Mag-log inThe common room was bustling at this hour as students rushed around, getting ready for classes. I made my way to the kitchen and threw a bagel in the toaster, leaning against the counter as I waited.“Callum?”Bianca stepped into view, appearing out of seemingly nowhere. My jaw tightened, wolf insti
Callum’s POVI woke to the feeling of something warm in my chest.For a moment, I almost could have sworn that I had something small and delicate gathered up in my arms. A gentle heart beating against my own. A lock of soft hair fluttering against my cheek.Liora.A smile touched my lips. I tightene
It might have been laughable, had circumstances not been so… sad.“So your parents took it badly, I imagine,” I pointed out.Callum huffed and looked into his bottle. “My dad beat the shit out of me.”I pulled my head back. “He what?”Wordlessly, Callum turned, pulling his shirt up to reveal his bac
Liora’s POVI just barely made it into the parking space before the car let out one final groan, then sputtered to a stop, rocking back and forth on the wheels.“Sorry about that, girl,” I said, patting the steering wheel. “That was a lot more driving in one day than I anticipated.”Shirley almost s
“Twenty lashes,” he said. “We’ll see if you change your mind then.”I grit my teeth. “I don’t have to put up with this anymore.”“Would you rather take it, or would you prefer if that little wolfless whore of yours took it instead?”The moment he said those words, I felt all the blood drain from my
Callum’s POVMy father’s shadow darkened the room.There was a time in my life when my father’s presence seemed enormous and all-consuming, like a black hole filling any space he entered. When I was a child, I remembered thinking that he was big enough to reach the moon, or to blot out the sun.I’d
His shoulders shifted, like he regretted saying it out loud. “My parents… had other plans,” he added, and there was a faint edge of bitterness that hadn’t been there before. “They made sure I learned how to be what they needed me to be.”“A leader,” I said.“A leader,” he echoed, quieter this time.
For a heartbeat we just… stood there. Too close. His breath mingled with mine, the faint murmur of voices from the main rooms a muffled hum somewhere far away.My pulse was everywhere—ears, fingertips, throat.Neither of us said a word.I dropped my gaze first, then met it with a fierce glare.Callu
LioraThe garden was the kind of place you’d expect to see printed on the back of a postcard: a maze of stone paths, fountains whispering in the distance, rose bushes trimmed so precisely it almost felt wrong to breathe near them.But Zane was right, it was far from Callum’s parents eyes, deep in th
LioraThe library was the only place I could think of to start my next search. If Mia’s class couldn’t be my lead, maybe some old legends could.It’s not like I could piss off the Moon Goddess anymore by nosing through her stories.By midday, the noise from the halls was nothing but a distant hum, d







