All Chapters of Deceitful Twin:A sister's shadow : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

Liam’s POVThe gate creaked open with a familiar groan, one I used to find comforting. Now, it echoed like a warning through my bones.I glanced at Astrid beside me. She hadn’t said much since we left the clearing—just nodded when I told her we were heading back to regroup. Her silence wasn’t empty; it was loaded. Disappointment, grief, anger… all of it bleeding into the air between us.The pack house stood tall against the early dusk, its windows lit like hollow eyes. Home. But nothing about it felt like that anymore.As we crossed the threshold, the scent of pinewood and ash hit me. I used to take pride in the order of this place—how wolves moved with purpose, how they trusted me. But what did any of that matter when I couldn’t protect what mattered most?I ran a hand through my hair and turned to Astrid. “You can wait in my office. I won’t be long.”She gave me a slow nod but didn’t look at me. Not really. Her eyes were scanning the walls, the halls… maybe searching for memories of

Scarlett’s POVThe moment Anna entered my chambers without knocking, her eyes wide and lips pressed together like they might betray her if she opened them too fast, I knew something important had happened, something unexpected for everyone else but maybe not for me, because I had been waiting for things to begin shifting back into place, back into the order I’d spent years creating in my head before it all got so messy with Astrid’s return and that child being ripped from my arms like he hadn’t ever belonged there in the first place.She stood there for a few seconds too long, the hem of her apron trembling from her hands clutching it too tightly, and when I tilted my head at her and said nothing, just stared, she finally got the words out in one breath like if she didn’t, she’d choke on them.“He’s here,” Anna said, her voice barely above a whisper, though the room was empty aside from us and no one had the authority to question what was spoken between a Luna and her servant anyway.

Astrid’s POVThe room was too still, too quiet, and even though I sat on the edge of the window seat, watching the wind push against the curtains as if it was trying to get inside and speak to me, there was nothing left to say, nothing I hadn’t already screamed or whispered or prayed under my breath in the dark when no one was listening, and I could feel Liam standing behind me with that same posture he always used when he didn’t know what to say but didn’t want to leave me alone either, as if his presence alone could hold back the chaos rising in my chest.He had already said it three times this morning—that we would find the boy, that River would be brought back, that we just needed more time and that Kai and Scarlett couldn’t outrun fate or truth or justice or whatever force he believed was working in our favor—but I didn’t want to hear it again, didn’t want another gentle reassurance dressed as logic because the reality was that every second ticking by without my son beside me fel

Liam’s POVI stood outside the door for longer than I should have, hand resting on the frame, listening to the silence on the other side and knowing that she hadn’t moved from that window, not yet anyway, because Astrid never left anything unfinished and there was something in the way she stared out toward the trees that told me she wasn’t done holding herself together, not until she had to be.She was different now, not just sharper or stronger but stripped down in a way I’d never seen before, like grief had burned away the quiet girl she used to be and left something cleaner behind—no illusions, no softness masking the storm, just purpose wrapped in calm and pain balanced with control.When I stepped back inside the room, she didn’t look at me, didn’t need to, and I watched her for a long moment, the way her posture didn’t shift even when I entered, the way her breathing stayed steady, focused, measured, and I realized that the Astrid I had known before—the one who smiled shyly when

Ethan’s POVThe knock came just before midday, sharp and brief.“Enter,” I said, without looking up from the desk. I had already gone through three territory reports and half a dozen scrolls this morning, all of them tedious, none of them urgent, and I was looking forward to ending the day without having to address another council complaint.The door opened, and Greyson stepped in, flanked by two of the eastern patrol leads—Jonas and Arlen. All three had the same look on their faces; tight-mouthed, alert, not panicked but clearly unsettled.I put the quill down and leaned back.“What is it?”Greyson didn’t sit. “We’ve got movement near the border.”I raised a brow. “Movement as in wolves, or movement as in a threat?”“Neither. Not yet,” he said. “They haven’t crossed into Warden territory, but they’re hovering. Close enough to notice.”“And?”“They’re not rogues. They’re too coordinated. Too controlled.”I looked at him. “So who are they?”“Ryder’s pack.”That made me pause.I hadn’t