LOGINShe hung up.
Just like that.
No warning. No pause. No space for me to answer.
Three months of silence, and then her voice—raw and shaking—cut through the line like claws through flesh. And before I could even steady my breathing enough to respond—
Gone.
The screen
For that minute, I stood at the center of the stage.Applause, shouts, vows, blood, and glory intertwined like a ritual written by fate long ago. I had waited for this moment for too long—so long that I had almost begun to believe it would never come.I was Alpha.Not the future heir. Not a candidate. Not the one people expected to become Alpha someday.But now.The crowd lowered their heads and bowed. The air was thick with obedience, reverence, and something heavier, something invisible.Responsibility.From this moment on, these people—their lives, their safety, their hunger and fear—rested on my shoulders.My pack.
I slowly opened my eyes and blinked several times, chasing away the last traces of sleep.My face was still buried in the pillow, and that scent curled around me again—clean, warm, carrying a hint of forest night.Fitch.I knew perfectly well it was impossible, yet I still allowed myself to sink into it. The smell relaxed me like some conditioned reflex. Maybe it was only my brain trying to comfort itself. Maybe it was just memory lingering in the air. Whatever it was, it had been enough to lull me to sleep.I had only meant to nap for a few hours. Sleep had always been the most effective way for me to deal with anxiety. But apparently, I had “over-treated” myself.When I glanced at the blinds, orange light seeped through the slats. For a moment, I couldn
I could hardly believe what I was seeing.The sentence repeated itself over and over in my mind, like a broken recorder stuck on the same line.I stood in the shadows at the edge of the cliff behind the backyard. Ethan stood quietly behind me. Wind rose from the slope below, carrying the scent of the pack—so familiar that it tightened something painfully in my chest.Four months.I had been gone for four months.And yet I returned today.Of all days—today.The day of his Alpha ceremony.On the stage, Fitch stood in a black suit, tall and coldly composed. His palm was pressed against Evelyn’s, their blood mixing, evaporating, forming the bond.
I did not actually oppose the condition Evelyn proposed.To be honest, I was even a little surprised that she had thought of it. But the more I considered it, the more grateful I became that she was the one who voiced it first.Sarah had blocked every one of our numbers. We had known that for a long time. Yet even so, we kept calling again and again—as if persistence alone might loosen the grip of fate.I called twice.Melissa, Evelyn, Alex—even my father. Everyone tried.No response.No rejection message.No voicemail.Nothing.It was as if she had truly vanished from the world.
After learning that three innocent children had been brutally murdered, I barely hesitated before deciding to see my father.In that moment, my conscience felt like it was being torn apart. The wolf inside me paced restlessly, rage and the thirst for revenge tangling with a guilt I could barely suppress.We were supposed to protect them.We were supposed to.So I went to the hospital.As usual, I bought a cup of bitter coffee from the machine at the end of the hallway—so bitter it made my tongue sting. As if that might somehow keep me alert.But the thing that truly made my hands tremble wasn’t the taste of the coffee.It was the truth I was about to speak aloud.As Alpha, my father&
I buried myself deep inside the down comforter.This bit of sleep was far too precious to waste.Sarah leaving, my father collapsing, the pack in turmoil, Caitlin’s shadow, the threat of the rogues—everything felt like ropes tightening around my throat. I hadn’t truly relaxed in a long time. Even an hour of real sleep was something I would cling to.My wolf had quieted too.Zara’s faint scent still lingered in the air.It seeped into the pillow, the sheets, the cracks in the wooden floor. Deep in my consciousness, my wolf inhaled it slowly, like a dying man grasping for one last breath of oxygen.—Remember it.—Don’t let it fade.Half-asleep, I rolled ov
After the first wave of shock passed, Sebastian, Dan—the wolf pack member who had burst into the office—and I left the room at once.Eva was left in the armchair. She was pregnant and in no condition to run. Considering her history of miscarriages and her age, it was the safest and most rational ch
It was as if the bond had sensed my decision long before I consciously made it.The moment my car crossed the invisible boundary of the pack’s territory, the restless unease coiled inside me transformed into a violent, relentless pounding in my chest. It wasn’t the kind of pain that tore flesh or s
I had always thought that werewolf Alphas and mafia godfathers shared one undeniable trait.They always seemed to know everything.How Sebastian managed to obtain my sister’s address was s
When Fitch wrapped his arms around me, a long-forgotten sense of stability slipped quietly back into place, as if my body itself had been waiting for this moment. It was subtle at first—an easing of tension I hadn’t even realized I was carrying—but it spread quickly, sinking deep into my chest and







