MasukHe 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
GAVINShe moved the incense tray from the south window to the altar shelf like she owned the place. I caught the flick of her sleeve just as she unrolled one of the sealed scrolls and smoothed it flat over the lunar map. Her mouth was moving when I entered, muttering something about clutter and lack
SOLENNEI found him in the map room, bent over the northern trade routes, his fingers pressed flat against the parchment, tracing the route of one of the foraging wagons. Another scout stood behind him, muttering something about snow damage on one of the trails. I stepped in, shut the door, slid the
I slammed the door and shouted, “Solenne!”She came stumbling out of her chambers with her hair still wild, clutching a satin robe around her. “What?” she barked. “Is someone dead?”“Worse,” I said, already dragging the chest into the middle of the room. “We’ve been ambushed.”Her eyes narrowed at t
GAVINI walked the southern wing with my head full of numbers, troop movements, and the draft of next season’s trade routes. I wasn’t expecting to find anyone near the strategy hall, least of all Sariah. The guards stationed outside gave no alert, which meant she must’ve used her Luna privileges to







