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"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
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 trans 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
The kiss didn’t fix anything. But it softened something that had been sharp between us. We didn't speak much after. We didn’t need to. The silence was warmer now, draped over us like a shared blanket rather than a wall. We sat on opposite ends of the couch, knees close enough to touch, sharing the last of the pasta from the pot like two kids who forgot what being guarded felt like.When I glance over at him, I notice how relaxed he looks. And being near him like this, it brings a stillness to my chest I didn’t realize I’d been searching for.Peace.That's what it is.Not fireworks or soul-deep magic. Not the invisible thread of fate that everyone says soulmates should feel. Just quiet, steady peace. And goddess, I didn’t know how much I’d been missing that.Saf stirs gently inside my mind, not her usual cheeky self.“You feel it, don’t you? Even if it’s not the bond. He calms the storm in you.”I nod to myself, then turn to him.“Atlas,” I say softly, and he lifts his head like he alre
Atlas stands near the window, arms crossed, posture deceptively relaxed. He hasn’t said anything since Thalia walked out of that cellar like some kind of elemental force. I don’t blame him. I haven’t said anything either.Not until now.“She’s stronger than we thought,” I murmur.Atlas doesn’t look at me right away. “She is.” Why does he feel so... distant all of a sudden? Just yesterday, he wanted me, my soulmate, he said. Usually I can read people very well, it's part of my job description, knowing their next move, but since Atlas avoids my eyes, I dont know, I can't even guess what is happening inside his head."Woman, you wanted space, he gave it to you." Saf says, her hum low inside my head. "Or are you regretting that decision?" I grit my teeth at Saf’s comment, but she’s not wrong.“I didn’t ask him to vanish into himself,” I whisper back, not aloud, just in my head, though the frustration simmers all the same. “I asked for space. Not a wall.”Atlas finally turns toward me then
The room stills.Not just in silence but in energy.The kind that makes the hairs on your arms lift before a storm hits.I turn to Thalia. Her body hasn't moved, but her eyes. They're glowing. Not yellow, not orange, or blue. Definitely not red but purple.Purple. A deep, luminescent violet that pulses like it has its own heartbeat.Shaun takes a step back toward the door. “Yeah. That’s not normal.”“No shit,” I breathe.Thalia doesn’t blink. She just stares forward, past me, past all of us, like something’s taken hold of her from the inside out and is now dragging her to wherever it came from."No, it's too early. This shouldn't be happening right now. The moon...""Perhaps this has nothing to do with the moon," Atlas says, his voice low, steady, but not calm. He’s watching Thalia like she’s a lit fuse, and we haven’t figured out what she’s wired to yet.Thalia’s chest rises and falls in short, shallow bursts, her fingers twitching like they don’t belong to her anymore. A low hum sta