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
COWRIEThe sky bled grey when the carriage slowed at the edge of the village, wheels grinding over wet dirt and horses steaming. I pushed the door open before the footman reached it, stepping down onto the moist ground, my cloak snapping behind me in the cold wind. Everything looked smaller than I r
COWRIEThe reply came two days later. It did not come by raven, not by his seal, not even by the boy I sent. It came in a new envelope, cream-colored and blank, slipped under my door in the middle of the afternoon. I spotted it while I was brushing my hair, caught a glimpse of the paper edge curled
COWRIEI found Ruhan alone in the stables, brushing down a dark bay gelding. He paused when he saw me, then waved the stablehands away with a curt nod. His jaw clenched, his throat bobbed. Whatever he knew, it was eating at him.“I know it’s bad,” I said as I walked up to him. “You look like you hav
SOLENNEHe was already waiting when I stepped out. The horses were saddled, both of them, the smaller one pawing the dirt like she’d been bred to race the wind.Ruhan held her reins, watching me. The boots he wore fit too well. He nodded once and handed me the reins and said, “She likes to test peop







