LOGINMy gaze sweeps across the courtyard, taking in the faces, the laughter, and the sense of peace that still feels surreal.And then my eyes find her.Xena.I can’t bring myself to call her Lola, just as she can’t bring herself to call me Sadie. To everyone else, we are Lola and Sadie but to each other
“Sadie?” Alec murmurs gently beside me, voice low and coaxing. “You ready?”I turn, and he’s there, exactly where he’s always been. Tall, steady, eyes soft in a way I once thought I’d never be on the receiving end of. He’s holding our son in his arms, swaddled in a light silver blanket that shimmers
He already knows. He always does.“Ready?” I say quietly, though everyone hears me.“Definitely… Been waiting to make you officially mine for months,” he says, earning a chuckle from everyone.Slowly, he puts Aspen down, who is smiling from ear to ear.We told her the truth, that Alec is her dad, an
The night is quiet. Not the tense quiet that comes before war, not the brittle silence of grief but a living stillness, deep and steady, like the world has finally exhaled.It has been a month since the battle. A month since blood stained this land. A month since Kaden fell. A month since I learned
Kaden sees it too late. He lunges, but we are faster.I raise my hand and time stops and light pours from me in radiant waves. Lola steps forward, shadows trailing her like smoke. Light and shadow coil around us, not fighting, but circling, choosing. The air thickens, charged, every particle vibrat
The guilt is suffocating. It crawls up my throat like it wants to rip me apart from the inside.This isn’t how it was meant to be. This isn’t how it was meant to end. Kaden wasn’t supposed to win.I wipe away the tears. No! I refuse to let her die.I feel something crack open in my chest at my deter
And he isn’t the only one who can smell us.Unmated males surge toward us, their eyes glowing with hunger, their noses flaring as they catch the scent of our heat. Nyx bares her teeth, a feral snarl ripping from her throat as she lunges at one, snapping her jaws just inches from his throat.He yelps
Sadie.Everything ached.My limbs, my head, my heart.Even with the quiet of the night, the silence wasn’t comforting—it was heavy. Like the world was holding its breath and waiting for something terrible to happen. And somehow, I was the only one who could feel it.I didn’t realize I was holding my
The dining room is filled with tension so thick it’s almost suffocating. The air is electric, a current of raw energy buzzing beneath my skin, through my veins, as if the entire room is pulsing in sync with the rising moon.I adjust in my seat, trying to settle the anxiety churning in my gut. Across
“You’ve got it all wrong,” he murmurs, his voice breaking.I blink, the words not quite registering.“I want you,” Alec says, his eyes burning into mine. “God, Sadie. I want you so badly it’s killing me.” His thumb brushed along my jaw, a soft, reverent touch. “But not like this.”My chest tightens.







