Se connecterCAELAN'S POVI was at the door before Renn finished the sentence.She caught my arm. "One rider. Moving slow. That's not a patrol and it's not someone hunting.""Then what is it?"She looked out the window again. "Someone who wants to be seen."That was worse.A patrol you could fight. Someone who wanted to be seen was making a point. Announcing themselves before they arrived because they already knew you couldn't do anything about it.I knew one person who operated that way."Stay with her," I told Renn, and went outside.The morning was pale and cold, frost on the grass, the sky the flat white of a day that hadn't decided what it wanted to be yet. The rider came up the track at a walk, hood down, both hands visible on the reins.Silas.He looked the same as I remembered. Lean, unhurried, the kind of man who'd learned early that stillness was more threatening than movement. He stopped his horse ten feet from me and looked at the farmhouse, then at my face, then at the blood showing t
ARIA'S POVThe contractions were seven minutes apart.Mira had been timing them since we reached the farmhouse, her expression doing the thing where it stayed very calm on the surface and said everything underneath."Talk to me," I said through the tail end of one."You're progressing. Faster than normal for a first labor." She adjusted the blanket beneath me. "The baby is positioned well. That's good.""What's not good?"She hesitated."Mira.""We're six weeks early. Their lungs may not be fully developed." She kept her voice even. "It may not matter. Some early babies come out screaming and perfect. But I want you prepared."I pressed my hand flat against my stomach. The baby was very active now, moving in a way that felt purposeful rather than random. Like they were arranging themselves. Getting ready."They're strong," I said. "You've said so yourself.""I know. And I meant it."Renn appeared in the doorway. She'd been watching the road since we arrived, moving between the window
CAELAN'S POVThe healer's name was Petra.She was sixty if she was a day, small and sharp-eyed, and she stitched my wound like she was mending a torn shirt. No ceremony. No sympathy."You've reopened this twice already," she said, pulling the thread through. "Do it again and no amount of stitching saves you.""Noted.""I mean it. One more rupture and you bleed internally. Die in a forest somewhere. Very undignified for an Alpha.""Former Alpha."She glanced up at that. Just briefly. Then went back to her work. "I heard. Council stripped your title this morning. Official announcement went out at dawn."Something cold settled in my chest. Not surprise. Just the weight of it becoming real."Damon," I called.He appeared in the doorway. "I know. I was going to tell you.""When?""After you stopped bleeding." He leaned against the frame, arms crossed. "It changes nothing about the plan.""It changes everything about the plan. A rogue Alpha crossing Council territory is a target. A former A
ARIA'S POV Callow market smelled like livestock and smoke. We'd arrived before the morning rush, hoods up, moving close to the stalls where the crowd was thickest. Renn had been right about one thing — the noise helped. Hard to track a scent in a place where everything smelled like something else. "Don't stop walking," Renn said quietly, just ahead of me. "Even if you see something that worries you. Keep moving." "I know how to not look suspicious." "You're a very pregnant woman in a hood walking through a market at dawn. You're already suspicious. Just don't make it worse." Mira pressed close on my left side, her bag over her shoulder, eyes moving constantly. She'd been quiet since we left the safe house. The kind of quiet that meant she was thinking hard about something she hadn't decided to say yet. The baby was quiet too. That bothered me more than anything. After the candles, after whatever that ripple had been, they'd settled into a stillness that felt different from sl
ARIA'S POVCallow market smelled like livestock and smoke.We'd arrived before the morning rush, hoods up, moving close to the stalls where the crowd was thickest. Renn had been right about one thing — the noise helped. Hard to track a scent in a place where everything smelled like something else."Don't stop walking," Renn said quietly, just ahead of me. "Even if you see something that worries you. Keep moving.""I know how to not look suspicious.""You're a very pregnant woman in a hood walking through a market at dawn. You're already suspicious. Just don't make it worse."Mira pressed close on my left side, her bag over her shoulder, eyes moving constantly. She'd been quiet since we left the safe house. The kind of quiet that meant she was thinking hard about something she hadn't decided to say yet.The baby was quiet too. That bothered me more than anything.After the candles, after whatever that ripple had been, they'd settled into a stillness that felt different from sleep. More
CAELAN'S POVThe cell was the same as every other night.Cold stone. Distant footsteps. The smell of damp and iron that had soaked into everything after weeks of captivity.Except tonight, something was different.I felt it before I understood it. A pull in my chest. Faint but insistent, like a thread being tugged from far away. The kind of feeling wolves described when their mate was in danger.Or when their mate was gone.I was at the cell bars before I'd fully processed the thought. "Guard."The wolf posted outside my cell didn't look up from whatever he was reading. "Quiet.""I need to speak with someone. Damon. Or Darius. Anyone from my pack.""No visitors after dark.""Then get me Magnus."That made him look up. "You want Magnus.""I want to know where my mate is. And I want to know now."He studied me for a moment, then went back to his reading. "She's in her quarters. Same as always."He believed that. I could tell from his voice, the ease of it, the boredom. He hadn't been to
**CAELAN'S POV**Something was wrong.The feeling hit me as I approached the gates. Guards stood too still in the courtyard, servants suddenly discovered urgent tasks that required them to look anywhere but at me.The air tasted different. I dismounted and handed the reins to an omega who took the
**ARIA'S POV** The torchlight blinded me and I froze, terror locking every muscle in my body. For one horrible heartbeat I was certain it was Caelan, that he'd found me already, that my escape had failed before it truly began. But when the figure stepped closer and the light shifted across his
**CAELAN'S POV** I stood at the window of my study, looking down at the training grounds. The sun was almost completely out of the sky, but pack warriors still sparred and trained without interruption. I should have been down there teaching them a few things, growing my army but my mind couldn
**ARIA'S POV**I walked through the halls like a ghost, and the word followed me everywhere.Escape.It whispered in my mind with every breath, with every heartbeat.I kept my head down, hands clasped in front of me as usual, trying to look like nothing happened even though I had just been offered







