LOGINDear readers,
I just want to take a moment to sincerely thank every single one of you who has stayed with this story until this point. 🥹❤️ Your comments, gems, gifts, support, patience, and love for these characters mean more to me than I can put into words.
Updates for this book will resume on the 1st of next month! 🎉
And trust me… you’re going to want to be there. 👀
The upcoming chapters will answer a lot of the questions you’ve been asking, reveal things that have been hidden for far too long, and, of course, we’ll finally see some people face the consequences of their actions. 😏🔥
There are still plenty of surprises, revelations, confrontations, and emotional moments waiting for you. So please stay with me, because the story is far from over!
Thank you for reading, supporting, commenting, and believing in this story. I appreciate every one of you immensely. ❤️
See you on the 1st! ❤️
With love,
Author Flying Dove 🕊️
Benjamin’s POVLucian’s fever was still there in the morning. It had gone down a little during the night but then it climbed back up again, and now he looked flushed and tired under the blankets. He barely ate any of his breakfast. Every time I moved in the chair next to his bed, he watched me, and even when he was half asleep he kept holding two of my fingers with his hand.I stayed right there with him the whole time.My phone buzzed again. The border patrol had stopped two strange wolves near the eastern road, and they also found a section of fence that someone had cut open past the creek. No one got hurt, but the patrol leader wanted me to make a decision before the next shift started. Callum sent a text that said the guards were gathering and they expected me in the meeting room.I looked at Lucian, at his dark eyelashes resting on his hot cheeks, and I typed back that they should send me the reports and I would join the meeting by video.Someone knocked on the door before I cou
ALICE’S POVThe house felt too quiet that morning, and that was strange because Lucian was never quiet. I went into his room and found him curled up under his blanket with red cheeks and damp hair at his temples. His favorite soccer shirt was still sitting on the chair, untouched. I sat down on the edge of his bed, and he opened his eyes and looked up at me.“Mom?” His voice sounded rough and small. “My head hurts. And I’m cold.”I brushed his hair away from his forehead and felt how hot his skin was, and right away my stomach dropped because I knew something was wrong. Even though his face was burning, he pulled the blanket up to his chin like he was freezing.I took the thermometer out of the drawer by the bed, shook it, and put it under his tongue. He let me do it without asking any questions, and that scared me more than if he had complained. While we waited for the result, I rubbed his back and counted his breaths.The thermometer beeped, and the number was high enough to worry m
ALICE'S POVBy the time the clock went past midnight, I had turned over so many times that the sheets were twisted all around my legs. My belly got heavier every week, and the baby seemed determined to ruin every position I used to like. When I lay on my left side, my hip started hurting. When I lay on my right side, the baby pressed so low that I had to move again. Lying on my back only lasted as long as it took Benjamin to wake up and ask if I could still breathe.“I’m breathing,” I whispered into the dark.He pushed himself up on one elbow and looked at me. “You moved. Do you need water? Another pillow? Should I call Morwen?”I pushed a pillow between my knees and tried again. The baby rolled inside me, and I took a sharp breath.Benjamin sat straight up. “What is it? Is it pain? Are you sure it’s nothing?”“Benjamin.” I turned to face him, and my voice came out sharper than I meant it to. “Please stop asking me every time I move. Now I’m awake, you’re awake, and I’m lying here wa
BENJAMIN'S POVThe first delivery truck pulled up at eight in the morning.I signed for the white crib with the rounded corners and checked the box carefully to make sure nothing was damaged. The delivery men carried it upstairs to the nursery, and they were still bringing in the changing table when the next van arrived. That van brought a rocking chair and a nursing chair, and it also brought a second rocking chair because the first one did not have an adjustable footrest. After that came two bassinets, a stroller, and a portable crib. A bottle sterilizer showed up too, along with a baby monitor that had a camera and a second monitor that tracked the temperature in the room and every movement inside it.Alice walked down the stairs and stopped so suddenly that she had to grab the railing to steady herself.Boxes filled the hallway, and half of the sitting room had disappeared behind packages. One of the delivery men was trying to move a flat-packed wardrobe around the sofa.She look
ALICE'S POVMonths went by before I felt the baby move.I was going through some research papers in the sitting room when it happened. The movement was so light that I thought it was just a muscle twitch at first, a tiny ripple low in my belly. I stopped writing and held my breath with one hand resting over the curve under my blouse.It came again. A soft tap, like a fingertip knocking from the inside.I started smiling before I could stop myself. "Hello, little one."Benjamin looked up from his laptop across the room. "What is it?""I think the baby just moved."He stood up before I even finished the sentence, and his laptop almost slid off his knees. "Now?""Just now." I took his hand and pressed it against my stomach. "Hold still. Maybe you will feel it."He kept his warm hand there and did not blink while he waited for the baby to move again.We waited, but nothing happened.He shifted his hand a little to the left. "Maybe here?""Benjamin, the baby does not have a doorbell.""I a
ALICE'S POVThe nausea hit me hard while I was standing at the counter in the clinic going through the morning reports. One moment I was sorting patient notes with my ginger tea steaming next to me, and the next moment the floor felt like it was tilting under my feet. The whole room started spinning, so I grabbed the edge of the counter to keep from falling. I lowered myself down carefully until I was sitting on the floor with my back against the cabinet.Benjamin's footsteps came running across the room right away."Alice?" he said, and his voice changed as soon as he saw me on the floor. He crouched down beside me and all the color left his face. I could feel his fear through the bond. It was sharp and sudden."I'm awake," I told him before he could start shouting for the rest of the pack. "I can hear you and I can answer you. I'm just dizzy. I'm not dying.""Why are you on the floor?" he asked."Because the floor finally stopped moving long enough for me to sit down," I said.He d
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 POVI hadn't slept. I'd counted his breaths instead.It had been four hours since Lucian collapsed at breakfast. Four hours since I’d screamed loud enough to wake every wolf on our floor of the western wing. Now the monitors did the counting for me — soft, steady, mechanical as my son slept







