~Amara~A loud, impatient knock disrupted my reading. It wasn’t Lucian. He knocked twice, always with a soft hesitation. This knock was louder, firmer, and more demanding. I stood slowly, heart stuttering. My steps were cautious as I approached the door. A part of me already knew who it was.When I opened it, I was not disappointed. Maya stood there, her arms crossed, her face a mask of mock-concern and artificial warmth. Her eyes, though, told a different story."Can we talk?" she asked, her voice gentle enough to fool anyone but me.I stepped back, leaving the door open without a word.She entered like a queen into a court she believed she still ruled, taking slow, deliberate steps, letting her gaze sweep the small cabin as if she was measuring it for decay."Lucian’s not here," I said, arms crossed defensively."I know," she answered, turning toward me. "That’s why I came."I raised an eyebrow. "That’s very convenient."Maya smiled and her eyes dropped onto the open journal on my b
~Lucian~I stood in front of the wolf house, my senses attuned to the activities around me. The air was crisp, the kind that bit into your skin like a warning. Birds chirped overhead, but even their songs couldn’t silence the distress that I’d felt all through the night.I closed my eyes and reached through my mind-link. “Marcus,” I called in my mind.Silence. I inhaled slowly, and tried again. “Marcus. I need to speak with you. It’s urgent. Can you hear me?”The bond remained mute. I tried to push deeper, reaching across the pack connection that had once never failed me. The sensation was like knocking against a sealed door. There was no opening or presence. Just empty air.Damn it.I opened my eyes, exhaling roughly. A chill crawled up the back of my neck, not from the cold, but the sense that something wasn’t aligning. Marcus had never failed to respond, especially not to a direct mind-link.Was he dead? No, there was no way he was dead. I would have felt the snap of the bond if h
~Amara~I couldn’t sleep. Even though I’d promised Lucian I’d rest, my eyes wouldn’t stay shut. The ache in my back, the way my belly tightened every few minutes, it was more than physical discomfort. It was this feeling. This deep, growing tug in my gut that something wasn’t right.I turned on my side, my hand resting on the swell of my belly. “We’re so close, little one,” I whispered. “Mama just needs to figure this out. Then we can go home.”An idea suddenly came to me and I sat up slowly, grabbing a nearby jacket from the chair. The house was quiet. I knew Lucian had gone to speak with Maya. He didn’t say it outright, but I saw it in his eyes. He didn’t want to believe what I told him. he wanted to find out for himself.The restlessness that I had was because I knew how manipulative Maya could be, and seeing how bad the whole thing was hurting Lucian, he could just decide to turn back on the truth just to make the pain go away. I needed to know what was going on with that conversa
~Lucian~I knew what I had to do the moment Amara showed me that paper with the mark drawn on the page. The shape. The pattern. The same mark I had once thought a tribal tattoo when I saw it on Maya, back when we were just falling in love. I never questioned it. She told me it was nothing and that it was only a symbol of her family. I never thought to ask more. But now? Now I couldn’t ignore it. Not after everything Amara had been through. Not after how I’d let her down again and again.My heart twisted with the knowledge that Maya had probably lied to me from the first time that we met. I couldn’t imagine how I could have been such a fool for her, believing every little thing that came from her. But I was going to confront her about it. I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing to do, but I needed to see that mark again, to be sure that it was the same one with Adrik.I waited until the next evening before I could see her. Maya was outside, sitting beneath the same tree I always found
~Lucian~The promise I made still echoed in my ears long after Amara and I walked away from that stream. Her words kept on playing over and over in my head, and they wouldn’t stop no matter how much I tried. It was as if that was the punishment I was receiving for daring to sideline her all this while. I hated how many times I’d made her feel like second best. She never was. Not once. And now, with her due date crawling closer, I realized how badly I needed to set everything right.I walked beside her in silence, sneaking glances at her every few steps. She held her belly protectively, the baby growing inside her reminding me that this was also a piece of us; proof that we had built something real out of all this chaos.“I meant what I said, Lucian,” Amara suddenly said. “I’ll help you figure this out. But after that, I need to go home.”“I know,” I replied, my throat tightening. “And I’ll take you home, Amara. I swear on everything I have left.”She gave me a tired look but nodded. W
~Amara~I lay in bed with my hand on my belly, counting the rhythmic thump of my baby's tiny feet against my ribs. It was comforting. Reassuring. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t sleep. Lucian had left the room a while ago. He thought I was resting. But the moment he shut the door behind him, my mind ignited into a storm of thoughts I could no longer suppress.I couldn’t stop thinking of Maya and what her mission could possibly be. No matter what anyone else says, I strongly believed that there was no way a dead person could have come back to life. Lucian said he had held her lifeless body in his arms. She was his first mate, so he could have noticed if there was any sign of life in her, but he didn’t.A sigh escaped my lips as I turned over again on my side. What could possibly be Maya’s plan? Her name alone made my stomach twist. This wasn’t from jealousy anymore, but unease. Something about her return didn’t sit right with me. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the memory