LOGINJulian walked into the estate like she owned it.Two pack members flanked her as escorts. She'd come willingly. That alone made me nervous. She moved through the front hall with that same confident stride, that same perfect posture, that same smile that never quite reached her eyes.She stopped in the center of the room. Looked at me. Looked at Lucas. Her smile widened."So. You've found out."I stepped forward. My legs were still shaky from the destabilization, but I forced them to hold me. "You tried to break me.""I tried to make you easier to control." She tilted her head. "There's a difference."Lucas moved beside me. His presence was a statement—a wall between me and her. "You manipulated her. You lied to her. You used her fear against her.""She wouldn't have listened to me otherwise." Julian shrugged. "You should be thanking me. I showed her what she was up against.""You showed me you can't be trusted." My voice was steady. Surer than I felt.Julian's smile flickered. Just fo
I held her unconscious body against my chest and tried to breathe.Her face was pale. Too pale. The gold light was gone from her eyes, but her skin was cold, and her heartbeat was too slow. "Wake up." My voice cracked. "Come on. Wake up."She didn't move.I tightened my arms around her."Emma, please."Nothing.The courtyard was still covered in the aftermath of her power surge. Cracks ran through the stone beneath us. A few lights had gone out. The air still smelled like something had burned.But I barely noticed any of it.All I could see was her.I should have told her sooner. About Julian. About the technique. About all of it. Olivia had gone to look for proof, and I'd waited, thinking there was time.There wasn't.If I had told Emma what we suspected earlier, maybe she wouldn't have trusted Julian.Maybe she wouldn't have spent weeks practicing those exercises.Maybe she wouldn't be lying unconscious in my arms now.The pack gathered around us. I heard footsteps, voices, the shu
I was alone in the courtyard when it started.The night was quiet. The kind of quiet that pressed against your ears and made you hear things that weren't there. I'd been practicing for an hour. Julian's techniques. Suppression. Control. Regulation. The exercises she'd taught me in the gym, the ones I'd believed were making me stronger.I thought I was improving.I was wrong.I stood in the center of the courtyard, feet apart, hands loose at my sides. The way Julian had shown me. I closed my eyes and reached for the power—the warmth in my chest, the pulse under my skin.Usually, I could feel it almost immediately.Tonight, it felt distant.I frowned and reached deeper.It flickered.Weak. Inconsistent. Like a candle guttering in the wind.I opened my eyes.For a second, everything looked normal. The stone walls. The trees surrounding the courtyard. The dim lights shining across the path.Then my vision blurred.I blinked hard."Come on," I whispered.I closed my eyes again.I remembere
I pushed open the doors to the main hall.The room went quiet. Pack members turned to look at me—some wary, some curious, some hopeful. I felt the weight of their gaze like a physical thing, pressing against my shoulders."I want to help."Lucas was at the head of the table, maps spread out in front of him. He looked up when I spoke. His jaw tightened."You should rest.""I've rested enough." I walked toward the table. "Tell me what happened. Tell me what's coming."Olivia was the one who answered. "Greyson's pack retreated, but they'll regroup. They're not done." She looked at me steadily. "They want you, Emma. And they'll keep coming until they get you.""Then we don't let them."A few pack members exchanged looks.I knew what they were thinking.I was seventeen.I was still learning how to control the power inside me.And only hours ago, I'd watched Lucas lose control of something that had nearly killed him.But I wasn't going to sit in a room while everyone else risked their lives
I sat up too fast.The room spun. Pain shot through my shoulder, my ribs, my arms—everywhere the bandages were wrapped. I ignored it. My eyes found Emma first. She was sitting beside the cot, her hand still wrapped around mine. Her face was pale, her eyes red-rimmed."How long was I out?""Four hours."Her voice was quiet.I looked at the room. The medical room was dim, with only a small lamp glowing near the wall. The air smelled like herbs, medicine, and dried blood.Four hours.It felt like I had only closed my eyes for a few seconds.I looked down at our hands. Emma hadn't let go of me."You stayed here?"She nodded."You should have gone home.""I wasn't leaving."I wanted to argue, but another wave of pain moved through my body. I gritted my teeth and lowered my head.Emma immediately tightened her grip."Are you okay?""I'm fine."She gave me a look."Don't lie."I almost smiled.Almost.Then I looked down at my hands.They looked normal. Felt normal. But something was wrong. I
I hadn't let go of his hand since he collapsed.The medical room was dim, lit only by a single lamp in the corner. Lucas lay on the cot, his chest rising and falling in shallow breaths. Bandages wrapped his arms, his torso, his shoulder—wounds I hadn't seen him take, wounds he'd ignored while he was fighting.There was dried blood along his temple. Another cut ran across his cheek.I kept looking at his face, waiting for some sign that he was going to wake up.He hadn't woken up.Olivia had told me it would take time. That the curse had receded, but it had damaged him. That he needed rest.I didn't care about rest. I cared about the fact that he hadn't opened his eyes.Every few minutes, I leaned closer, checking his breathing.Every time his chest rose, I felt a little relief.Then I remembered what he'd looked like outside.The black eyes.The smoke around him.The way his entire body had seemed to change.And the way I'd stepped back from him.I closed my eyes.I hated that moment.
"Emma, honey. We need to talk.” Dad said as the door to the kitchen swung open. He walked in, his face drawn tight with worry. He looked older than his age, lines deep around his eyes. He rubbed his hands together, like he always did when bad news brewed.My stomach dropped.I was sitting on the c
I stood at the edge of the park the next night, my heart pounding like a drum in my chest. The full moon hung low in the sky, casting a silver glow over everything. Lucas's words from yesterday echoed in my head—I’m not joking, Emma. You’ll see the truth soon enough. Part of me wanted to run home
I rushed down the sidewalk toward school, my backpack slapping against my side with every step. Tears stung my eyes from the fight with Marcus, but I blinked them away. His words echoed in my head—selfish, burden, helpless. The house felt like a cage, and school was my only escape today. I just wa
I sat at the kitchen table, my fingers nervously picking at the edges of a half-eaten sandwich. The bread was dry, the meal thrown together in a hurry before school. My mind raced back to last night. Dad's breakdown, the eviction notice looming like a dark cloud. The house already felt stifling. I







