LOGINCHAPTER 43NO STORM TONIGHT ELENA’S POVSloane’s warning really made me worried for the rest of the evening, but Xander made a decision the moment we walked her to the gate and sent her back with two guards for escort.“Tonight,” he said, turning to face me once she’d disappeared into the dark, “we don’t talk about Trent or Corvin or anyone else trying to take something from us.”“What about tomorrow?”“Tomorrow we plan for all of it.” He held my hands. “Tonight is still ours…besides, the night is still young .”He led me back through the garden, past the lanterns burning low, up a private staircase I’d never noticed tucked along the estate’s eastern wall. At the top, a door opened into rooms I haven’t seen before, warm and serene, candlelight already flickering against the walls.“Your rooms,” I said.“Ours,” he corrected softly, “if you want them to be.”He crossed the room and drew the curtains against the night, shutting out the mountains, the camp, the ceremony waiting two weeks
CHAPTER 42 SOMETHING ORDINARY ELENA’S POV We didn’t talk about the sister on the ride back. Not because we’d decided not to.. it’s just that there was simply nothing left to say that hadn’t already been said yet, and some things need silence more than words. Xander rode beside me for two days with his mouth slightly open and his eyes somewhere far off,so I let him have it, the same way he’d let me have my own grief the night we buried Marta. Gerafil’s gates came into view on the third evening, warm light spilling from every window. Home. It still surprised me how easily that word made me feel now. Marcus met us at the stables. Talia had not yet resurfaced. Dorian remained under quiet watch, though nothing more happened in our absence. The camp went back to its usual activities, wary but steady. “What about this?,” he said, holding out a folded parchment sealed in gold wax, “arrived yesterday. From the High Priestess.” Xander broke the seal, scanning it quickly before hand
CHAPTER 41 THE ROAD HOME XANDER’S POV The breach turned out to be nothing. Two rogue wolves, hungry and stupid enough to test our lines during the worst possible week. My warriors put them down in minutes. At this point, it didn't matter anymore because my mind was already three days south, standing in my mother’s kitchen, waiting for an answer I wasn’t sure I wanted. Elena saw me packing a bag by lantern light. “You’re not going alone,” she said. “She asked for me alone.” “I don’t care what she asked.” I zipped the bag shut harder than I needed to. “Elena, Talia’s gone. Isadora’s gone. My camp has a hole in it I can’t find, and you want to leave it wide open while we both ride south?” I turned to face her. The firelight caught reflected on the side of her jaw. “If I lose you on that road,” I said, “I won't come back from it.” “And if I lose you,” she said, “neither do I. So we go together, or neither of us goes, and you explain to your mother why you ignored her.” I di
CHAPTER 40AMONG US XANDER’S POVThe forest was silent.No birds. No wind moving through branches. Nothing but our own boots crunching through snow and the ragged breath of eight warriors trying to keep pace with me.“Alpha.” Marcus’s voice, a bit lower than usual. “This isn’t right.”I already knew. I could feel it in my bones, the same way I felt a storm coming before the first cloud showed itself.“Stop,” I said.Nobody questioned it. The moment the words left my mouth, the trees exploded.An arrow took Dane in the shoulder before he even had time to shout. Silver, judging by the way he screamed. I threw myself sideways, claws already out, and caught the first attacker across the throat before he finished his swing.He didn’t scream when I hit him…didn’t even grunt.They came in pairs, moving the same way I used to drill my own warriors during years of training. Hand signals instead of shouting. Formation instead of chaos. When one fell, two others closed the gap without hesitatio
CHAPTER 39 BLOOD I NEVER CHOSE XANDER’S POV We walked back toward camp in silence, snow still falling around us, Elena’s hand warm in mine despite the cold. She didn’t bring back the question I asked about Corvin. She just let me carry it, walking close enough that I could feel her there without needing to look. Something felt wrong for sure. I could feel it deep down. I could see the camp in clearer view niw but something felt off. Wolves stood in silent clusters. Warriors ringed the clearing, weapons still holstered but bodies coiled tight, like they were waiting for permission to move. “Xander.” Elena’s held onto my hand. “Something happened.” “Stay close,” I said, already moving faster. We broke through the tree line just as two of my warriors dragged a figure into the center of camp, his arms pinned behind him, his knees buckling as he walked. He shifted mid-drag, fur receding into skin, and when his face came showed, my whole body couldn’t move as I kept staring in s
CHAPTER 38 THE THING I DIDN’T SAY XANDER’S POVThe snow kept falling. Elena kept waiting.“Tell me,” she said again.My throat felt off.. I just couldn’t speak, so I looked past her, toward the trees, because it was easier than looking at her face while I said this.“When I hit Trent,” I said. “That first night and when I fought in the valley today. I felt good, Elena. Not just strong but good.She didn’t say anything. She just waited.“I keep telling myself it’s protecting you,” I said. “That’s what I tell everyone. That’s what I tell myself… but there was a second, just a second, where I didn’t want to stop hitting him. Where some part of me wanted an excuse to keep going.”“That’s not the power,” she said quietly. “That’s just anger, Xander. Everyone feels that.”“Not like this.” I shook my head. “This felt like hunger. Like it wanted more than Trent had to give. So when the entity said I was carrying half of what’s in you, I wasn’t scared because it was strange. I was scared be







