LOGINRHYSI didn’t even finish my coffee before Kael showed up at my door.He didn’t knock like someone with manners. He knocked like someone who already owned the place, sharp, deliberate, impatient. And before I could even decide whether I wanted to deal with him, the handle turned and he let himself in.Of course he did.“You’re early,” I muttered, setting the mug down harder than necessary, ceramic hitting wood with a dull, irritated thud.Kael glanced around my living room, slow and assessing, like he was mentally cataloging everything, exits, weaknesses, how quickly he could dismantle the calm I’d built for myself. “You said you’d help me.”“I said I’d consider helping you,” I corrected, leaning back against the counter, arms loose but my posture anything but relaxed. My eyes stayed on him, tracking every small movement. “There’s a difference.”He smirked faintly, like the distinction didn’t matter, like it never had. Pulling out his phone, he glanced at the screen with a focus that
TORREN I was shocked.My son was choosing a stranger over me and it was pissing me off. My fists were balled up, my jaw was clamped shut as I watched my son cling to Rhys like he was the saviour, rather than an interloper who didn't belong here.But I tried to keep myself calm. If I let my frustration and anger show now, it would only cause more problems."Niko," I said, trying to sound as calm and levelheaded as possible. "I am your dad. Please come with me home."Niko shook his head.I felt as if he'd smashed a window in my face. My son. My own flesh and blood. Looking at me like I was his worst enemy.Niko could definitely speak. He didn't stutter, he wasn't speechless, he wasn't inarticulate. He had seen everything. He had seen how I treated his mother. He had seen the battles, the cold hard stares, how I had pushed Eryn away.And now he was making his choice."Uncle," Niko said, his young voice breaking the silence. "I can't go with you because my mommy is not going to."Uncle.
TORRENI told myself this week would end quietly.That was the only thing I had actually allowed myself to believe when I signed off on the Playground Park project. Clean deal, clean paperwork, clean exit. Something simple enough to keep my head straight for once instead of circling the same problems I couldn’t pin down.Saela hadn’t reached out.That alone should have been a relief. Instead, it sat in the back of my mind like a warning I couldn’t read properly. Saela didn’t disappear. She repositioned. She waited. She calculated. Silence was never her nature unless it was intentional.Maddox had been worse.Restless all morning, pacing in my head like he didn’t trust the ground I was standing on.“You’re not paying attention,” he snapped earlier, sharp enough to cut through my focus while I was reviewing the final approval.“I am,” I muttered under my breath at the time, signing the last page and pushing the file forward.“No, you’re not.”That was when I finally stopped arguing with
Eryn.The door wasn’t locked.That was the first thing that felt wrong. Rhys always locked his door. It was one of those small automatic things he did without thinking, the kind of habit that lived in the body rather than the mind. I pushed it open and stood in the doorway for a second before stepping inside.The curtains were still drawn.It was the middle of the day.“Rhys?”Nothing came back. I moved further in, letting the door close behind me, my eyes adjusting to the dim. The living room was the way it always was except for the figure on the couch that I hadn’t been expecting to find there.He was slumped sideways against the armrest. Shoes still on. Jacket somewhere on the floor. A glass on the table that had left a ring on the wood because he hadn’t put it on a coaster and he always put things on coasters.I crossed the room.There were bottles. Not many but enough. And his phone on the cushion beside him with the screen lit up, notifications stacking, missed calls from numb
RHYSI didn’t realize how quiet the house had become until I said it out loud.The words sat between us like they didn’t belong in the same room as breathing, as if even the walls had decided to listen more carefully.“I used to work for them,” I said again, slower this time, watching her face as I spoke. “Sons of the Wild… back in Virova. I was younger. Stupid. I hacked systems, rerouted funds, broke into things I shouldn’t have been anywhere near.”Eryn didn’t move at first. Not even a blink. Niko’s soft breathing filled the silence from the other room, steady and unaware of how fast everything in here was falling apart.“I didn’t care what it was for back then,” I continued, my voice tightening despite myself. “It was just work. Code, systems, numbers. Until it wasn’t.”Her gaze sharpened slightly at that, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t.“There was a fight,” I said, jaw tightening as the memory pressed harder than I wanted it to. “It broke out inside one of their old facilities. My
RHYS“Hold it down first.” I barked towards the other two men as we struggled to keep Thena’s wolf from going frantic.I could tell that something was wrong without even thinking much. Thena might be hot-headed, but for the little I’ve known about her, I knew that she wasn’t so obstinate and unreasonable.So definitely, something was going on here and it wasn’t a good thing.As Kael and Carvin diverted her attention, I moved swiftly. And following a soft thud, her wolf staggered slightly before it fell to the ground. I managed to knock her unconscious.As her wolf fell to the ground, there was a long and tense silence that permeated through the entire space.For a while, nobody moved.We all stared at the massive wolf on the ground and watched as it morphed back to its human form. The sound of bones cracking and limbs shifting filled the air, as the wolf began to shrink.When the wolf that once laid there turned into a woman figure, I felt a pause in the air.“That’s not Thena.” I he
Eryn"I'm never going to do anything right in your sight, right?" I asked, staring at my cracked screen on the wet pavement. The image, the only proof I had was gone, Just like that. Just like every damn thing I ever tried to fix."You're never going to see reason and you're always going to pick
SAELAI gripped the hem of my skirt, trying to look casual, normal, like my heart wasn’t hammering against my ribs.This is all his fault.Rave needed to get lost. He was only still hanging around because he had money and a car. Honestly, if he wasn’t my backup plan, he’d be gone already.“He? He’s
ERYN“Working with Dr Vale isn't that stressful.” I muttered, chugging my 3rd cup of coffee for the day. I had been running around the whole hospital with files, reports, and prescriptions but it was way better than working at the diner.The diner was a living hell.I stared at my wrist watch and
ERYN“You okay?”The voice cut into my thoughts like a knife and I blinked fast, realizing I’d been staring at the same spreadsheet for God knows how long.Dr Vale was watching me. Not staring. Watching. That unreadable face of his, those cold hazel eyes that never really showed much but always s







