Mag-log inJohn’s POVI gave up on sleep around five in the morning. Instead of lying there staring at the ceiling, I put my shoes on and headed outside.The Shadow Moon estate is a lot bigger than anything we have at Blue Moon. The courtyards are wider, the training fields are longer, and there’s more glass and stone than wood. I’ve been here almost a week and I still get lost in the place.I took the path behind the residence toward the eastern courtyard. I heard voices before I even got there.Benjamin stood by the goalposts with a ball under one arm. Lucian was in front of him, hands on his knees, catching his breath.“Again,” Benjamin said. “Lock your ankle this time. Last one flopped like a fish.”“It did not.”“It absolutely did.”Lucian laughed and ran at the ball. He kicked it. The ball sailed wide and skidded across the grass.Benjamin didn’t say anything about the miss. He jogged after the ball, brought it back, and set it down in front of his son.“Try again. You’re closer than you t
BENJAMIN’S POVCallum’s voice had the same edge in it that it had the night Lisa threw John Marlow through a bookcase.“When exactly did you confirm this?”“The ridge scent came in an hour ago. That’s the new part. We already knew the rest this morning.” Paper rustled on his end. “The teams went back down to the gorge after the rain. The bank shifted and opened up a section that used to be under mud. There was a campsite in it.”“Lisa?”“We found proof she was there.” He read it out flat. “A fire pit with fresh burn marks. Empty water bottles. A box of painkillers two years out of date. Bandages soaked through. Strips torn off the prison clothes she was wearing when she went in. And silver-gray fur caught on the thorns along the ridge.”I shut my eyes.“Morwen ran the blood,” Callum said. “It’s hers.”The corridor was quiet. Down the hall, Lucian was laughing at something Drake said. It sounded like it came from another building, another life.“You were right,” Callum said. “She survi
BENJAMIN’S POVI watched my son walk across the hallway last night and put his mother right between us. He didn’t even stop to think about it. After that, I couldn’t sleep at all.The guest suite had a soft bed, thick curtains, and a window that looked out over the eastern gardens. None of that helped. Every time I closed my eyes, I was back in that hallway watching him do it again. Three years ago he heard me say four words, and he’d carried them with him ever since. No one told him to. I just stared at the ceiling until the sky turned gold, then got dressed and left the room.The kitchen was already busy. Two staff members moved pans between the counter and the stove. Someone stacked plates. The radio played quietly under everything. Alice stood by the window holding a cup with both hands, laughing at something an older woman was telling her.I stopped in the doorway. I hadn’t heard my wife laugh like that in years.Then a second laugh came in under hers—smaller but louder at the s
DAMIAN’S POV“What flowers?”Benjamin was still on one knee in the middle of my front hall. His son held onto my sister’s sleeve. He asked the question again. No one spoke until I did.I had practiced this a hundred times. In the car. While I shaved. Lying awake at three in the morning when the house was quiet. Not one of those times had me kneeling in front of my sister with forty people listening.“Every year we took Lucian somewhere on his birthday,” I said.Lucian lifted his head from Alice’s shoulder.“I always picked the flowers myself.”Alice kept running her hand through his hair. She never looked at him. She looked at me.“We never took him to a grave,” I said. “He wasn’t dead, so there was no grave. There’s a hill above the compound, on the far side of the east road. One big oak tree stands on it. We started going there on his first birthday. It became our thing.”“And the flowers.”“He puts them under the tree. Then he closes his eyes and makes one wish.”“What wish?” Alice
ALICE’S POVNobody in the hall made a sound.He was taller. That was the first thing I noticed. He had color in his face now. He had put on healthy weight. The last time I held my son he was light enough to carry up a flight of stairs without stopping. His hair had grown out. It curled over his forehead.His eyes were the same striking blue. Those were mine.“Lucian,” I said. “My baby.”He blinked at me a few times. Then his eyes filled with tears and his voice came out very small.“…Mom?”“It’s me.” I nodded and could not stop. “I’m right here, baby.”He ran across the hall.My bag hit the floor. I was on my knees before I decided to drop. He crashed into me hard enough to push me back on my heels. I wrapped both arms around him and held on.His hair smelled the same. Three years later and it smelled exactly the same.“My baby. My little wolf. You’re alive.”His arms locked around my neck.“I knew you’d come back.”“You knew?”He nodded against my shoulder.“Uncle Damian said you wer
DAMIAN’S POVI checked my watch. Four minutes since the last time I looked.The sun was going down behind the western hills. The whole compound turned gold. Guards walked the perimeter. Staff came in and out of the main doors with papers under their arms. Just a normal evening at Shadow Moon.My sister hung up on me eleven hours ago. The secret I kept for three years came out this morning. I haven’t touched the reports on my desk since. I put off two meetings. I canceled a third.Drake leaned against the front porch with his arms folded. David stood a few feet away. His face had no color. His eyes stayed on the gate. We spent all day in my office trying to figure out what to say to her. We found nothing. There was nothing to find.“You’ve been pacing for twenty minutes,” Drake said.“I know.”“You’ll wear a hole in the pavement.”“I’m not worried about her yelling at me.”“I know you’re not.”“I’m worried she’ll never call me big brother again.”Drake had nothing to say. He’s had an a
ALICE’S POVI should have taken Lucian home.I should have picked him up, carried him away from this festival of false joy and false hope, and tucked him into bed with a story, a kiss, and a promise that tomorrow would be better.But I didn’t. Because Lucian wanted to see the fireworks. And I could
ALICE’S POVThe Blue Moon Festival was Lucian’s idea of heaven and my four-year plan of endurance.He’d been talking about it for weeks—the lanterns, the fireworks, the honey cakes from the booth near the stage. When he’d asked, he’d pressed both hands together like he was praying, eyes wide, and I
ALICE’S POVThe days that followed had a rhythm I didn’t trust.Benjamin came every morning. He actually sat at the table — something I still hadn’t gotten used to — and ate whatever I put in front of him. He returned every evening and stayed until Lucian’s eyes drifted shut.Four mornings in a row
ALICE’S POVBy the time I walked into the hospital room, I had composed myself completely. My face was set.Lucian was awake, sitting up in bed. His face brightened the moment he saw me."Mommy. You came back.""I came back." I lifted him into my arms. He smelled like baby shampoo, antiseptic, and







