LOGINJohanis’ POVThe first thing I hear that morning is the familiar thrum of Lily’s breathing. Mind you she's in her own room.It was not soft.Not peaceful.Just… steady. Determined. Like she refuses to die simply to spite the universe that tried to take her. Countless of times in fact.It’s ridiculous how comforting it is—even after ten years.I roll my shoulders as I step out onto the balcony outside my room in the mansion. The pack lands stretch below—wide forests, rolling fields, the faint silhouettes of wolves on patrol. The air tastes like pine. Clean. Quiet.Deceptive.Because beneath everything, I feel the same old hum—the same faint pull under my skin that I’ve lived with since I was eleven. The night the shadows came. The night they took something from us… and left something behind.“Johaaaaaa!” a voice yells from inside my room. “Wake up! We’re late!”I don’t even need to turn around.Only one person yells my name like it’s a threat.Lily..She bursts into the balcony with all
Johanis' POVThe moment the warm presence in my chest faded, it left behind an empty feeling—like someone had gently closed a door I didn’t know was open.The mysterious voice didn’t come back.Not when my breath steadied.Not when the trembling in my hands stopped.Not when my heart slowly shifted from panic to something softer—something aching and hollow.It was gone.Just… gone.But Lily—Her breathing, at least, began to even out.I crawled closer, swallowing hard as Mama wiped sweat from her forehead. Lily’s tiny chest rose and fell in shallow but steady waves now, instead of the frantic gasping from earlier. Her eyelashes fluttered, though she wasn’t fully awake. Her lips parted as if she was trying to say something.But that black mark…The one carved into her shoulder like a burn under the skin…It didn’t fade.It didn’t retreat.It didn’t even stop pulsing.A slow, deep throb.Like a second heartbeat.Like something living inside her blood.I reached toward it before stopping
Johanis' POVLily’s scream was still echoing when her body went limp against me.“Lily? Lily!”Her head lolled forward, curls falling over her face. She shivered violently, tiny whimpers slipping from her lips.Her eyes weren’t fully closed—but they weren’t open either. Just half-lidded, fogged, unfocused, rolling back like she was being pulled somewhere I couldn’t reach.“No—no, no, stay awake for me please.”I pressed my forehead to hers, trying to steady her breathing—trying to steady mine.The black mark on her shoulder pulsed.Once.Twice.Like a heartbeat that didn’t belong to her.A cold wave shot down her arm each time, making her small body jolt like it was being shocked. Her breathing hitched. Then she sagged again, slipping into a dizzy daze.“Lily. Please.”My voice cracked.She didn’t answer.The shadows were moving.Slowly at first—like they were sniffing, tasting the air—but then all at once, they surged toward us, drawn by whatever that mark was doing to her.I didn’t
Johanis' POVThe moment Mama and Papa disappeared into the chaos outside, silence swallowed our house like a vacuum.Not peaceful silence.Not a sleepy one either.The kind of silence that comes before something terrible.The kind that squeezes your lungs until you forget how to breathe.Lily clung to my sleeve, curls messy and eyes huge. “J-Joha… what do we do?”I didn’t answer right away, because for the first time my brave sister is showing her weakness. My heartbeat was too loud—rushing in my ears like waves crashing again and again. Every instinct in my bones screamed danger, louder than anything I’d ever heard before. Maybe worse than Hollowroot. Worse than the corrupted guardians. Worse than the nightmares that followed us for weeks.And it wasn’t just fear.It felt like something was telling us something..I swallowed hard and squeezed Lily’s hand. “First, we try to reach the others. Aya is closest to the border side. She’ll know what happened.”Lily nodded shakily. “Okay… oka
Johanis’ POVThey thought we didn't notice it.Just because we are young and naïve and innocent.But we do…Especially me.Adults forget that we’ve already survived things pups our age shouldn’t ever have. Monsters in the night. Corrupted beasts and spirits crawling from the earth. The way the air trembled when Hollowroot took its last breath. The pack still laughs and ruffles our hair and calls us kids, but sometimes—sometimes—I watch their eyes drift to the tree line with fear they try to swallow.And now… there’s something new.A rumor they whisper when they think we were asleep.A demon escaped from the doorway in the Demon’s Den.And it wasn’t just any demon..They say it might be the prince.I don’t know what a demon prince looks like. I don’t know why he’d be here. But I know one thing:Whenever Mama and Papa think no one is watching, their faces tighten the same way they did before all the corrupted creatures came.And that means danger.Which means my little sister needs wat
Lily’s POVI swear Brinn’s favorite hobby is annoying me.He just stood there with his stupid grin, flexing like he was already alpha of the entire pack (which is kinda impossible! Hmpp!), and said, “You’ll break like a stick, young mistress.”Excuse me?Six years old is practically grown! I can brush my own hair now. Sometimes. And I only trip over my boots, like… three times a day!!!That’s basically adult level coordination.So obviously, I launched myself at him.Brinn yelped and stumbled back, which was already victory enough for me, but then we both rolled into the dust. I clung to him like burrs on fur, yelling, “Take that, musclehead!”Behind me, I heard Joha groaning like the world’s most exhausted older brother. “Please at least don’t break her bones, Brinn. I don’t want to explain to Mama again why Lily has grass stains on her face.”Aya—oh, Aya—laughed. Actually laughed. And let me tell you, when she laughs, it’s not soft or pretty. It’s sharp, like a bark, but it still ma
Sophia's POVNow what would I reply to that claim of his? Nothing.. I just stared at him for a few seconds before he suddenly lifted me up.. IN MY FREAKING WOLF FORM!!!"Wait!! Carter! Shit. Don't embarrass me in front of my classmates!!" I grunted and tried to scratch his neck. He groaned a little. I
Jacob's POVI caught his leg, and with a strong force, my hand pulled it just to whip his leg sideways. Due to my unfiltered strength, he crashed into the red-haired she-wolf."You should've dodged Sarah," Leo commented, to which she replied, "You shouldn't get dragged away in the first place!"Both of
Jacob's POV"Why haven't we thought of that?! Congrats Club! Sometimes you do make sense!" Ramirez beamed through the link."Thanks for the compliment, Miss Crabbypants." Henry just scoffed."I'll surely tell Zero when we get back. Even if you're one of the council!" she responded after kicking some si
Benjamin's POV "Now you've done it! Is it even safe here!? The forest is alive! Surely you knew it!? You really want us to die, don't you?!" Jacob sharply turned his head while slightly raising his voice. Every step he took, each question flew out of his mouth. He was about to be rude once again, an







