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“You were left to be found,” Dad says carefully, but there’s no conviction behind the words.“There’s a difference?” I ask, looking between their faces. “Because from where I’m sitting, it sounds like whoever left me had no intention of coming back.” Atlas's hand comes to find mine and gives it a tight squeeze. His hand is warm, grounding. It anchors me, keeps me from floating off into the dizzying chaos that’s building inside me. The kind of chaos that comes when your whole life starts to tilt on its axis. But Cole's gaze burns into me, as if he were studying Atlas's touch on me."Could you give us the exact location?" Atlas asks. "Which side of the Hollow Pines? How close to the border?" Mom and Dad look at each other, then back at Atlas. As if they doubt letting go of that information.Mom shifts first, her hand resting on the edge of the coffee table like she needs to feel something solid. Dad leans back slightly, arms crossed now, guarded. Not hostile, but cautious. "Directly on
Atlas walks beside me, his hands in his pockets, his gaze fixed ahead, but I can feel him watching me in the way his steps never fall too far behind or too far ahead. Constant. Steady.“I thought it’d feel worse coming back here,” I murmur.“And does it?” he asks, without turning.“Not yet,” I say, though the air already feels different. Charged. Like the house itself is holding its breath.We round the last bend, and there it is, tucked between old ash trees and the overgrown garden my mother never let die. The porch light is on. The front door is slightly ajar, the familiar smell of mother's cooking reaching my nose."I just... dont know how to..." I started, but my words fell short."You dont know how to question them about your past, when they have given you all." Atlas says. "You dont want to sound ungrateful or hurt them." It's like he knew how I felt and expressed it with words I was missing."You know... like a soulmate would," Saf says, and I bite the inside of my cheek. "Or
The morning after is always the quietest.The storm inside me hasn't gone anywhere, but at least now I know which way it's pulling. I pull my sweater tighter around my shoulders as I stand by the mirror, staring at myself like I'm supposed to recognize the girl looking back. Strong. Brave. Determined. Goddess, I wish I felt like any of those things.Saf’s presence is a gentle hum in the back of my mind, a low, constant pulse of reassurance. She's calm. Which is more than I can say for myself.Behind me, the door creaks open."You're up early," Thalia says, leaning against the frame with a steaming mug in her hand. Her hair's a mess yet she wears it so beautifully, the clothes Atlas got us suit the new her. Tho I never saw her wear that much black before."I'm not sure I even slept." Not after the rude awakening I had. Atlas stood by my side until Thalia came back with the tea. I had a few sips and spent the night staring at the ceiling. "But neither did you. I know this new wave of ene
"Even I don’t know what I’m to face,” Kaya says, her voice steady despite the storm brewing behind her eyes. “But I do know where to start."I take a step closer, watching the way her shoulders square themselves, the way her chin lifts like she's walking into a fight she’s already accepted she might lose.“Where?” I ask, even though I already feel the answer coiling in my gut like a warning.Kaya doesn’t look at me. Her gaze stays fixed on the night outside, as if she's speaking more to the dark than to me. “When I was younger,” she begins, “I spent hours reading. Old books, dusty ones no one else wanted. I was obsessed with history, especially late werewolf history, the forgotten kind.”That catches me off guard. “Late history?”She nods. “The kind they don’t teach anymore. The kind they buried.”There’s something haunting in the way she says it, something ancient and worn. Her fingers clench the windowsill like she’s holding onto the edge of a memory that still burns.“I remember a p
I bolt upright.It’s not just a sound, it’s a shockwave that rips through the calm and hits me square in the chest. It’s her. I don’t even think, my wolf is already lunging forward in my mind, claws unsheathed, heart racing like war drums. My feet are moving before I even know where I’m going.I burst into the hallway, my senses flaring, Sky snapping to life with a roar in my head. The moment I reach her door, it’s already swinging open from the force of my shoulder slamming into it.Thalia is standing in front of the window, blocking Kaya's path. When Kaya lunges forward, Thaila pushes her back with a force that slams her body against the wooden frame of the bed, dropping her to her knees. I step in front of Thaila, using my body as a shield between her and Kaya."I wasn't trying to hurt her," Thaila says. "I was trying to stop her from going out the window... again." She says, and I turn to look at Kaya, slowly getting up from the floor as if waking up. "She was in that trance again.
The air in the room shifts when Kaya stands, breaking the comfortable stillness between us. I feel the weight of her footsteps lingering in my chest. I stay on the couch, staring at the space where she was just moments ago, her warmth still faintly radiating on the cushion next to me.I know she’s still sorting through everything, trying to figure out what I mean, what she means to me. But even if she doesn’t have the answers yet, there’s something in the way she trusts me that makes me believe in what we have. Even in silence, I know she’s here with me, in a way that no one else ever has been.Sky, however, doesn’t give me the space to wallow in the quiet for too long."Claim her." His voice is a growl inside my mind, not angry but demanding, like the undercurrent of a storm. "She’s yours. Ours. The moon goddess gave you the soulmate bond, she wouldn't see you wrong for claiming it."I rub a hand over my face, trying to shake off the weight of his words, but it’s not working. There’s