LOGINHe spoke first, his tone low but firm enough to carry. “We can wait,” he said. “Children will come when they’re meant to. The Pack already has its heart.” The room stilled for a breath. Mara looked over her shoulder, her hands still sunk in flour, her eyes soft and startled. “You mean me?” she asked
LILAThe house woke before dawn. Old wood shifted, the hearth whispered, and the air felt different—alive again. I stood at the foot of the stairs when I heard them coming. Two sets of steps, uneven from the road, but in rhythm all the same. When the door opened, cold air rushed through the hall. Ga
“I thought I had to be perfect,” she said. “Every step, every word. Like one mistake would make them lose faith in me.”“Then let them,” I said. “Let them see we bleed too. Let them see what real looks like.”Her eyes lifted toward the sky, catching the first streaks of gold between the branches. “T
GAVINHer breath came out in bursts, sharp enough to cut. She pressed her palm to her mouth, like the words might spill if she didn’t hold them in. I moved before I thought, closing the space, catching her hands in mine. Her fingers were cold and damp, her pulse racing under my thumb.“I can’t be wh
GAVINThe scent hit me before I saw the gate—hers, faint and fading, scattered by wind. I caught it the second I stepped into the hall, and everything in me snapped to attention. The council chamber still echoed in my head, the droning voices, the talk of territory lines and alliance disputes. I had
MARAI knelt beside a pool fed by a narrow stream. Moonlight rippled across its surface, silver on black. My reflection flickered there, the same face that wore the Luna’s mask every day, only softer now—bare, unsure, alive. I cupped my hands in the water and let it run down my wrists. The cold snap
LILAThe room was quiet, save for the faint rustling of wind against the high windows. Morning hadn’t reached the horizon yet, and the rest of the Packhouse was still asleep. I should’ve been asleep too, conserving what little strength I had left. That was what they all expected. That I would stay t
LILAI was in the training yard when the alarm bell rang in one long, deep tone that hadn’t sounded in forever. It cut through the air like a blade, reverberating through my ribs, silencing every voice in the yard. For a moment, no one moved. Then came the second strike, followed by chaos.The recru
“You’re really better,” he said, grinning up at me with that open honesty only a child could hold. “You’re standing straight again!”“I am,” I replied, smoothing a hand over his curls. “I feel like myself again.”He beamed, then tugged my hand eagerly. “Come on! There’s something I have to show you.
He cursed under his breath and motioned to the western slope. “They knew where to hit. Healers, supply routes, ward posts. This wasn’t a guess.”“They planned it,” I replied. “And they studied us.”He met my gaze. “Then let’s give them something they didn’t plan for.”I moved with him, watching his







