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
“This feels normal,” he said quietly.I paused, looking down at the bowl in my hands. “It does.”“And it shouldn’t, right?”I nodded. “Not yet.”He didn’t argue. Just watched me add chocolate chips.The oven clicked on. The scent of warm sugar filled the room. Gavin wandered in and flopped dramatica
I took them, automatically. The fabric was still warm from his hands. Pale blue, soft grey, lace hems. My breath caught and my fingers stiffened, I knew these clothes. A slanted neckline on the top, a tiny moth-shaped tear I’d mended for her once, laughing at how clumsy she was with her laundry. Lav
LILAI woke up to chaos. Not the kind that screams danger but the kind that smells suspiciously like burnt sugar and sounds like something just exploded.I threw on a robe and padded barefoot toward the kitchen, heart thumping in that tired-mom way.“Tyler, the egg goes in the bowl, not the floor!”
LILAThe courtyard was unusually quiet for a morning like this. Mist still clung to the flagstones, curling around my bare ankles as I walked barefoot across the stones, letting the cool sting wake me up more fully than tea ever could. The servants had Gavin off somewhere, I could hear his laughter







