LOGINLeahI reached for it the way I always had. For the familiar sensation of bones realigning, fur pushing through skin, the wolf inside me rising to meet the surface. But the pull felt wrong. Empty. Like reaching for a doorknob that wasn't there anymore. The connection to my old wolf, the shadow of Andromeda that had been my companion before death, was gone. Severed. The version of my wolf I'd known my entire life, the quieter presence that had stirred during moments of crisis and lent me fragments of borrowed strength, no longer existed.No, Leah. Andromeda's voice was patient. Almost gentle. You aren't connecting with that shadow of a wolf. It's gone. It wasn't the real me. It was a whisper of what I truly am. Let me push forward and take the wheel. I know trust is earned. But yo
LeahHe launched us off Keanu’s back with a force that told me he’d done something like this before. The wind ripped us sideways the instant we cleared the dragon’s flank, the storm seizing our bodies and spinning them like ragdolls. I couldn’t see. Couldn’t orient. Up and down ceased to exist. There was only the cold, the wind, the pressure of Cain’s arm around me, and the sickening lurch of gravity pulling us toward a ground I couldn’t see and had no idea how far away it was.Cain’s body shifted around mine. He rotated us mid-fall, pulling me against his chest, curling his massive frame around me like a living shield. I felt his muscles coil, felt the moment he braced for impact.We hit.The snow was deep. Fresh. It swallowed us
LeahThe mountain was trying to kill us before we even reached it.Wind slammed into Keanu’s flank with the force of a battering ram, throwing him sideways. His wings adjusted, tilting, compensating, but the next gust hit from the opposite direction and the world lurched hard to the left. I pressed myself flat against the warm scales of his back, my fingers locked into the grooves between them, my cheek against the heat of him as the storm screamed around us.Snow. Everywhere. Not falling so much as attacking. It came at us horizontally, pellets of ice mixed with the thick, blinding white, driving into my exposed skin with a fury that felt personal. I couldn’t see more than three feet in any direction. The mountain peak I’d pointed us toward had vanished behind a wall of weather so dense, it might as well have been solid stone.Keanu tilted again, banking around what I assumed was the summit. His body shifted beneath me with the fluid mechanics of a creature born to the sky, adjusting
LeahFor a beat, no one moved. No one breathed.Then, Keanu's arms crashed around me. He pulled me into a hug so fierce it drove the air from my newly functioning lungs. His body shook against mine. Not with fear. With the full, unleashed grief of a boy who had lost every family member he'd ever had and just gotten one of them back.“I thought I was left alone again.” His voice broke against my shoulder. A whimper crawled up from somewhere deep in his chest, the sound of an old wound tearing open. “Everyone leaves. Everyone always leaves.”My heart shattered for him. For the boy who had lost his father, who had finally found me only to watch me die with blood pouring from my throat.
LeahNoxx's brow lifted, and a low chuckle rumbled through him. “She will awaken with you. When your soul reenters your body, she'll be there. But it will take time for her powers to completely adjust. You've been dead. Your body needs to relearn how to house a guardian wolf. The full bond won't settle immediately.”Meaning I'd be going into whatever came next without Andromeda's full strength behind me. Weakened. Vulnerable. Fighting a war with half my arsenal still assembling itself.“Adromeda is your wolf but she is a selfish beast. She is a wolf that emerged from Asena and not the Moon Goddess. She is powerful but with that power comes her strong will and selfish nature.”“Sacrificing my life for her own gain.” I snorted.“Exactly. You’ll need to learn to control her and remember she values herself above you.”His gaze drifted past me. Settled on Keanu, who was squeezing his hands into fists at his side. Trying to control his emotions. A young man dealing with loss and preparing f
LeahThe shadows carried us.Not gently. Not the way the thick underworld air had cradled me during my time in Noxx's domain. This was violent. A churning river of darkness that tore through dimensions with the force of something that had been held back for too long, now rushing toward a destination it had been denied. My body, or whatever form I inhabited, was pulled through the current like a leaf caught in rapids. The only anchor was Noxx's arm around my waist, his grip steady, his presence the single point of stillness in a world gone sideways.The darkness peeled away.Light returned in fragments. First the light from the windows, then the gray of stone walls, then the sharp white of overhead fixtures that buzzed with electricity. The underworld fell behind us like a curtain being drawn, and the living world crashed into focus with a clarity that stole my breath.We were in a large room.The walls were stone, reinforced with steel beams. With a tall ceiling that arced above the r
"I'm not the alpha," Cain admitted, his smile never faltering. "I'm the stand-in. The decoy. It's for the alpha's protection."I stared at him, my mind racing."You know about the Raven Witch. Her name is Rayanna.""I do." Cain nodded. "Well, hiding the real alpha is the best way we can protect hi
The men stopped, turning to look at me. And then they smirked.It was the kind of smirk that said they thought I was out of my depth. That I had no idea what I was asking for. That I was just a soft southern wolf playing at being tough.Fine. Let them think that.They shifted.And I realized, with
Leah"Why would you say they are already ranked?"Darien's voice was ice, sharp and cutting, each word measured and controlled. He stood in the doorway of the Tundra Arena, his silver eyes fixed on me with an intensity that would have made most people back down. His arms were crossed, his posture r
LeahThe hot water had done little to wash away the tension coiled in my muscles. I stood in front of the mirror in Darien's bathroom, staring at my reflection, watching steam curl and fade against the glass. My hair hung damp against my shoulders, and I'd changed into clean clothes, but I still fe







