LOGINOLIVIAHe drove us off the main pack grounds to a smaller cluster of residential buildings on the territory's north edge… newer construction than the main residence, less grand but better maintained. He parked and led me to the second floor of the end unit, and when he opened the door I stopped in the doorway for a moment.Okay. He hadn't been exaggerating.It was warm, first of all… genuinely warm, with soft lighting. He'd rearranged the furniture into something that actually made sense for the space. There were books stacked on the side table and a decent rug under the coffee table and curtains that matched, which given what I'd seen of the rest of the pack's current state of resources seemed almost miraculous."Did you just… bring all of this?" I asked, stepping inside."Some of it. Some I found in the pack's storage." He shrugged out of his jacket and hung it by the door. "There's a lot of decent furniture buried in that storage building on the west side. Nobody's been using any
OLIVIAAxiel was waiting in the hallway outside, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed."How'd it go?" he asked."He wants me to take over as Alpha."Axiel blinked. "Well. That's... not a small ask.""No. It is not." I started walking and he fell into step beside me easily, matching my pace. "He's also in worse shape than I thought. The famine is real, the pack numbers are down, and half their alliances have dissolved." I glanced at him sideways. "You knew all of this when you came to get me.""I knew some of it.""Axiel.""I knew most of it," he amended. "But I also knew that if I led with *your father's pack is in famine and falling apart and he wants you to take over as Alpha,* you might have said no before you'd seen it for yourself.""You were probably right," I admitted. "I'm still slightly annoyed.""Noted."We walked in silence for a moment, down the corridor toward the main entrance. Through the windows, I could see the pack grounds… the overgrown paths, the building
OLIVIAMy father talked for a long time.He didn't dress it up. Didn't soften the edges or frame things diplomatically the way I imagined he'd once have done. Whatever that man had been, he wasn't here anymore. The man sitting across from me now just… told me the truth. All of it. In the flat, exhausted voice of someone who had long since run out of energy for anything else.It was worse than I'd expected… and I'd expected it to be bad."The famine started eight months ago," he said. "The harvest fields on the eastern border — the ones your grandfather established, the ones that have fed this pack for sixty years — they stopped producing. Not a bad season. Not drought. They just… stopped." He folded his hands on the desk. "The farmers said the soil felt wrong and dead. Like something had gone out of it.""The Goddess," I said."The Goddess," he confirmed. "We supplemented with trade at first. We had reserves. But the reserves ran out faster than we expected, and our trading partners…"
RYANI couldn't sit still.I'd tried. I'd sat on the couch for approximately four minutes before my skin started crawling and I had to get up. Then I'd stood at the window for six minutes, watching Barcelona move below me like nothing in the world had gone wrong today, before that became unbearable too. Now I was doing laps of my own penthouse like a caged animal, phone in my hand, checking it every thirty seconds for something that wasn't coming.Fourteen missed calls out. Zero answered.I set the phone down on the kitchen counter and pressed both hands flat against the marble and made myself breathe. She didn't want to talk to me. I knew that. I understood it… understood it in the way you understand something that still feels like being gutted every time you think about it. She'd seen that video and she'd walked out and she wasn't picking up and the last look on her face…I stopped that thought before it finished.I just needed to know she was safe. That was it. That was the only th
OLIVIAUpstairs, my father led us back to the Alpha's study.I remembered this room. The heavy desk. The territorial maps on the walls. The bookshelves filled with lineage records and pack law and centuries of Hunter history. I'd snuck in here as a girl to read those books by lamplight, convinced that if I learned enough, understood enough, proved enough… it would matter."Leave us," my father said.His remaining guards exchanged a glance. "Alpha, with respect, your health…""Leave us," he said again, and despite everything, despite all of it, there was still just enough of the old authority in his voice to make them move without further argument.Axiel caught my eye from the doorway. I gave him a small nod. He stepped out and closed the door.And then it was just the two of us.My father stood behind his desk for a moment, one hand braced against its surface like he needed it for balance. Then he came around from behind it and, for the second time today, lowered himself to his knees.
OLIVIAThe inside of the Alpha's residence was somehow worse than the outside.I remembered these halls as full of life… wolves moving with purpose, the smell of food from the kitchens, the low hum of a functioning pack at work. Now it felt hollow. Like a body still walking around after the heart had stopped.Portraits lined the entry corridor, generations of Hunters staring down at me with stern, unforgiving eyes. I had looked at these faces my whole childhood and wanted so desperately to earn a place among them.Now I walked past them and felt absolutely nothing.My father led us through the main hall, past pack members who froze and stared and bowed their heads all over again. A woman I vaguely recognized… one of the kitchen staff who used to slip me extra bread as a child… pressed her hand to her mouth when she saw me. I looked away before either of us could feel anything about that.It was when we reached the sitting room that I stopped walking."Where's Mia?"The question came o
RYANI just finished taking my bath and felt way better than I had in... hell, I didn't even know how long. The hot water had worked wonders on my aching muscles, and whatever treatment Axiel had been giving me was incredibly helpful. It felt like a huge burden had been removed from my body, like I
RYANI woke up to significantly less body pain, which was honestly a win at this point. My head wasn't pounding like someone was using it as a bass drum anymore, and I could actually move my fingers without wanting to scream.At least I wasn't in that lab where they were probably planning to dissec
OLIVIA “Don't worry," Lena said, patting my knee. "We'll figure it out. Maybe Axiel has connections who can scrub the footage or something. He sounds like the type who has 'connections.'""He does seem to have a lot of resources," I admitted."Is he hot?" Lena asked suddenly. "I mean, he looks exa
RYANMy head was banging so hard it felt like someone was using a hammer to beat my skull from the inside. Each throb sent waves of nausea through my body, and I found it nearly impossible to open my eyes. Everything ached- my muscles, my bones, even my skin felt like it was on fire.I struggled to







