LOGINKIVAThe moment Damien's black eyes opened, every instinct in my body screamed. Run. But I couldn't move. I had spent weeks searching for him. I had walked through a forest that seemed determined to swallow us whole. I had listened to guards describe the monster my husband had become. And now he was standing right in front of me. Even with those eyes that weren't his anymore, I knew him. I knew the shape of him. I knew him the way you knew things that had settled into the deepest part of you."Damien."His head tilted. For one full heartbeat, nothing happened.Then his body moved. Too fast."GET DOWN!" Tamara shoved me aside. Damien slammed into the space where I had been a second earlier, his claws tearing through the tree behind us. The trunk exploded. I hit the ground hard and rolled."Damien!" He turned. His black eyes found me immediately and there was nothing human in them. No recognition. No hesitation. Only hunger, focused and absolute.Tamara stepped between us. "Oh, you're f
KIVA.The guard's voice lingered in my mind long after we left him."Mate." One word. One single word. It was enough to make my chest ache. He remembered me. Somewhere beneath everything that had swallowed him whole, Damien was still there. I clung to that thought like it was the only thing keeping me upright as we pushed deeper into the trees."We're getting close," Tamara said quietly.I looked up."How do you know?"She pointed toward the trees ahead.“Can you see how those tress are moving much slower now?”I frowned."What?""You'll understand." We continued deeper into the Northern Forest. With every step the silence became heavier, pressing against my skin until even my own breathing felt too loud. There were no birds. No insects. No wind. Even the leaves refused to move. It was as though the entire forest had decided that making noise was a terrible idea and had gone completely still to prove it. A low growl echoed somewhere ahead. Another answered right after. My body stiffe
"THE WELL FEARED ITS OWN REFLECTION"KIVAThe Northern Forest was too quiet.Not peaceful. Wrong. The kind of silence that had weight to it, that pressed against your skin and made every small sound you produced feel like a violation. I had grown up believing silence was comforting. This silence wasn't. The entire forest felt like it was holding its breath, afraid to draw attention to itself. Tamara walked a few steps ahead, one hand resting with deliberate casualness on the hilt of the dagger at her thigh. To anyone else she would have looked relaxed. I was beginning to understand the difference between Tamara actually relaxed and Tamara ready for something, and this was the second one. She was listening. Watching. Calculating with every step."You're thinking too loudly," she said without turning around."I didn't say anything.""You don't have to." She glanced over her shoulder, grinning. "Your forehead practically has your husband's name written across it."Despite everything, I r
“PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE”BRYAN.This was humiliating.No. Humiliating wasn't even the right word. It was insulting. I, Bryan, Alpha of the Southern Gates, was hanging from a stone pillar like a common criminal, chains wrapped around both wrists forged from some cursed magic that refused to snap regardless of how much strength I poured into them.Hours. I had been here for hours. My shoulders burned with the specific agony of sustained tension. My arms had gone from pain to numbness and back to pain again. My patience had died somewhere around the second hour and left nothing useful in its place."You little witch," I growled through gritted teeth. "When I get my hands on you..."Tamara's face moved through my mind. That lazy smile. The crimson sparks dancing across her fingers like she was doing nothing more interesting than thinking. The way she had looked me directly in the eyes without the smallest suggestion of fear. Even now, hours later, chained to a pillar in an empty wa
KIVATamara leaned against one of the wooden pillars outside, twirling an arrow lazily between her fingers as though she hadn't just discovered she carried one of the most dangerous forms of magic in existence. I still didn't know how she did that. If I had overheard what she overheard about myself, I was not certain I would have been able to smile at all.The Priestess stepped out behind me, a small satchel slung over her shoulder. "You've learned enough for today. Now it is time to leave."I nodded. Every second that passed was another second Damien was somewhere out there without me. Was he hurt? Had the search parties found anything? Was he—No. I stopped that thought before it finished forming."He'll be okay," Tamara said beside me."I didn't say anything.""You didn't have to." She nudged my shoulder. "Your face has been screaming your husband's name for the past ten minutes."Heat rushed into my cheeks. "I was not—""You were." She grinned. "And honestly? I think it's
"Some people inherit power. Others become it."TAMARAOld women who knew too much irritated me. This one irritated me more than most because she was almost always right, and there was nothing more aggravating than someone you could not argue with on the facts. I had spent years sharpening the ability to find the flaw in every argument, every position, every piece of advice offered by people who thought they understood more than they did. The Priestess had no such flaw. Which made her infuriating in a very specific and personal way.I wandered through the outer rooms of the cottage while Kiva remained inside with her, asking what I was certain were a significant number of questions. Typical. My sister had always wanted answers before she moved. I had always preferred moving first and figuring things out from whatever broke on impact. Neither approach was wrong. They were simply different languages for solving the same problems.I picked up a small crystal from one of the shelves. It hu
"The thing about being loved by the right person is that it doesn't feel like anything you were warned about. It feels like finally exhaling."KIVA POV.For a second I could only stare at him. Fabian stood near the library doors holding a bouquet of white lilies and dark red roses in one hand while
KIVA POV. "Some people are handed a life. Others are handed a mop and told to be grateful for the floor."I had learned a long time ago that the trick to surviving dinner in this house was to become invisible.Not invisible in the way people mean when they say they just want to blend in, not that
"Sometimes the people who destroy you aren't your enemies. They're the ones who call themselves family."KIVAGiovanni's hand closed around my arm so hard I felt it in my shoulder."Kiva." His voice filled the room the way it always filled rooms, with the particular force of someone who had never n
"The cruelest people are not the ones who hurt you. They are the ones who watch and decide it is not their problem."KIVAShe held out her hand, palm up, like this was already settled, like I had already agreed, like the outcome of this moment had never really been in question.And maybe, in this h







