LOGIN"Oh, my Alpha," Leela breathed softly, her voice thick with absolute love and relief.Hearing their mother's voice, Caspian and Briar completely abandoned their game with Elana. The twins turned their little heads toward the archway. The plastic plates clattered uselessly onto the floor as their faces lit up with pure, unadulterated joy."Dada!" they giggled happily, kicking their little feet against the high chairs and reaching their chubby arms out toward him.Fennigan let out a long, shuddering breath, the last of the war completely draining out of his shoulders. The monsters were dead in the dark, and his family was right here in the light.Fennigan didn't hesitate. The Alpha crossed the sprawling kitchen in three long strides, wrapping his massive, soot-stained arms around Leela. He pulled her flush against his chest, burying his face in the crook of her neck and breathing in her familiar scent.Jax stepped into the kitchen right behind his brother, his silver eyes immediately sc
The trek down the mountain and back to the pack lands was consumed by a heavy, suffocating silence. The brothers walked shoulder-to-shoulder under the moonlight, both trapped entirely in their own heads.Jax’s mind was racing, morbidly trying to imagine the sheer, psychopathic horror of what Fennigan had been forced to look at inside Damon’s subterranean lab. He tried to picture the suspension tanks, the white, soulless eyes of the replicas floating in the dark, and the absolute perversion of their bloodline.Beside him, Fennigan was doing everything in his formidable power to forget it. He forcefully shoved the memories into a mental steel box, locking them away before they could tear his sanity apart. He couldn't be a traumatized son right now; he had to be an Alpha.As they cleared the tree line, the sprawling silhouette of the Blackwood packhouse rose up to greet them. Heavily armed warriors were stationed at the massive front doors, their postures rigid and alert. The guards offe
The labyrinth of limestone swallowed them, the air growing colder and thinner the deeper they descended into the belly of the mountain. For what felt like hours, Fennigan and Jax navigated the treacherous, winding tunnels, guided only by the faint silver light filtering through cracks in the ceiling and the heavy, sour scent of Magda’s terror.Then, the oppressive silence of the cavern broke.It started as a faint, rhythmic scrape echoing off the damp walls ahead. It was the frantic, erratic sound of boots pacing back and forth across loose gravel.Fennigan held up a hand, stopping Jax in his tracks. They pressed their backs against the cold stone, straining their heightened senses. The acrid stench of Magda's fear was suffocating here, thick enough to taste on the back of their tongues. But as the mountain wind drafted through the tunnel, another scent suddenly hit them.It was sharp. Bitter. It smelled like crushed almonds and burnt copper—the unmistakable, sickeningly sweet tang of
The Alpha stood frozen in the shadows of a massive pine, the horrific memories of what had been hidden right under their noses violently hijacking his mind. It was the exact reason Damon had to be shot—because the bastard had been actively trying to drag Caspian and Briar down into that subterranean nightmare.Fennigan looked at his brother, his face draining of color under the soot and ash."Tanks, Jax," Fennigan whispered, the absolute horror of it cracking his voice. "There were rows of suspension tanks. He wasn't just studying our blood. He had actual replicas of Caspian and Briar floating in the fluid. They looked exactly like them... except their eyes were completely white. He could grow the child, Jax, but he couldn't grow the soul."Jax’s blood ran cold. The Beta recoiled, a wave of pure nausea hitting his stomach. "Goddess... why?"Fennigan’s hands trembled as he balled them into fists, his silver eyes burning with a murderous, cold fury. "Because he was ready to try what Van
The heavy, steel-clad reality of what needed to be done settled over Fennigan, but he didn't let the darkness bleed into the bright, fragile warmth of the hospital room. That battle was for the outside world. In here, he was just a mate and a father.Fennigan pushed himself up from the edge of the mattress. He leaned down over Leela, his large hands gently cupping her face, and pressed a deep, lingering kiss to her lips."We have to go," Fennigan murmured softly against her mouth, his thumb brushing a stray lock of hair from her forehead. He looked into her bright silver eyes, offering her the absolute truth. "We have to try and find Magda. She's the loose thread. If we catch her, she can tell us exactly who was funding my father's sick research."Across the pushed-together beds, Jax was doing the same. The Beta leaned down, pressing a tender kiss to Ginny’s exhausted, smiling mouth, and then gently touched his lips to newborn Iggy’s impossibly soft cheek.Leela didn't argue. She didn
Elana’s smile widened, entirely unfazed by the fact that she couldn't stand up to greet him. She just wheeled herself a little closer to the edge of the mattress, opening her arms.Not to be left out of the sudden, joyous commotion, Briar let out a high-pitched squeal of her own. She scrambled over the tangled white hospital blankets, army-crawling with fierce, single-minded toddler determination right toward the edge of the mattress, her tiny hands reaching out as she called happily for her grandmother.Elana caught both of the squirming toddlers with practiced ease, using the strength of her arms to pull them right off the bed and safely onto her lap. She wrapped her arms around them, burying her face in their silver-tipped hair. The devastating fact that her legs beneath the thin thermal blanket couldn't move, couldn't feel the weight of her own grandchildren, didn't matter to the twins in the slightest. They didn't see a paralyzed former Luna. They only saw Gramma, and she was exa







