MasukLeah
I glanced at Keanu, who was now pretending to be deeply interested in the texture of his cereal bowl. He looked sheepish. Good. He should.
“The spirit parasite showed up.” I kept my voice calm. “Eyera. That's her name. She came to the castle while you were gone.”
The silence on the other end was lethal. I
Leah“The curse changed everything,” I said, thinking out loud. “When the kingdom went underground, the boundaries were preserved as they were at that moment. But this deed predates the wall.” I looked at the man. “When did your grandfather build it?”“He was a young man.”“I think he did build the wall but on the wrong boundary from the looks of it.” I held up the deed. “The original boundary was here.” I pointed to a line on the deed that placed the border six feet closer to the man's house than where the wall currently stood.His face darkened. “That wall is—”“I understand. And I'm not dismissing it. Your grandfather built that wall. B
Leah“You just got shell in the batter.”“Calcium.”“That's not how that works.”“It is in my kitchen.”“This is my kitchen.”“Our kitchen.”We fell into a rhythm. He measured sugar with approximate accuracy. I sifted flour and tried not to micromanage his technique, which was generous in spirit and chaotic in execution. He found chocolate chips in a cabinet and poured half the bag directly into his mouth before adding the rest to the bowl.“Those were for the cookies.”
LeahI glanced at Keanu, who was now pretending to be deeply interested in the texture of his cereal bowl. He looked sheepish. Good. He should.“The spirit parasite showed up.” I kept my voice calm. “Eyera. That's her name. She came to the castle while you were gone.”The silence on the other end was lethal. I could feel the shift through the bond even across the distance. The warmth hardening into something sharp.“She came to the castle.” His voice was dangerously controlled. “To my home. While I wasn't there.”“Yes. She tried to place a tracker on me. A rune forged by demons so Korvax could find me.” I paused. “I removed it. Then Andromeda and I had a conversation w
LeahI woke up to the sound of something exploding.My body jerked upright, shadows instinctively rising from my skin before my brain caught up with my surroundings. I was in my bedroom. Sunlight pouring through the windows. And Keanu, sprawled across the armchair in the corner with his legs draped over the side, a bowl of cereal balanced on his stomach, watching television.The explosion had come from whatever movie he was streaming on the flatscreen mounted to the wall. A car chase, from the looks of it. He was completely absorbed, his spoon halfway to his mouth, milk dripping onto his shirt without him noticing.I let the shadows sink back beneath my skin and pressed my palm to my forehead. My body felt like it had been filled with sand. It felt heavy and sluggish. Every musc
LeahThe shadows binding Eyera snapped. The concentration broke, the tendrils dissolving into smoke as my focus split between the threat in front of me and the brother who'd just dropped from the sky. Eyera hit the ground, stumbled, and in the half-second it took me to process what was happening, she was already moving.She dissolved. Her body broke apart into dark smoke the same way it had in the woods, scattering into the night air, threading through the garden, over the wall, gone. The scent of her lingered for a few seconds and then the wind carried it away.Gone. She was gone. And she'd taken every answer with her.“You stupid whelp!”Andromeda's voice ripped from my throat with a fury that made the
LeahThe shadows poured from me like a dam breaking.They moved with purpose, wrapping around my hand as I pressed my palm flat against the rune on my chest. The glow pulsed against my skin, resisting, the magic that forged it clinging to me like something alive. It burned cold.Get it off. Get it off, now.I pushed harder. The shadows sank into the rune like fingers prying open a lock, finding the edges of the magic, pulling at the seams. The glow flickered and stuttered. I felt Andromeda surge forward inside me, her power flooding into my hands, into the shadows, amplifying them with something that made the rune scream.Not a sound, but a burning vibration.I ripped it free.
LeahThe silence that followed my accusation stretched between us like a taut wire, vibrating with tension. I watched Darien’s face, searching for any signs of denial or deflection.Instead, he smiled.And then he chuckled, the sound low and warm, filling the space between us with something that fe
Leah“Who?” I watched as he blinked at me. Like he couldn’t believe I didn’t know who that was.“Asena is a powerful deity of rebirth. Most werewolves come from the Moon Goddess. You have heard about her, right?” Oh, that snarky ass. I nodded my head but could see the hidden smirk in his eyes. “But
LeahThe hot water had washed away the flour, the sauce, and most of the chaos from the kitchen disaster. I stood in front of the mirror in Darien’s bathroom, combing through my damp hair, trying not to think about how comfortable I’d become in this space. How natural it felt to use his shower, to
LeahI led Darien back into the disaster zone that was the kitchen, my heart pounding with a mixture of guilt and something else I refused to examine too closely.“Here, lean down,” I said, guiding him toward the sink.“Is this where you finish me off?” His tone was light, teasing despite the fact







