Masuk"Whoaaaa!"Anna's eyes widened in disbelief, shimmering like two full moons. She couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face. She couldn't believe her eyes."Welcome back to the living!!"The entire table roared in unison. The sound hit Anna like a warm wave, crashing into her chest and settling there like sunlight. Janette had told her it was a banquet, but Anna had pictured something small, something intimate. Three people around a table, maybe four, something casual. But the Ozeths, she was quickly learning, interpreted casual the way most people interpreted grand, and grand the way most people couldn't even imagine.Seated along the long family dining table were the Ozeths. All of them, literally. Anna's gaze swept from one face to the next, observing carefully. Mama Eunice sat at her end of the table in a beautiful brown vintage gown that screamed luxury from ten feet away. Maureen's smile was brighter than the morning sun. The Ozeth twins were already mid-conversation, tal
The air in the room now felt heavy, vibrating with tension. Anna gasped sharply, both hands flying to her mouth as if to catch the words before they could settle into her bones, as the cold realization washed over her like ice water."You don't mean to say..."Seraphina did not blink. Her gaze was fixed on a point just past Anna’s shoulder, seeing things that had not yet come to pass. When she finally spoke, her voice was resonating, deep and haunting, like the tolling of a funeral bell in a distant valley."Deimon would kill the child you’ll bear," Seraphina uttered. "He will look upon your miracle and see only a curse. He believes it is the offspring of another wolf—a rogue who dared to sow a seed in his garden, a thief who insulted his royal blood. He will not hesitate, Anna, he will rip apart the child, and the mother... the mother will not be spared the edge of his rage either. Your fate would be far worse than the child’s, Anna. You would live to remember the sound of the end."
Anna peered from the top of the stairs. Her feet froze, her heart hammering so loud she could feel it in her own ears.Who is this guest? she wondered. Someone was down there, someone stubborn, hellbent on seeing her and would not take "no" for an answer. Her mind drifted back — back to Silverwood, back to the cold stone walls of the Ashworth estate. Her pulse quickened.Janette glided smoothly down the stairs ahead of her, then paused and looked back with a raised brow."You coming or what, pumpkin? The day doesn't wait — come on!" She waved her hand impatiently.Anna took a long breath. She pulled her shoulders back and straightened her spine. She marched down the stairs, telling herself that it did not matter who was waiting.What will be, will be. She reached the family sitting room and let her eyes fall upon the sofa. A figure sat there, looking peaceful, almost too calm. The stranger was sipping from a cup of steaming cocoa. The vapors rose in thick, aromatic clouds, smelling o
"Ahhhhh."The groan tore itself out of Anna before she was fully awake. She pushed herself upright, pressed one hand to her head, and sat there blinking at nothing in particular while the world reassembled itself around her. A dull, rhythmic thumping pulsed behind her eyes."Feels like a blacksmith mistook my head for an anvil," she muttered."That must be a very wise blacksmith, I'd say." a calm voice drifted from the corner.Anna's eyes snapped open. The sudden light made her wince, but the figure sitting at the foot of her bed stopped her heart for a different reason."Janette?" Anna whispered, her memory a blurred mess of hospital white and screaming monitors. The room was not the hospital ward, that much she knew. This wasn't her room or Isabeau’s either. She was in an apartment that felt like a hidden sanctuary. The space around her was something else entirely, something older. The walls were stone and dark timber, draped in fabric the color of deep water, and the furniture was
The ultrasound room was now a tomb of cold air and shattered glass, the shards reflecting the dying flicker of Janette’s magic.Janette's hands trembled violently, the golden light of the redemption wavelength flickering like a candle at the mercy of a storm. Anna lay convulsing on the examination table, her skin pale white, her lips slightly parted as though trying to scream but finding no sound. Beneath her flesh, the black smoke twisted and writhed — a living darkness that had no business being inside a pregnant woman."I can't hold it!" Janette hissed through clenched teeth, her glowing eyes darting to the door. "It's too strong, Anna. It's not just the baby — it's something else. Something that—"She never finished the sentence.The heavy reinforced door to the private wing didn't just open. It was thrown — slamming inward with a force like been struck by a sledgehammer that rattled the walls and sent a gust of supernatural wind sweeping through the corridor. The blast snuffed ou
Anna stepped through the sliding glass doors of the private wing, her hand pressed firmly against her belly. Beneath her palm, the dark pulse was no longer throbbing—it was rippling. It felt like a heavy stone had been hurled into the center of a deep, black lake, sending waves of cold energy through her veins.Janette held Anna’s arm with an iron grip. Her usual bubbly persona had vanished, replaced by a sharp, predatory intensity."Isabeau," Janette commanded, her eyes scanning the hallway. "Get the medical staff. I want a private room, now. Fetch Dr. Donovan immediately. No questions, no paperwork at the front desk, move!""Understood," Isabeau replied. Her usual grace shifted into something cold and efficient. She strode toward the reception desk, her mere presence radiating a command that made the hospital staff jump into frantic action.Anna felt the floor tilt. "Janette... the pain. It’s not just a kick. It feels like... like something inside is trying to reach out."Janette di
---Both Jebediah and Emmett stayed the night with the Storm-Fangs. Emmett observed their culture — dwindling in number, maybe, but rich in everything else. Their battle style, their customs, their silences that carried meaning. But the most astonishing thing was their meal. One filled belly from t
---"I think the situation just got worse, JB. This is really, really bad." Emmett kept pestering Jebediah, who stayed quiet and seemed to ignore him with deliberate, practiced ease. "You don't get it, do you? A pregnant Luna is a game changer. Everything changes, everything."They were far fro
"Whoa."The word left Anna's mouth before she could dress it up into anything more articulate.She stood at the entrance of the estate's garage — or rather, what she had assumed would be a garage but which revealed itself, with each passing second, to be something else entirely. Something that defi
The bell's resonant peal rolled through Mooncrest Estate like a living thing—ancient bronze struck by ancient ritual, the sound carried on wolf-sense as much as air. It vibrated in Anna's bones, a call that bypassed human hearing and spoke directly to the beast within.Dinner.Anna was on her feet







