Mag-log inIn the end, it was Sienna who convinced me.
Not Rowan. Not logic. Not reason.
Sienna.
We spent two days arguing about it. Two days discussing every possible risk, every possible outcome, every possible disaster. By the time we finally agreed, the list of conditions bordered on insanity. The meeting would take place inside the
The first time Selena shifted back after the attack, I cried. I had been sitting beside her for almost an hour, watching Mia sleep peacefully after Marianne had checked the wound again, when my daughter suddenly stirred. Her wolf stretched carefully, testing every muscle before the familiar shimmer of magic passed over her body. A moment later, Selena was sitting on the bed, rubbing her eyes with one hand while the other instinctively moved toward her hip. She paused for a second, as though waiting for the pain that had become familiar over the last few days. When nothing came, she looked at me with surprise. "Mama?" she whispered. I immediately reached for her, pulling her into my arms and kissing the side of her head. "It doesn't hurt?" I asked, even though I could see the answer in her face. She shook her head. "Not like before." I closed my eyes, holding her tighter than I probably should have. The relief that flooded through me was almost overwhelming. My little girl was healing.
By the following morning, the eastern forest had been searched twice, and I was beginning to understand why the absence of answers had been making me more restless than the attack itself. We had found tracks, but none of them belonged to a wolf. We had found a few broken branches and disturbed patches of soil, but nothing that immediately pointed toward an attacker. The bullet had been recovered after Marianne finished treating Selena, and Jackson had already sent it to the weapons specialists. Every patrol warrior had been questioned separately, their stories compared and cross-checked, yet there was still nothing that connected any of them to what had happened. Sienna had barely slept. She had spent most of the night beside Selena, waking every time our daughter shifted or whimpered, and by morning she was sitting beside the bed with Nicholas asleep against her chest while Kane remained curled beside Mia. The sight should have softened me, but instead it reminded me exactly why I ne
The interrogation did not end with a name. It ended with more questions than answers, which somehow made the situation worse. One by one, the patrol warriors were dismissed after giving us everything they remembered, while Jackson remained behind with Hugo to compare their statements. I stood near the window with my arms crossed, staring toward the eastern forest that stretched beyond the garden. Somewhere beyond those trees was the person who had fired that bullet. They had entered our territory, watched our children, waited for an opportunity, and disappeared before anyone could catch them. The thought made my hands curl into fists. Sienna stood beside me, unusually quiet. She had been asking questions for nearly an hour, but now she seemed lost in her thoughts, her eyes fixed on the forest as though she could somehow see through the trees and find the person responsible."I don't like this," Jackson finally said from behind us. "Neither do I," I replied. He stepped closer, lowering
Sienna didn't leave Selena's side for the rest of the morning. Even after Marianne assured us that the wound was not life-threatening, my mate remained seated on the floor beside our daughter, one hand resting gently against Mia's head while the other kept Kane close to her. She looked between them constantly, as though checking both children every few seconds simply to reassure herself that they were still there. Kane had stopped crying, but his eyes remained swollen and red, and every time Mia whimpered, his little body tensed as though he was feeling the pain himself. Sienna noticed every single movement. She reassured Kane whenever he looked frightened, stroked Mia's fur whenever she shifted uncomfortably, and somehow managed to keep her voice calm through all of it. Watching her made something inside me ache. She was terrified, but she wasn't allowing that fear to become bigger than what our children needed from her.
Sienna began hyperventilating the moment the warrior said Selena had been attacked, and before her knees could give way beneath her, I caught her against my chest. Her entire body had gone rigid, her breathing coming in short, frightened gasps while her fingers desperately clutched the front of my shirt. I lifted her carefully and carried her toward the nearest couch, lowering her onto it before crouching in front of her. "Sienna, look at me," I said firmly, brushing the hair away from her face. Her eyes were already filling with tears. "She's alive. We don't know anything else yet. We are going to find her." I pressed a kiss against her forehead before standing again, forcing myself to leave when every instinct inside me screamed to stay beside my mate. I turned toward Jackson, who was already moving. "Take me to her." I didn't wait for an answer before following him, instructing Hugo to stay with Sienna and make sure she didn't try to follow us until we knew what had happened."Wher
Cassius eventually rolled onto his back with the most satisfied smile I had ever seen on his face while I remained curled against his chest, trying to catch my breath. His heartbeat had finally settled into its usual steady rhythm, yet his fingers still lazily traced circles over my bare shoulder as though he couldn't stop touching me. I smiled to myself. There really was something wrong with this man. After everything we had been through over the years, after wars, betrayals, impossible prophecies, and nearly losing one another more times than I cared to count, he still looked at me like I was the greatest miracle he had ever stumbled across. Sometimes I wondered if the Moon Goddess had made him with too much love in his heart because there simply wasn't another explanation."There," he murmured, pressing another kiss against my temple. "Now we're even."I lifted my head just enough to look at him before narrowing my eyes. "We're absolutely not even." He blinked innocently, the pictu







