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 sky was inked in velvet by the time I found him.Tyler was in the strategy room, hunched over a long table with scrolls, maps, and worn leather notebooks strewn about. The fire in the hearth threw flickering shadows across his face, highlighting the lines of exhaustion that had deepened ove
What?A pause. Then Dominic’s voice, low and commanding, like oil sliding over stone. “She confronted you about Micah? Good. That means you did your job right.”My breath caught. I’d known Thomas was slippery. Dominic didn’t surprise me, I loved that I had gotten evidence.Another voice joined in Ge
I sit up carefully, pressing the sheet to my chest. My clothes are folded neatly on the old wooden chair across the room. His doing, not mine.It was tender. He was kind. But it was a mistake.I turn and look at Gavin, curled on a pile of blankets in the corner, hugging his stuffed fox. He looks pea
LILAI lifted my hand to knock, but the door creaked open before I could. Tyler stood there, dressed down in black joggers and a fitted shirt, hair tousled like he hadn’t slept. His eyes met mine, then dropped briefly to the bag on my shoulder. I didn’t realise I was still carrying it around. Not a







