LOGIN~HOLLY~My room feels suffocating, too quiet and too still.I sit on my bed, curled into myself, my knees drawn tightly to my chest.The dim light barely fills the room, leaving shadows stretching across the walls like something alive.My phone rests in my hands, and my eyes haven't left it in minutes.Maybe longer.I have tried calling him so many times.Too many to count.Each call goes unanswered, and each message ignored.And it hurts more than I expected.More than I can handle.“I just want you to answer…” I whisper, my voice small, fragile.I press call again, and Gabriel's line rings and rings but he doesn't answer.My chest tightens painfully.I lower the phone slowly, blinking back tears.“I didn’t mean to hurt you…” I murmur.But the silence doesn’t respond.It never does.A memory flashes suddenly…..Gabriel laughing, his head thrown back, his eyes warm and soft as he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered.“Stop overthinking everything
The night does not move.It hangs…..thick, suffocating, heavy with something unseen yet deeply felt.And in the middle of it…Gabriel is no longer the same.The shift is quiet at first….a subtle tightening of his shoulders, a stillness in his breathing, a coldness settling into his eyes where pain once lived.Pain is easier to recognize. Easier to pity.The boy who walked into this moment was heartbroken.The one standing here now?He is something sharper, and something darker.Nicholas sees it, and he nurtures it carefully and deliberately.Like a man feeding a flame he has been waiting years to ignite.“Tell me,” Nicholas says, his tone calm, measured, almost patient. “Where is she?”The question is simple, but it is a lie.Because Nicholas already knows.He knows exactly where Holly is.He knows the house. He knows the routines.He knows… because he created the situation himself.But Gabriel doesn’t know that, and that makes him useful.“She’s in my father’s house,” Gabriel replies
Nicholas doesn’t rush.He walks toward Gabriel like he has all the time in the world…like this moment has already been decided long before it ever happened.Each step is calm, measured, controlled, and predatory.Gabriel’s shoulders stiffen instinctively.Ragnar rises immediately beneath his skin, alert and sharp.The man approaching them looks dangerous.It isn’t loud, but it’s there…..clear, and unmistakable.The closer the man gets, the heavier the air becomes, thick with something powerful…something dominant, and something Alpha.Gabriel’s jaw tightens.When the man finally stops a few feet away from him, there’s a silence…tense and charged.They stare at each other, one assessing, the other guarded.“Who are you?” Gabriel asks, his voice low, rough from earlier emotions, but steady enough. “And how do you know my name?”Nicholas tilts his head slightly, then he chuckles soft and amused.Like Gabriel has just asked something…adorably unnecessary.“I know a lot about you, Gabriel B
Gabriel doesn’t look back.Not when the door closes behind him.Not when his sister calls his name.Not even when something deep inside him, something fragile and desperate, begs him to turn around.He just keeps walking.Ragnar is restless beneath his skin.He's not wild, not out of control, but wounded.The kind of wounded that sits heavy and quiet… the kind that makes a wolf dangerous in a different way.‘We should not stay,’ Ragnar mutters lowly in his mind, his voice rough with restrained rage. ‘This place reeks of betrayal.’Gabriel says nothing.Because he absolutely agrees with Ragnar.~~~He had never wanted to go back home, but he couldn't stay at his friend's house where he spent the night.The drive home felt longer than it should.Ragnar stayed close to the surface the entire time, his presence pressing against Gabriel’s control like a shadow that refused to leave.Neither of them had spoken on their way home because there was nothing to say.By the time Gabriel's cab pull
~DAMIEN~The silence after the door closes is suffocating.It presses into my chest, wraps around my throat, and makes it hard to breathe.Gabriel is gone.My son just walked out of this house… and I let him.I stand there for a long moment, staring at the door like if I look hard enough, he might come back through it.But he doesn’t.He won’t.“Dad…?”Ella’s voice pulls me back, soft and uncertain.I turn slowly.She’s still standing there in the hallway, her eyes moving between me and Holly, confusion written all over her face.Her hair is messy from sleep, her expression fragile… innocent.And for a second, I hate myself even more.Because she has no idea.No idea that in the span of a few minutes, everything she knows about this family has been shattered.“Why did Gabriel leave?” she asks again, quieter this time.Her voice trembles just slightly, and I swallow hard.My throat feels dry, tight, like the words are refusing to come out.But I owe her the trut
~DAMIEN~Gabriel is back.My son is back!!!Relief floods through me so fast it almost hurts.But it dies just as quickly because the moment he steps in, he sees us and his expression doesn't change.Not even a little.There's no anger, no shouting, no pain, nothing.And that…that emptiness is worse than anything.“H—Gabriel…..” Holly’s voice trembles beside me.But he doesn’t stop, he doesn't look at her or at me.He just walks past us like we don't exist, like we mean nothing to him anymore.My chest tightens painfully.“Gabriel,” I call, standing up immediately.He doesn’t respond.He heads straight for his room upstairs, and I hear the door slams shut.The sound echoes through the house like a gunshot.Holly and I move at the same time.We rush after him.“Gabriel, open the door,” I say, knocking firmly.No response.“Please,” Holly adds, her voice breaking. “Gabriel, just…just listen to us….”More silence, thick and unforgiving.I press my hand against th







