LOGINISABELLA’S POV Nine years slipped past the way river water glides over stones, smooth and steady until you look back and realize the landscape has completely changed. I stood on the wide stone terrace of the pack with late-afternoon sun warming my shoulders and my hands resting on the swell of my belly. Twins this time. The ultrasound technician had grinned so wide her cheeks nearly disappeared when she pointed out the two tiny heartbeats flickering side by side on the screen. Sebastian had stared at the monitor like he’d never seen anything more miraculous, then turned to me with eyes shining and whispered, “We’re doing this again.” I laughed until I cried because the fear that used to live in my chest had finally learned to sit quietly in the corner.Lunaria had shifted at nine, not at sixteen like every other wolf in the pack books said she should. She’d come running into the house one autumn evening with twigs in her white hair and dirt streaked across her cheeks, her eyes hug
ISABELLA’S POV Crestwood campus quad smelled exactly the way I remembered: cut grass mixed with coffee from the student union and the faint tang of old books drifting out of open library windows. Sunlight slanted through the maples and painted gold patches across the stone paths. I stood at the edge of the lawn with Lunaria’s small hand tucked inside mine while Sebastian walked a step behind us, carrying the diaper bag slung over one shoulder like he had been doing it his whole life. Dad trailed last, his hands in his pockets, watching everything with that quiet smile he wore whenever he thought no one noticed.Lunaria tilted her head back and squinted up at the tall brick buildings.“This is where you went to school, Mommy?”I squeezed her fingers. “This is where everything started, baby. Right here.”She frowned. “Started how?”I glanced at Sebastian. He raised one eyebrow and gave me the tiniest nod, the kind that said your call.I crouched low so I was eye level with her. “Daddy
SEBASTIAN’S POV I stood frozen in the doorway with my hand still on the frame and my heart trying to punch through my ribs. Isabella stared back at me from the bed. Her face had gone white, sweat dampened the hair at her temples, and fever flushed her cheeks red. Lunaria bounced on the mattress beside her, tugging at her sleeve and grinning like she had won some secret game.“Bells,” I said. The word came out rough, cracked from three years of silence and too many nights whispering it to empty shadows.Isabella blinked once, then twice. Her lips parted but no sound escaped at first. Then she shook her head slowly.“I’m dreaming,” she whispered. “This is a dream. Right?”Tears welled fast in her eyes as they spilled over and tracked down her cheeks.“You’re dead,” she said. Her voice rose with every word. “You’re not here. You’re gone. You’re dead.”I took one step inside the room, then another. My boots scraped softly on the stone floor.“I’m not dead,” I told her. “I’m right here, B
ISABELLA’S POVThe garden path felt colder under my bare feet than it should have in early summer. I carried Lunaria against my hip with one arm while the other pressed hard against my side to keep the ache from spreading. She had stopped crying on the walk back but her small fingers still twisted in the collar of my sweater, tugging every few steps like she wanted to turn around and run back to the hedge. I kept my jaw locked so tight my teeth hurt. Three years of this. Three years of the same questions, the same wide gray eyes searching shadows for a face she had only seen in a faded sketch, and the same stab in my chest every time I had to say the words out loud.We reached the side door as torchlight spilled across the threshold and painted long shadows on the flagstones. Lunaria lifted her head from my shoulder.“Mommy, he was really there. I touched his sleeve.”I swallowed the scream that wanted to climb out of my throat. Instead I pushed the door open with my elbow and steppe
SEBASTIAN’S POV Three years. Three full turns of the seasons since I stepped through that tear in the void and felt real air hit my lungs again. Three years of watching from the edges, from rooftops, from behind trees, from the dark corners of the Pack where moonlight barely reaches. The Moon Goddess gave me life back, but she tied the gift with iron chains that never quite loosened. I could breathe, I could walk, I could feel the cold bite my skin and the hunger twist my gut. But I could not step into their light, not yet, maybe not ever.Tonight the garden smelled of damp earth and late-blooming jasmine. I crouched low behind the thick hedge of holly, thorns pricking my forearms through my worn shirt. My heart hammered so hard I tasted copper on my tongue. Lunaria was out here alone, there was no Isabella, no guards. Just her small figure in a pale nightdress, barefoot on the grass, twirling slowly with her arms wide like she was trying to catch starlight.She had grown taller than
ISABELLA’S POV The crescent moon hung thin and silver above the keep that night, but the sky around it had turned the color of fresh blood. A true blood moon. The pack called nights like this a time of rebirth, when the Goddess showed her crimson face and the veil between the worlds thinned to almost nothing. They filled the central courtyard under that strange red glow. Torches snapped and spat sparks into the darkness. Low chants rose from every throat, deep and steady, vibrating through my ribcage like a second heartbeat.I stood next to Dad near the stone altar. My back ached from carrying the extra weight for seven full months now. The baby sat low and heavy, pressing down with every step. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, one hand braced under my belly, the other resting on Dad’s forearm for balance. He kept glancing at me, worry carved into the lines around his eyes, but he stayed quiet. He knew better than to hover in front of the pack.The elder shaman raised h
ISABELLA’S POVThe morning sun filtered through my bedroom curtains, casting soft golden stripes across my bed as I slipped into my jeans and a fitted green sweater, my movements lights, almost buoyant. For once, my life felt like it was falling into place, a fragile kind of peace I hadn’t known in
ISABELLA’S POV My heart pounded as Sebastian pulled me out of the classroom, his grip firm but gentle on my hand. The hallway was a blur of curious eyes, students whispering, their stares prickling my skin. I yanked my hand free, my cheeks burning. I didn’t need more rumors, didn’t need my name dr
SEBASTAIN’S POVThe morning sun cut through the blinds of my office at the University, casting sharp, slanted lines across the desk where student essays lay scattered, their handwritten arguments blurring under my unfocused gaze. My pen hovered over a half-graded paper, my fingers twitching, my min
ISABELLA’S POVThe rain battered the windows, a relentless drone that matched the storm in my chest. I sat at the dining table, my fork trembling in my hand, the scent of roasted chicken and garlic mashed potatoes overwhelming. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t scraping leftovers from my brot







