FAZER LOGINRowan
Time stood still in the hut. Myra had left hours ago, leaving us alone with the sharp scent of herbs and the last glowing embers crackling in the hearth. I did not leave Caroline’s side. Her hand rested in mine—still too cold, too fragile—and I watched every single breath as if my own life depended on it. Because it did. Then her eyelashes fluttered. A soft, pained moan slipped from her lips, and her head slowly turned on the pillow. My stomach clenched soCaroline Four years had passed since that storm-lashed night when the fate of the pack hung by a single thread. Today the mountain no longer whispered of fear, but of life. Spring had arrived early on the northern slopes; snow lingered only on the highest peaks, glittering white, while below the deep green of the pine forests mingled with the wildflowers’ thousand colors. “I’m going to catch you, you little wild thing!” I laughed as I ran across the gently sloping clearing behind the house. Ahead of me, a small but astonishingly quick figure darted away. My four-year-old son, Silas—whom everyone simply called Si, to finally wash the name of its dark past—zigzagged between the trees like a wolf cub. His dark, tousled hair was just like his father’s, but when he glanced back at me with a grin, my own golden princely legacy shimmered in his eyes. “You won’t catch me, Mom! I’m the fastest on the mountain!” the boy shouted, then leapt effortlessly over
Rowan After the night spent in Myra’s hut, morning greeted us with blinding white light. The storm had passed, and the mountain lay so still it was as if it, too, were holding its breath, listening for the news that was about to reach our home. Caroline was still weak, but in her eyes there was no longer pain. There was a new, steely resolve. As I helped her onto the horse and settled her tightly behind me, I felt the heat radiating from her body, the fire that now burned not only for her, but for the life growing inside her. When we rode into the courtyard of the estate, the pack was already waiting. Marcus, Elias, and the others stood in silent lines. I saw the uncertainty on their faces. They knew something had happened in the cave, they had seen my collapse the day before, and they wanted answers. I dismounted slowly and lifted Caroline down from the saddle. I did not let go of her hand. That electric vibration which, from the very first day, had bo
Rowan Time stood still in the hut. Myra had left hours ago, leaving us alone with the sharp scent of herbs and the last glowing embers crackling in the hearth. I did not leave Caroline’s side. Her hand rested in mine—still too cold, too fragile—and I watched every single breath as if my own life depended on it. Because it did. Then her eyelashes fluttered. A soft, pained moan slipped from her lips, and her head slowly turned on the pillow. My stomach clenched so hard I nearly forgot how to breathe. “Caroline?” I whispered, my voice cracking under the weight of the sob I was holding back. She slowly opened her eyes. The golden ring around her irises was faint now, as if her inner fire were burning on a low flame. She blinked in confusion, trying to focus in the dim room, until her gaze finally found me. I saw the moment of recognition instantly: her eyes clouded, and she tried to pull her hand from mine. “Don’t…” she rasped hoarsely, pa
Rowan The door shattered as it slammed into the wall. My shoulder screamed from the impact, but I felt no pain; the rage that had moments ago flooded my mind froze into icy terror in my veins. “Caroline!” I shouted, but my voice broke against the bathroom’s cold tiles. My heart stopped at the sight. Caroline lay motionless on the floor. Her skin was deathly pale, her lips tinged blue in the dim light. The brilliant golden fire that had once burned in her eyes was completely gone. She looked like a shattered porcelain doll I had knocked from the shelf with my own hands. “No, no, no… sweetheart, please!” I dropped to my knees beside her. The hands that moments earlier could have strangled the world now trembled helplessly as I cradled her face in my palms. Her body was soft and terrifyingly light. Our bond—that powerful electric chain that bound us together—now vibrated as a hair-thin, dying thread. I could barely feel her. “Wake up! I’m
Caroline After two peaceful weeks, tension returned to the house. It did not come from an external enemy, but from the crushing weight of power and responsibility. The electric charge vibrating in the air, which had once soothed me, now felt as though it were burning. Rowan and I stood in the great hall, on opposite sides of the heavy oak table, which had turned into a battlefield. The argument began over what seemed like a minor pack issue: whether to take in the lone wolves living on the northern fringe. I wanted to integrate them. Rowan, with Silas’s blood still running through his veins, was suspicious and dismissive. “You don’t understand, Caroline!” Rowan shouted, his fist slamming into the table so hard that one of the crystal glasses cracked. “This isn’t some city charity ball. Out here, weakness means death. If we let those mongrels in, you put everything we’ve built at risk!” “Mercy is not weakness, Rowan!” I shouted back, my voice shaki
Caroline The two weeks following our union felt as though the mountain itself had finally drawn a steady breath. The bond sealed in the cavern bath did not only bind the two of us irrevocably together; somehow, it calmed the entire pack and the estate as well. Silas’s cruel legacy—the fear seeping from the walls and the ice-cold guilt—slowly evaporated, replaced by a strange, muted, yet stable sense of peace. The snowstorms that had battered the house for weeks at last subsided. The sun’s rays no longer merely blinded on the ice; at times, they even carried warmth to the rocks. The roads, though still difficult, became passable again. Movement resumed between the northern and southern slopes of the mountain. Rowan—my Alpha—and I spent every day restoring order within the pack. In the great hall where terror once reigned, we redistributed duties with the help of Elena and Jake. There was no longer any need for threats; the wolves felt the weight of our dual auth







