LOGINThat night, after returning from the training grounds, the house felt quieter than usual, but not in a peaceful way. It was the kind of quiet that came after something heavy had passed through, leaving behind tired hearts and aching thoughts. Kane walked beside me silently as we entered, his fingers wrapped tightly around mine like he feared that if he let go, something would pull him away again. Selena trailed behind us, still full of questions she hadn’t voiced yet, her eyes moving be
That night, long after everyone had gone to sleep, I found myself standing outside Kane and Selena’s room again.It had become a habit without me realizing it. Every night, after the house settled into silence and the lights went off one by one, my feet carried me to their door like something inside me refused to trust distance. I didn’t knock. I didn’t step inside immediately. I just stood there for a moment, listening to their breathing through the quiet hallway.Steady.Soft.Alive.Only after assuring myself of that did I push the door open slightly and step inside.The room smelled faintly of soap and the lavender oil Camelia insisted on using before bedtime. Selena slept curled toward Kane again, her small hand resting across his arm like she was guarding him even in sleep. Kane lay on his back this time, his brows drawn slightly together even in rest, his chest rising and falling in deeper breaths than usual.
That night, after returning from the training grounds, the house felt quieter than usual, but not in a peaceful way. It was the kind of quiet that came after something heavy had passed through, leaving behind tired hearts and aching thoughts. Kane walked beside me silently as we entered, his fingers wrapped tightly around mine like he feared that if he let go, something would pull him away again. Selena trailed behind us, still full of questions she hadn’t voiced yet, her eyes moving between Kane and Cassius as if trying to understand what had changed between them.The moment we stepped inside, the smell of warm food wrapped around us like a familiar blanket. Camelia stood near the kitchen counter, stirring something slowly while Everett arranged plates on the dining table with the same quiet precision he carried into everything he did. The sight of them there—so settled, so involved in a home that wasn’t originally theirs—still felt strange to me some
By evening, the whispers had softened around us, but they had not disappeared. They never did, not in a pack like this where silence spoke louder than accusation. I could feel it without anyone saying it directly to my face. People did not stop us or question us openly, but their eyes lingered longer than usual when Kane walked past them. Conversations dipped into softer tones when we approached, and though they resumed moments later, the shift in rhythm was unmistakable. Years of leading a pack had taught me how silence behaved when people were thinking too much and speaking too little. It was never the loud confrontations that worried me. It was the quiet watching that came before them.That evening, I chose to take Kane back to the training grounds. Not because he was ready, and certainly not because I believed yesterday had already settled inside him. He was still shaken, still unsure, still carrying the weight of guilt like something he believed he deserved to feel. But
Word travels fast in a pack. Faster than wind, faster than reason, and sometimes faster than truth itself.By the next morning, I could feel it without anyone saying it aloud. The air inside North Hollow had shifted in a way that only someone raised inside a pack would notice. People did not stop me openly, nor did they confront me with questions, but their eyes lingered a second longer than usual. Conversations that had once flowed freely softened when I walked past. Heads turned subtly, glances exchanged quietly between elders who believed they were being discreet.They had heard.Of course they had.An early shift alone would have been enough to stir whispers. But a child striking another during training—no matter how accidental—was the kind of story that moved quickly from mouth to mouth, growing sharper with every retelling.I walked beside Kane that morning, our steps slower than usual as we made our way toward the administrative
By the time Kane returned home that afternoon, I already knew something had happened.No one had sent me a message. No one had come running to the administrative block, and yet there had been a strange uneasiness sitting inside my chest since midday that refused to settle. Numbers had blurred in front of my eyes as I worked, columns refusing to align no matter how carefully I calculated them. I had rewritten the same figures twice before finally setting the pen aside, pressing my fingers against my temples as if that would quiet the restless feeling building inside me. Even Priya had noticed.“You’ve been staring at that page for too long,” she had said gently, her voice carrying quiet concern rather than irritation. “Go home early today. I’ll finish this part.”I hadn’t argued. I had gathered my papers quickly, my heart beating faster than usual as I walked back home, the uneasiness growing stronger with every step.
The training grounds had begun to feel different these past few days, though no one had openly said it aloud. The same clearing stood where it always had, surrounded by tall trees that filtered the morning sunlight into soft streaks across the packed earth. Wooden posts lined the open space, their surfaces marked with years of practice, their worn edges silent witnesses to generations of wolves learning discipline before strength. Children gathered in small groups, guided by instructors who moved among them patiently, correcting posture and demonstrating movements again and again until they became instinct.Kane stood among them, smaller than many of the others, yet carrying himself in a way that felt older than his years. His shoulders remained tight, his stance more rigid than relaxed, like he was holding himself together through effort alone. Cassius watched from a short distance, his arms folded across his chest, his gaze never straying far from his son. Everett stood bes
Vineclaw had finally caught up to my neck. Overthinking and Vineclaw.Those were the two things strangling me for the past week. Ever since that dinner in her backyard — the four of us sitting on that mat, Kane la
Two things have been bothering me ever since I left her house.First — she didn’t let me inside.Not into her living room. Not even past the threshold. Just the backyard. Just the open grass and fading light. Not her home. Not the space where she and the kids live their real life.Second — somethin
“What are you doing here?” Sienna asked me once we moved out of the park. She wasn’t loud but there was a bite in her tone.“Me? I came here to play with the kids. We were here for an hour before
I stared at the well-built wolf in front of me.He stood with the easy authority of someone who did not need to announce his rank. Broad shoulders. Controlled stance. Calm eyes that are measured before reacting. If I kn







