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
My skin prickled, but I didn’t flinch. Instead, I turned back to the wood and focused on aligning the beam, pretending I didn’t hear them, pretending I couldn’t feel the heat of their eyes on my back.Tyler lifted the old paneling from the side of the half-finished treehouse, inspecting the water-da
LILAIt felt like standing in a room full of wolves, only I was the one pretending not to notice their teeth.Then Dominic leaned back against the tree and stretched his arms over his head with a theatrical sigh. “You know,” he said, just loud enough to break the false calm, “for all her madness, Ly
He didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”And for a fleeting moment, that answer wrapped around my heart like hope.Then I heard the familiar voice of Tyler calling up from the clearing below.“You two plotting up there without me?”Reid straightened just slightly. His eyes flicked to mine.He took the note from m
Reid met my eyes. A silent warning buried in his casual expression. Keep watching. Don’t relax yet.Then he gave a lazy nod and said, “I’ll do another sweep of the perimeter. Can’t be too careful these days.”Tyler tossed him a two-finger salute. “Tell Caelan to double-check the west fence. Heard a







