FAZER LOGIN“Perhaps because you’ve been bound to his side for fourteen winters? Simply claiming your spirit is indifferent doesn't make it truth, Fallon. Sooner or later, you must confront those jagged wounds. What of us?”“Beckett. You have a courting maiden. Grant her a fair chance. I cannot plunge into a new bond carrying this wreckage. I require… I know not, space.” The word space sounded like a blessed sanctuary.“I will grant your need for breathing room, Fallon. Seek out whoever you choose. It may prove healing for your spirit to test other waters. But I am anchored right here. I refuse to let distance dismantle what we built while you roam the provinces. It is unjust to destroy what we could become simply because our paths crossed at an inconvenient moon.”“Beckett...”“Fallon. Do not force me to voice what you fear to acknowledge. Do not force me to ride to your retreat and demonstrate how deep this bond runs. You will not erase my scent while you reside in the north. And you will ache
“Just go, Beckett. Enjoy yourself. I am going to seek out other males while I remain in this territory. I am… fine. Farewell.”“Seems today is your turn to break hearts,” Devon observed with a dry chuckle, leaning over my shoulder. “Why on earth would you speak to him like that?”“Do not lecture me, Devon. Beckett and I have zero future. He served as wonderful, reckless revenge therapy, but that is the absolute limit.” I had to continually repeat these forged beliefs to keep my own wolf from clawing at my ribs. I flipped open my scrying slate and accessed my messages. There was a glyph-rune waiting from Beckett.Fallon,I shall check in with you later. Scarcely scrying what your reaction to this will be. Inspect the linkage attached.Please tread lightly around those other males.Yours,BeckettI pressed the glowing rune, opening the digital gazette broadsheet where a prominent feature story was highlighted. “By the moons, damn, damn, damn!” I groaned aloud.Kinsley and Devon crowded
The leaky brass hose nozzle sprayed cold well-water straight across the cotton leggings and tunic I had just wrestled into, splattering my trail sunglasses with dirt. I would spend this holy rest-day repenting for my utter stupidity in draining an entire flagon of berry wine by myself. In spite of the water pressure hissing through my knuckles, I managed to wash the evidence of my folly off the deck boards just minutes before Devon’s red SUV tore up the gravel drive in a billowing cloud of dust. Heavy battle-drums thundered through her open cabin windows, which could only mean one thing—she had brought Kinsley along.The ecstatic squeals accompanying our embraces made me wince behind my tinted lenses, but I was genuinely overjoyed to see my lifelong sister-in-arms. Kinsley had survived two broken bonds and was currently untangling a complex web of extended family ties. There was practically nothing I could do in this lifetime that Kinsley hadn't already experimented with, meaning I fa
The twilight shadows lengthened across Alder Creek Town as the van rolled to a halt in front of my sister Devon’s cabin. The boys had zero interest in holing up at the secluded family retreat with me, opting instead to trade coin for entry into the rustic mountain theater alongside their cousins.Devon stepped out onto the porch, wiping her hands on a linen apron. Though she carried seven winters more than me, our children grew up shoulder-to-shoulder, matching stride for stride. She had spent her youth mastering the lore of the high academy before returning to our native peaks, and scrying crystals kept us linked across the provinces through endless messages and visions. Reading my soul took her mere seconds, making it an exhausting ordeal to slip away without laying bare my bleeding heart. I threw out a clumsy excuse about a splitting migraine and travel fatigue, knowing full well she would interrogate the boys until the truth surfaced. It was the coward's path, yet I embraced it gl
“So, are you planning to bring her into our den at night after the boys and I clear out for the Colorado Territory?”Vaughn’s dark skin turns a deeper shade of crimson. “I told you, I officially severed all ties with Tegan. And I would never bring another female into our home. Never.”Still not a single word of genuine remorse from the Alpha of the Mercer Pack.“Well, praise the spirits that our den remains sacred to you,” I toss over my shoulder, mounting the oak stairs. “It’s just a tragedy your mate bond didn’t carry the same weight.”I strip down to my bare skin in the master washroom, gently checking the dark purple bruise blooming on my inner thigh from yesterday’s trail ride, when the door swings wide.“Fallon, I love you...” Vaughn freezes, his eyes locking onto the mark. “What in the world happened to your leg?”His concern feels real, but my soul remains completely unattached.“I’m fine.” Ignoring his sudden declaration, I slam the heavy frosted glass shower door straight in
“I relish this tavern because the rations emphasize lean roasted meats over heavy grains,” Beckett murmurs, sliding the parchment-wrapped meal across the weathered timber table.Judging by his towering frame and corded muscle definition, consuming massive quantities of high-protein game is a daily requirement for his survival. We devour the seasoned meat and share a flagon of cool well-water. As we wheel our tandem mountain bike back out onto the sunlit pack path, a traveling scribe with a bronze-lens capture-box hails us from across the lane. Beckett abruptly halts the pedals, and the stranger jogs toward us, clicking his glass-plate device repeatedly.“The Reddick elders dropped by my post and suggested I capture a portrait of you two for the pack gazette's human-interest chronicle,” the scribe rattles off, scratching notes onto a parchment pad. “Five winters bound as mates. May I utilize your proper names for the broadsheet?”







