Shadow And Maria Novels & Stories

I throw myself to the nearest wall and look around the room. “At least this one has a window to look out from”, I jokingly say to myself. I drag myself closer to the window, grab hold of the frame, and pull myself into the window leaning on it. I look in the window, I stare eyes wide through the blood-stained glass. I can see Brittany sitting in the corner of a room across from the room, I'm in. The window in the room is adjacent to another room next to me. I try to open the window but it's stuck, the window won't budge. I start shouting for her and banging on the window. I can see Brittany walk stand up and walk over to the window and stare into it. It's as if she is starting right past me

Yet her eyes burned with hate. “You children,” she said. Her voice echoed through the origin point and out loud. “Four centuries and you think you win? The shadow lives in you both. It will turn you against each other by dawn.” Julian stepped forward. “Show yourself truly or shut up.” His voice rang with command. Martha laughed weakly. “Brave words. But I feel the fracture in you, Alpha. One push and you become my tool like Mario did.” I reached through the bond and joined my will to Julian’s. “You failed with Mario. You will also fail now. We can see through you.”

Hunters. “Shadowthorn sends a message!” one roared. “The Alpha wants his heirs!” Aria shoved the twins behind her, blades already drawn. “Over my dead body.” Luka’s shadows flared. Lila growled, tiny body vibrating with power. The lead hunter lunged. Aria met him mid air, driving both blades into his chest. Hot blood sprayed across her face. She twisted, using his momentum to slam him into the second attacker. Luka’s shadows wrapped the third wolf’s legs, yanking him down. Lila pounced, ripping out his throat with a snarl that was far too mature for her age.

“Not there. Not ever.” But even as I said it, I knew my protest was just that—words. Symbols don’t mean much when a man like Marcelo decides to erase them. My eyes drifted to the broken shards of my phone. Pieces of glass sparkled under the dim light, like tiny stars scattered across the rug. My chest ached. That phone had been my lifeline—my way to wire money back to my mother, to Fae. To make sure they ate. To keep them alive while I played Elena’s shadow.

And on her head sat a silver circlet, the mark of a Luna. The mark that should have been Lyra's. As Lyra watched, unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to look away, Marcus leaned down and kissed Isla. Long and deep. The kind of kiss that spoke of love. Of belonging. Of years together. The pack cheered. They raised their glasses. They celebrated. Two small children, twins by the look of them, ran up and hugged Marcus and Isla's legs. A boy and a girl, both with blonde hair like Marcus. They were laughing, excited by the party.

My breath came in sharp, shallow bursts as I stared at Marcus's lifeless body, the pool of blood around him spreading like ink on a parchment. I hadn't done this. I couldn’t have done this. Could I? A jolt of panic coursed through me, snapping me out of my frozen state. I backed away, my gaze darting around the room. The shadows on the walls seemed alive, coming closer to me. I needed to think, to move, but my legs felt like lead.

That’s what shadows do. So will we

Cassian surges forward, black fur flashing between trunks, paws striking the ground like thunder. The others follow, their shapes blurring into streaks of color and motion behind him. I hang back near the treeline, apart but not separate. The soil is cool beneath my paws—steady, grounding. Something solid to hold onto when everything inside me threatens to fracture. For a while, it works. The static fades. My head clears. Then I smell her. Mariah. Her scent drifts through the forest—faint but unmistakable. Like she's close. Too close.

Their team’s loyalty was a spark, their love a fire, but the city’s fragile peace deepened the stakes, a storm brewing. --- Rosa’s screens flashed, her voice tense, uncovering a message from the global network: *“The Shadow rises. Ports, banks, syndicates—ours. Castellano falls.”* The name “The Shadow” chilled them, a new leader stepping into Elena’s void. Kai’s jaw clenched, his mother’s betrayal and Elena’s vendetta echoing, his voice raw. “The Shadow? Another ghost after my bloodline.” Gianna’s hand squeezed his, her voice fierce, grounding. “We stopped Elena. We’ll crush them too.”

She cozied up to Malcolm, looking at him with a love that was almost too intense. However, right in the middle of the ceremony, as Malcolm and Elaine were crowning James and the excitement was at its peak, everyone's phones buzzed with an urgent alert. [Under the laws of the werewolf community, the severance of the bond between Alpha Malcolm and Luna Mila is official. As of noon, they are nothing to each other.] Malcolm had not even checked his phone, still tucked away in his pocket, but the whispers and sidelong glances from the crowd sent a wave of panic through him.