MasukMalcolmI nearly knocked Aaron over trying to get past him."Malcolm, what happened?" he shouted as I rushed through the hallway.I didn't stop."Rain!"The name came out before I could stop it.Aaron's eyes widened."What?"By then Lydia had already caught up behind me."She's alive!"The second those words left her mouth, everyone in the house froze.Aaron stared at her. Hannah stared at her.Even Priscilla, who had been sitting quietly in the corner all morning, shot to her feet.For a moment, nobody moved. Then everyone moved at once.We hurried toward the room where Rain's body had been placed.Hope surged through me so strongly that it almost hurt.Please. Please let this be true. I reached the room first and threw open the door.Then I stopped. The bed was empty. My heart dropped.The blankets had been pushed aside. The room itself was completely vacant. Rain was gone. Aaron appeared beside me. "What the hell?"Lydia pushed past both of us. "I saw her!"The panic in her voice
MalcolmI barely slept.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Ryan's face.Every time I drifted off, I heard my own voice agreeing to Kade's plan.By morning, I felt exhausted. Not physically. Emotionally.The kind of exhaustion that settled deep in your chest and refused to leave.I was sitting alone in Aaron's living room when shouting erupted outside.At first I ignored it.People had been gathering near the house since sunrise. News of Ryan's death had spread across Septha overnight, and wolves were arriving by the hour.I figured it was more grieving. More questions. More people looking for answers I didn't have.Then the shouting grew louder. And louder.Soon it became impossible to ignore.I stood and walked toward the window, but the sight outside made my stomach drop.Hundreds of wolves filled the grounds surrounding the house.Some stood on rooftops. Others crowded the streets. More were still arriving.The crowd stretched farther than I could see."What is this?" I muttered.A
MalcolmThe room felt different now.Earlier, there had still been hope. Desperate, fragile hope, but hope nonetheless. Everyone had been waiting for Ryan and Rain to wake up, even if nobody wanted to admit it out loud.Now that hope was gone.The healers had examined them several times throughout the day, hoping they had missed something, but each examination ended the same way. No pulse. No breathing. No sign of life.Ryan and Rain were dead.Even after hearing it over and over again, I still couldn't make myself believe it.My eyes kept drifting toward Ryan's bed.He looked peaceful, almost like he was sleeping after one of his exhausting training sessions. If I stared long enough, I could almost convince myself that he would open his eyes and complain about everyone crowding around him.But he never did.Neither did Rain.Nobody in the room seemed to know what to say. Lydia sat quietly beside Rain's bed, holding a tissue in her hands that was already soaked through from tears. Han
MalcolmKade stood silently near the wall. For once, he wasn't arguing. He wasn't mocking me. He wasn't pushing. He simply waited for my decision.That scared me more than anything.Because it meant he truly believed his plan was their only chance.Aaron broke the silence first."What happens if we do nothing?"Nobody answered immediately.Kade finally looked at him."They die."The words landed heavily in the room.Aaron swallowed."And if we try your plan?"Kade's expression darkened."They might die."Might.The word echoed inside my head. Neither choice guaranteed survival. One path ended with certain death. The other offered a chance. A terrible chance. But a chance nonetheless.I closed my eyes.Ryan would hate this. He would absolutely hate this. If he were awake, he'd probably punch Kade before telling us all to stop acting like idiots.The thought almost made me smile.Almost.When I opened my eyes again, Ryan was still lying motionless on the bed. And time was still running
MalcolmNobody spoke for several seconds after Kade's statement. An hour had passed, Lydia had spent most of her time checking on Ryan and Rain and also cursing Hannah out for being complacent about her sister's predicament. And Priscilla… Well… Priscilla just sat outside the room without saying a word to anyone. I knew she had been threatened by El to bring Rain to him, but still, I didn't have it in me to antagonize her for what had happened. She and Hannah were the least of my worries. As far as I was concerned, the room felt suffocating.I couldn't figure out what to do.I looked at Ryan lying motionless on the bed and then at Rain across the room. Both of them looked worse than they had this morning.The thought that they could permanently become those creatures made my stomach twist.There had to be another way. There just had to be.Kade suddenly sighed. The sound drew our attention back to him."What?" I asked.He rubbed the back of his neck. "There is another option."Hope
MalcolmA week.It had been a whole week since El was destroyed.A week since that monstrous wild wolf had torn into Aaron and somehow pulled the blue corruption out of him without killing him.A week since Aaron had woken up confused, alive, and completely free of El's influence.A week since I thought our problems were finally over.I couldn't have been more wrong.I stood beside Ryan's bed with my arms folded tightly across my chest, staring down at him.He looked terrible.Ryan had always been strong. Even after battles that should have left him bedridden, he somehow found a way to keep moving.Now he couldn't even stay awake.His skin was pale beneath the dark markings that occasionally flickered across his neck and jaw. Every few minutes his body would tense as if fighting something invisible.The shadows beneath his skin moved. I hated looking at it.Across the room, Rain wasn't doing much better.She had been placed in another bed after collapsing two days ago. Dark silver vei
Ryan The moment the kiss ended, I knew the problem had been solved. Not in the way I expected, perhaps. But solved all the same. Rain stood a few steps away from me, her breathing uneven, her eyes wide with shock. Her fingers hovered near her lips as if she could still feel the imprint of mine t
RainThe next morning came too soon.I had barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the dark trees of Nightshade pressing in, heard Ryan’s voice telling me I had no value if I failed, felt the weight of eyes on me.When I finally gave up on sleep, I sat at the edge of the bed, staring at my
RainBy the time my father finished speaking, my heart was beating so hard I could barely hear anything else.Hannah stood beside him, her chin lifted, her eyes fixed on me with a look I knew too well. Not quite a smile. Not quite pity. Something in between.I knew she was waiting for what I'd say
Rain Morning came too quickly.I barely slept the second night in his room. Not because I was afraid he would touch me this time, but because my mind wouldn’t stop moving. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the training field again. I heard his voice, sharp and cold. I saw the way he had looked at







