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
George kicked my hind leg, twisted beneath me and rolled to his feet. His robe hung shredded at his sides. His chest was a mess of claw marks and bruises. He bared his teeth. “You’re nothing without her,” he spat. “The Moon won’t save you twice.”“She didn’t have to,” I growled, shifting back as I r
LILAHis fingers grazed the back of my hand, before he moved to the next patch, eyes low, breath uneven. I watched him work in silence, shoulders flexing, back bent. He looked up when he heard Cowrie shriek alongside Gavin’s laughter.“She’s good for him,” he said softly.“They’re good for each othe
LILAThe courtyard in Raven’s Peak had thinned, the fires smoldering to embers while ash drifted low across the cracked stone.Lyric had taken Cowrie and Gavin inside. But Tyler stayed, rooted to the same spot where he’d fought beside me. He stood like he didn’t feel the wind or the dusk or the cold
LILALyric plopped beside me, her braid falling over her shoulder, face glowing, “She’s crawling. I mean, really crawling now,” she said, lifting Solenne’s discarded pacifier and wiping it on her sleeve.Cowrie crawled beside her, copying her form, elbows tucked, legs pumping, yelling sound effects







