LOGINMira fought like a cornered animal.Her shoes scraped violently against the dirt as she twisted and kicked, the rough ground biting into her palms where she tried to brace herself. The cloak wrapped tightly around her body threatened to slip with every desperate movement, the fabric pulling at her shoulders.The men holding her were strong, far stronger than she expected.“Quiet,” one of them hissed near her ear. “You scream again and I’ll make you regret it.”Something cold settled in Mira’s chest and she didn’t scream. Instead, she bit down hard on the hand clamped over her mouth.The man cursed loudly, pulling his fingers away as he stumbled back, shaking his hand in pain. “Little witch—!”Mira didn’t waste the moment.She twisted violently, slamming her elbow backward with everything she had. It connected with a sharp crack against ribs. A grunt of pain followed, and she nearly broke free but another arm hooked around her shoulders, hauling her back roughly. Her shoes left the
Mira’s legs ached.Not the sharp kind of pain that came with battle or long runs through the forest, but the slow, punishing ache of stillness and forcing her body to remain silent while her thoughts refused to do the same.She had been standing in the same place for what felt like hours, pressed into the narrow place beside Skye’s house. She kept her cloak pulled tight around her as if the weight of it could steady her racing heart but it didn’t.What is Max doing in there?The thought returned again and again, relentless as the tide. Mira squeezed her eyes shut, her jaw tightening as shame crept through her chest.She hated the question and she hated herself for asking it.Max had not promised her anything, not loyalty, not explanations, not reassurance whispered into the dark, and yet he had lied, or at least, he had bent the truth until it resembled one.Her fingers curled into fists beneath the cloak, nails biting into her palms. She had known the moment he left that something w
Jack did not sleep.He lay on the bed in his chambers, one arm flung across his chest, the other hanging uselessly over the edge as though his body had given up trying to pretend at rest. Every time his eyes fluttered shut, the same images of Lira's face returned.He knew they will execute her and the thought was hard to bear.Jack swallowed, his throat tight as if invisible hands were slowly closing around it.They would drag her into the square at dawn, bind her hands, read her crimes aloud while the pack watched in grim, obedient silence. Desmond would stand tall and unflinching, cloaked in authority, his voice steady as he pronounced judgment. Seraphina would be there too, her hand resting protectively over her swollen belly, her eyes cold as winter.Jack clenched his fists, nails digging into his palms hard enough to draw blood. The sharp sting grounded him, but it did nothing to ease the suffocating pressure in his chest.“She was a maid,” he muttered into the darkness, his vo
Max couldn't control the urge anymore. He just had to see Skye.Max lingered near the door longer than necessary, adjusting the strap of his cloak, then readjusting it again. He didn't before, but now he hated that Becca noticed everything.“I’m heading to the stream,” he said at last, keeping his tone casual. “The traps need checking. If we don’t reset them before nightfall, we might regret it tomorrow.”It wasn’t a lie, the traps did need checking. It just wasn’t the whole truth.Becca glanced up, brushing a stray lock of hair from her face. The firelight softened her features, making her look almost untouched by the constant strain of hiding, planning, and surviving. She had always carried herself with quiet strength and gentle concern.“You could ask Eugene to go with you,” she said mildly. “Or one of the others.”Max shook his head too quickly. He caught himself and forced his shoulders to relax. “Eugene is busy. The resistance won’t wait just because we’re hungry.”That, at le
The dungeon beneath Blackwood mansion was just as Jack remembered and he hated it here.Jack descended the narrow staircase with deliberate steps, a single torch burning in his hand.Every step reminded him why he had sworn loyalty to the pack in the first place and how badly that loyalty was now being tested.Lira’s face rose in his mind. She was just a maid, barely more than a girl.She had been scrubbing blood from the great hall floor when he first noticed her months ago, her jaw clenched, her eyes blazing with quiet resentment as nobles laughed over goblets of wine. She had never known how to hide what she felt. That had always been her greatest strength and her greatest flaw."Desmond will not show mercy," he thought grimly "And Seraphina even less."At the bottom of the stairs, iron bars loomed into view. Two guards snapped to attention the moment Jack approached, spears crossing with practiced precision.“Halt,” the first guard barked. “No entry.”Jack stopped a pace away, li
Max's muscles screamed in protest, his shoulders burning, his palms already roughened and splitting beneath the leather wraps of his axe ash he used it to cut wood.Max welcomed the sting in his body because it drowned out the thoughts circling endlessly in his head, the memories that refused to loosen their grip.The cold morning air bit at his exposed chest, sharp enough to sting his lungs with every breath. Steam curled from his mouth as he exhaled, each breath coming harder than the last.The pile of chopped wood beside him had grown impressively large, logs stacked neatly. Max had stopped counting them long ago. He would keep chopping until his arms gave out or his thoughts finally broke apart.Whichever came first.Eugene’s face rose unbidden in his thoughts, as clear and sharp as if the Alpha stood before him now.Max’s jaw clenched as he brought the axe down again, harder this time. The blade buried itself so deeply in the wood that it stuck there, vibrating faintly from the







