LOGINKael's POVThat was the thing about reality—it didn't care how warm the room was, how perfectly still everyone was lying, or how much you'd prefer to stay exactly where you were indefinitely. It moved regardless, and eventually the morning had to end.My gaze shifted to Soren's alarm clock. 06:40. Training started in twenty minutes.I sat up carefully and began untangling myself from the arrangement we'd somehow become overnight.Ayla had dozed off again, tucked against Soren's chest while he stirred quietly behind her. Ryker was still at the foot of the bed—except he'd migrated even further down during the night and was now hanging off the edge at an angle that defied basic physics. One arm trailing toward the floor. Face completely slack. Snoring very slightly in a way he would furiously deny if confronted.I reached down and shook his shoulder.Nothing.I shook harder.Ryker slid off the edge and hit the floor like a bag of potatoes.The thud was impressive. I pushed to the edge an
Ayla's POVThe first thing I was aware of when I woke was the warmth.It was everywhere—above me, below me, and behind me—the heavy warmth of bodies tangled together long enough that the boundaries between them had blurred into something collective and complete.The second thing I was aware of was what that meant, and my face heated so fast I felt it in my ears.I lay completely still, staring at the ceiling, taking inventory of the situation with the quiet, methodical horror of someone trying to understand exactly how they'd arrived here.The memories surfaced without invitation—vivid and specific and absolutely not helping with the face situation—once, twice... six times in all kinds of positions, and each replay sparked a fresh wave of embarrassment that washed over me. I had to remind myself to breathe, to focus on the present rather than the whirlwind of thoughts threatening to drown me in a sea of confusion and shame."Ayla," Tala said, warm with amusement."Don't," I warned her
Soren’s POVI had thought about the situation—not the way Ryker thought about things: impulsive, vivid, immediate; nor the way Kael thought—strategic, measured, controlled.I contemplated everything quietly and thoroughly. I turned it all over in the dark when nobody was watching and examined it from every angle, understanding it completely before allowing myself to feel it. I thought I was prepared, but I was wrong.Ayla’s hands were against my chest and her mouth was on mine, and every careful, methodical thought I’d ever constructed dissolved like paper in water, leaving nothing behind but this—her.The warmth of her pressing up toward me, the certainty in it that I hadn’t expected, the way she kissed me first, without hesitation, like she’d already made the decision long before we reached the door."Blaze," I called.He didn’t answer; he was already gone under the spell of her touch.I pulled her closer, and she made a small sound against my mouth, like she hadn’t expected me to s
Ayla’s POVWe walked back to the packhouse instead of running. My legs felt like jelly, that particular wobble that came from the inside out—muscles pushed past their usual limits in the best way possible.Every step through the snow was deliberate and careful, and I was very aware of each one."You’re walking like a newborn deer," Tala chuckled.I ignored her."A very satisfied newborn deer," she cooed, giggling with a smug warmth in her chest.I ignored her harder, feeling my face warm.She laughed with that knowing sound that lived somewhere behind my ribs and settled into a comfortable, smug silence that was somehow worse than if she’d kept talking.Ryker walked close beside me, not quite touching but near enough that I could feel the warmth radiating off him through the cold air.He hadn’t said much since we left the cave, nor had I, but that wasn’t unusual. What was different was the quality of his quiet. Ryker was never still inside, never truly at rest; that restless crackling
Soren's POVI was in my room when it happened.The shift over the bond knocked the air clean out of my lungs.I was sitting at my desk with a book open in front of me — not really reading, just using the pages as something to look at while everything else was too loud inside. Then it hit me in the chest like a fist, and I doubled over and gasped.Blaze went completely still.He'd been restless all afternoon, pacing the edges of my mind with that low, agitated energy he got when something was building and neither of us knew what shape it was going to take.This wasn't gradual. It wasn't a slow settling or a gentle shift. It was a snap—deep and irrevocable. It was the same as that morning in the cabin, but this time it was Ryker who was involved.I sat with that for a moment, my heart still racing as it settled into my chest like something cold and permanent. It felt like a weight had been added to a structure that I was still learning to carry.The bond hummed between Ayla and Ryker wi
Ryker’s POVAyla was already through the front door by the time I hit the hallway, and I followed without thinking, with no jacket, no plan, just the instinct that had been running the show since the moment I understood what Ayla was to me.The bond in my chest pulled sharply and urgently, signaling that Ayla was not okay and was moving away from me, and every wolf instinct I possessed refused to accept either of those realities.The cold air hit me the moment I stepped outside. Ayla was already at the tree line."Ayla—" I yelled, hoping she’d stop, but she didn’t.I watched the shift take her mid-stride, and Tala appeared a moment later.She turned her massive white head toward me and pinned my gaze for just a moment, then flicked her tail like a silent invite before she bolted toward the treeline and disappeared into the pines without breaking stride.I didn’t hesitate; Duke tore through me, and I followed."She’s fast," Duke said, with some wonder in his voice as we sprinted after
Ayla’s POVThe forest is quieter this morning, as if everything is holding its breath, watching me flee from this miserable pack.I ignore the feeling and keep moving.I’ve only taken the basics—the clothes on my back and the money I saved from working at the coffee shop. It isn’t much, but at leas
Ryker’s POVI’m awake before I should be and groan out loud as my eyes flicker open. My head still spins from too much eggnog last night.I press my hand against my head, trying to stop the feeling. I lie there for a second, staring at the ceiling, trying to figure out what pulled me out of a soundl
Ayla’s POVThe closer I get to the packhouse, the louder the world becomes again—voices carry through the trees, followed by laughter and music. It sounds so bright against the darkness and quiet outside that it leaves a coldness under my skin.Every sound inside the packhouse hits my ears wrong; it
Ayla’s POVAlpha Jack and Luna Ria don’t stand in my way when I get up and head toward the door a second time. They know it’s time for me to leave.With one last silent nod, I exit the packhouse and slip into the cold.It’s dark now, the wind howling through the trees in the distance.I head toward







