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 diary sat on my lap again.Gavin had gone to bed hours ago. Tyler was downstairs, talking strategy with Dominic and George. I could hear the distant thrum of their voices through the floorboards.I hadn’t spoken a word since finding it, hadn’t told anyone. I just read and kept reading becau
I told him about the cowries, the one I found with Gavin on the trail, the one the owl brought and, the one that appeared beside my bed.“I think she’s alive, Tyler,” I whispered. “I think Lyric is alive and I think she’s trying to warn me that Gavin’s in danger.”His face was stone.I rushed forwar
LILAThe map of the surrounding territories lay spread across the long table, corners pinned with stones, ink still fresh on the updated border routes. Tyler stood at the head of the table, sleeves rolled, brows drawn together in deep focus.Dominic and George flanked him, murmuring quietly. I barel
I pressed the book to my chest and let the room blur around me. My throat burned, but I didn’t cry. It wasn’t grief anymore, it was clarity.Lyric wasn’t stolen from me. She stepped into the fire and now, all these years later, I could see the scorch marks trailing behind her… right into Dominic’s s







