ANMELDENLara’s POVIt was the first weekend since Matteo had started spending time with the children.The house felt different with him here — warmer, louder, and somehow more alive. The quadruplets, along with Rose, had spent the entire evening before whispering and plotting like little conspirators. They had ganged up on me after dinner, using every ounce of their combined charm and logic.“Mama, please,” Maria had said, eyes wide and pleading. “It’s the weekend. Papa can stay, right? Just one night.”Lyra had crossed her arms. “We want to have breakfast with him tomorrow morning. As a family.”Even Noah had joined in. “Please, Mama? We’ll be good.”Caius hadn’t said much, but the way he looked at me — quiet but hopeful — had been the final blow. Rose had simply held my hand and looked up at me with those shy, trusting eyes.I had sighed, knowing I was defeated. “One night. He sleeps in the guest wing.”The children had cheered like I’d given them the moon itself.---The next morning, I wo
Lara’s POVThe quiet in my office was starting to feel suffocating.I sat behind my heavy oak desk, pretending to focus on the stack of border reports and training schedules spread out before me. The morning light streamed through the tall windows, casting long golden beams across the wooden floor and my organized chaos of papers. But no matter how many times I reread the same paragraph, the words refused to stick.Because he was staring.Matteo sat across from me in the deep leather guest chair, silent and still. His grey eyes hadn’t left me for the past twenty minutes. Not once. I could feel the weight of his gaze like a physical touch — tracing the line of my jaw, the curve of my neck, the faint glow of the star mark peeking from beneath my collar.It made my skin prickle. It made the mate bond stir restlessly beneath my ribs.I finally set the report down with a soft sigh and looked up, frowning.“Don’t you have anything meaningful to do?” I asked, my voice sharper than I intended
Rose’s POVIt had been three whole days since I started school at Frost Fang Academy, and everything still felt like a beautiful, slightly scary dream.Yesterday, after school, Aunt Lara had looked at the dark sky and said softly, “It’s too late to drive back now. Why don’t you spend the night here with us?”I had nodded so fast my head almost spun. Papa had looked relieved, too. So here I was — sitting at a big wooden dinner table with my new family, eating the warmest, most delicious homemade food I had ever tasted. Aunt Lara had cooked everything herself: roasted meat with herbs, creamy mashed potatoes, buttery vegetables, and fresh bread that smelled like heaven.I took another big bite of the potatoes and smiled shyly as Aunt Lara asked Maria about her art project. Everyone was chatting and laughing about random things — Lyra and Noah telling each other a funny story, and Caius quietly listening while eating.I had already started building a bond with all of them. But Lara was di
Rose's POVThe night Daddy banished Mommy, I hid behind the heavy velvet curtains in the sitting room like I always did when they fought.I watched everything. I saw Daddy's face turn scary and cold. I heard him say the words banished and never come back. I saw Mommy screaming and crying as the guards dragged her away. I didn't cry. I just stood there, hands fisted in my nightgown, waiting for the familiar heavy feeling in my chest.It's my fault again.Mommy had told me so many times. Since I was tiny, she would grab my arm too hard and whisper mean things in my ear. "If you were a better daughter, your father would love me. He would choose me. But you're useless. You couldn't even make him look at me the way he looks at her."Then she would hit me — sometimes with her hand, sometimes with her hairbrush — always where the bruises wouldn't show.I tried so hard to fix it. I practiced smiling in the mirror for hours. I drew Daddy pictures every single day and left them on his desk. I s
Lara’s POVThe next morning arrived. I stood on the wide front steps of the pack house at 6:50 a.m., the cool air brushing against my skin as I watched the driveway. My arms were crossed tightly over my chest, more to hold myself together than to ward off the chill.The quadruplets stood behind me in their neat Frost Fang Academy uniforms, shifting with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.At exactly 7:00, his black SUV rolled slowly up the driveway and came to a stop.Matteo stepped out first. Then he opened the passenger door and helped a small girl out — Rose. She clung to his hand, looking nervous but curious, with dark curly hair and shy eyes. She was wearing the academy uniform too.Matteo looked… painfully trying. His hair was neatly combed, he wore a crisp button-down shirt and slacks, and he carried a paper bag in one hand and a bouquet of slightly crushed silver-petaled lunar blooms in the other. His broad shoulders were tense, and his golden eyes held a nervousness I ha
Matteo stepped out.Bare-chested.A white towel was wrapped low around his waist, hanging dangerously on his hips. Droplets of water still clung to his broad shoulders and the defined ridges of his abdomen, slowly trailing down his skin. His dark hair was damp and tousled, falling across his forehead in a way that made him look far too devastating for someone who had just stood in a freezing downpour for hours.My mouth went dry. I gulped.The mate bond — that treacherous, long-dormant thing — surged violently between us. Filthy, vivid images slammed into my mind without warning: his hands gripping my thighs, that same bare chest pressed against mine, his mouth on my neck while he growled my name, the way he used to take me apart so thoroughly I forgot everything except him…Where the fuck are the clothes I ordered?Heat flooded my face. I tore my gaze away from the perfect V-line disappearing beneath the towel and glared at him instead.“Where the fuck are the clothes I ordered?” I s
Then the orchestra struck up a new melody. A slow, elegant waltz. Dad immediately offered his hand."May I have the first dance, Princess?"A smile tugged at my lips. "I thought you said I didn't need dance lessons.""You don't." His eyes twinkled. "I'll lead."I placed my hand in his large, warm o
The next morning, sunlight spilled through the tall windows and stretched across the enormous bed. For a few seconds, I remained buried beneath the warm and comfortable blankets.Then I remembered where I was. A smile immediately tugged at my lips.Yesterday hadn't been a dream.It had actually hap
LARAI fell silent, turning my father's words over in my mind. If I were still in Red Moon Pack—if I had only been rejected instead of banished—perhaps I would have chosen to end the pregnancy. Not because I didn't want the child, but because I couldn't bear the thought of bringing them into a worl
When consciousness returned, it came slowly. Voices drifted in and out around me, blurred and muffled, like they were underwater.“She collapsed from emotional shock—”“No, there’s something else.”“Are you certain?” I slowly recognized Kael's voice.“Yes.”The last voice belonged to an elderly hea







