran’s words settled between us.His eyes darted over my face, searching. His hand hovered near mine, then dropped back to the table. He kept speaking, his voice rough and uneven in a way I had never heard before.“I didn't want any of this to happen right now?”I finally looked down at the pregnancy test sitting beside my napkin. I thought my life had changed because I was carrying his child.Now it felt like the entire future had cracked open underneath me.“You were never going to tell me,” I said.Kieran shook his head. “That’s not true.”“You only told me because I’m pregnant.”His eyes broke from mine and slid toward the window before returning.“I…I needed time.”My heart pounded.Time.Time to decide whether he still wanted me? Time to figure out how to leave me? Time to stand beside Vanessa long enough fo
Cassidy POVKieran's silence had begun to eat away at me. At first, I told myself he was busy. His installation preparations swallowed most of his schedule, and people constantly needed something from him. Plus, there were meetings and training sessions to become Alpha, those dreadful strategy meetings with older Alphas who still spoke to him like he was a boy playing dress-up in his father's position.Still, after two days without properly hearing from him, the silence started pressing against my nerves.Kieran always showed up at the restaurant because he “missed my face,” and he would narrate his day like I had personally asked for every detail.Now everything felt strained.When he finally came around, he acted exactly the way he always had, which somehow made the distance feel worse.He still kissed me and held my hand while walking me through crowded streets, and wrapped an arm around my waist whenever other men looked too long in my direction. The gestures were all there, but s
I woke up the next morning with nausea, and I first blamed the heavy dinner from the night before. But by midday on Sunday, my stomach twisted whenever I smelled food. Even my mother, who usually didn’t notice things, told me I looked pale.“I’m fine,” I said, but I wasn’t.I couldn’t even go welcome Vanessa properly when she arrived. She had to come meet me at the small restaurant near the market while I sat there trying not to throw up into my juice glass.“You look terrible,” she said, reaching across the table to wipe sweat from my forehead with her thumb.“I said I’m fine.”“You sure you’re not pregnant?”My heart skipped so hard it hurt.“I can’t be pregnant. Kieran and I use protection.”Vanessa gave me a look over the rim of her glass. “Cassidy, based on everything you’ve told me, you two climb all over each other whenever you get the chance. There had to be at least one time you got careless.”Heat rushed into my face as memory slammed into me.The backseat of Kieran’s car tw
Cassidy POVThirty Years AgoThe first thing people noticed about Alpha Kieran was his size.At nineteen, he already stood taller than most fully grown men in the territory, broad shoulders stretching through dark wool shirts tailored by people who probably charged more for one sleeve than my mother earned in a month. Even walking through the pack market felt different when he was beside me. Wolves moved out of his path instinctively. Vendors lowered their voices around him. Older men watched him with the kind of caution people reserved for storms gathering over the mountains.Kieran hated it.Or at least he pretended to.“You're glaring again,” I told him as we walked past a butcher stall dripping with strips of cured venison.“I wasn't glaring.”“You were. Mrs. Dallow nearly dropped her basket.”Kieran looked over his shoulder toward the old woman before lowering his voice near my ear. “She drops that basket every time she sees me. At this point, I think she enjoys the attention.”I
Cassidy POVThe silence in the driveway hung heavy. George's gaze bounced between Kieran and me. I looked past his car toward the edge of the property, where the scent of freshly cut grass drifted across the lawn from somewhere beyond the hedges. A lawnmower engine sputtered and died in the distance, leaving only the sound of wind rustling through the pine needles.“Cass, please stay,” George said, breaking the silence. He reached out to rub the sleeve of my leather jacket before dropping his hand back to his side. “You can see the girl is in danger. And Cameron's already deteriorating.”I let out a laugh that tightened my throat, my fingers gripping the leather strap of my duffel bag. “Interesting. So now I'm useful again.”George looked caught between a grimace and a deadpan smile. Kieran remained silent, his large frame cast in the long shadows of the late afternoon sun. One of the guards stood near the stone wall with a cigarette between his fingers, smoke curling past his face wh
The room sank into silence, everyone likely overwhelmed by their own thoughts. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out. The number flashed across the screen.Cameron’s name hit me like a shove. Heat climbed behind my eyes.“Cameron is calling,” I said quietly.My mom’s eyes snapped to Alpha Kieran, who nodded.A knot twisted low in my stomach.“I can't pick it up.”“You have to, Lisa. We need evidence. Answer it and record the call. Put it on speaker.”“Kieran, she's barely holding herself together,” my mother said.“I know,” he replied, softer this time. “But this matters.”Across the room, Cassidy lounged by the far window beside George. Her attention stayed on the driveway outside, but her shoulders held tight, every muscle braced around the conversation drifting through the room.I answered just before the ringing stopped, my thumb sliding across the screen. Cameron’s breathing filled the speaker first.“Lisa.”My knees nearly gave out at the sound of his voice. He sounded
LISA POVI took that as my dismissal and left quickly before either of them could say anything else that would make me feel smaller than I already did.I found Franklin in the driveway just as he was about to climb into one of the pack’s black SUVs.“Franklin,” I called. “Wait.”He paused with the d
LISA POVI couldn’t sleep.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the hurt on Evangeline’s face when she walked in and found Cameron kissing me. The moment replayed in my head again and again, each time making the shame burn deeper in my chest.She was his mate. The woman he loved. The woman who was dyi
CAMERONEvangeline stood in the doorway staring at us.Guilt hit me hard and cold.Lisa scrambled off the desk so quickly she nearly lost her balance before catching herself against the wall across the room.I stayed where I was.My shirt was open, my pulse still racing from the kiss, and I could do
LISA POV“I told you they won’t let you visit,” I said into the phone. “Sorry, babes. I tried.”“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sasha snapped. “They won’t let me? Who the hell do they think they are?”“They’re Lycans. And I’m here for a job.”“That’s bullshit.”“I know.”She went quiet. I could hear h







