NATHAN'S POVThe moment Lucas spoke those words, “He was looking for you,” something inside me snapped into focus.I had spent weeks fighting my instincts, pulling back, restraining myself. I had let go of vengeance when my home was burned down. I had turned the other cheek when my own pack doubted me.But this?Someone dared to come after my mate?I took a slow step forward, my wolf rising to the surface. The low growl rumbled in my chest, barely contained. “Tell me everything you know.”Lucas didn’t move from the steps. He didn’t even flinch. If anything, his stance grew firmer, as if planting himself between me and Sophia. His sharp blue eyes locked onto mine, unwavering.“I’m handling it.”A slow, humorless chuckle left my lips. “You’re handling it?”“Yes.”I took another step forward. “I don’t think you understand what’s happening here.”Lucas scoffed, crossing his arms. “Oh, I understand just fine. Someone attacked my friend, and now you’re looking for an excuse to sink your tee
SOPHIA'S POVThe house was too quiet.Even with Alex and Alexia upstairs, even with Elara somewhere in the background, the silence pressed in on me like a tangible weight.Nathan’s presence still lingered in the air, thick and suffocating, despite the fact that he’d left a few minutes ago. And Lucas – Lucas had barely said a word before leaving, his jaw tight, his expression unreadable.I let out a slow breath, pressing a hand to my temple.What the hell just happened?I had spent years keeping my past buried, locked away behind carefully constructed walls. And yet, in the span of a single night, it had cracked open, spilling out at my doorstep. Nathan was here. Lucas had confronted him. And in the middle of it all was me – standing between two men, two forces that refused to yield.A bitter laugh escaped me. Perfect.Just what I needed right now. A mate coming back to claim me and Lucas being there. I turned away from the front door, heading upstairs. My body was tense with the weig
LUCAS' POVThe morning light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office, illuminating the sleek, modern space with a golden hue. The city stretched out below me, a sea of movement, a constant reminder that the world never stopped in New York City – not for heartbreak, not for personal enta, and certainly not for me.I welcomed it.It was easier to focus on work than to dwell on the mess I had walked away from last night.Sophia.Nathan.The weight of that confrontation still sat heavily on my chest, but I pushed it aside. There was no room for distractions today.A sharp knock on the door pulled me back."Come in," I called.Emma, my executive assistant, strode inside, tablet in hand, her usual efficiency cutting through the air like a blade.“The acquisition is finalized.” She said without preamble. "Emerald Ventures wasn’t happy about it, but they didn’t have much of a choice. Their client signed with us the moment the ink dried."I allowed myself a small, satisfied
SOPHIA’S POVThe house felt lighter. Warmer. As if the weight that had been pressing down for days had finally eased.Alex was better.It was like waking up from a nightmare only to realize that morning had come, and the world hadn’t ended after all. One day, he had been weak, fevered, and barely able to hold a conversation without exhaustion pulling him under. The next, his color had returned, his fever had vanished, and his laughter – his bright, carefree laughter – filled the house once more.It was a miracle.I didn’t trust miracles.I watched him now from across the living room as he sat with Alexia on the floor, eagerly showing her a new book I had picked up for him. His hands moved animatedly as he explained something to her, his voice filled with excitement, no trace of the weakness that had held him captive just days ago.I should have been relieved. And I was. But beneath that relief lay something else – something sharp and uneasy.Nathan.The thought of him sent a fresh wav
SOPHIA'S POVThe scent of cinnamon and vanilla lingered in the air as I flipped the last pancake onto a plate. Morning light filtered through the kitchen window, bathing the space in a golden glow. It was one of those rare, quiet moments – the kind that made everything else feel distant.At the table, Alex sat slouched in his chair, blinking sleepily at his plate, while Alexia scribbled away in her notebook, her brow furrowed in deep concentration."Are you writing a novel before breakfast?" I teased, setting her plate down.She grinned up at me. "Just finishing my poem for class."I arched a brow. “A poem? What’s it about?”Alexia twirled her pencil between her fingers before answering. "Something important to me.""And that is…?"“You and Alex, obviously.”A warmth spread through my chest, unexpected but welcome. I ruffled her hair before setting the syrup down between them. “I like that answer.”Alex yawned, finally straightening in his seat. "Are we gonna eat or just talk about fe
NATHAN'S POVI sat in my office, staring at the pile of documents I was supposed to review. The words blurred together, meaningless against the storm in my head. No matter how hard I tried to focus, my thoughts kept drifting back to last night.To her.Sophia.She had looked at me like I was a stranger. Maybe that’s what I had become. The distance between us wasn’t just physical anymore – it was something deeper, something I wasn’t sure I could ever close.The creak of my office door pulled me from my thoughts.“I expected you to be brooding,” Lola said, stepping inside like she owned the place. “But this? This is a whole new level.”I sighed, leaning back in my chair. “Did you come all this way just to insult me?”“No. I wish.” She said, dropping into the seat across from me. “I came to check on you. Word is, you left Sophia’s house looking like someone ripped your heart out.”I exhaled sharply. “Might as well have.”Lola tilted her head, studying me. Then she shook her head with a l
NATHAN’S POVThe house was warm, the soft glow of light spilling through the windows. I stood at the doorstep, my grip tightening around the box of toys in my hands. The scent of home – hers and theirs – wrapped around me, laced with something deeper. Something that made my chest constrict.Lucas.I could still feel the lingering heat of their kiss through the mate bond. The sharp, searing pain of it had settled deep in my gut, a wound that refused to close. My wolf prowled inside me, restless, and furious, but I forced him down. This wasn’t the time to lose control.I had come here for my children.And yet, as I lifted my hand to knock, the door swung open before I could.Sophia stood in front of me, her breath catching in her throat.I saw it all in a split second – the widening of her eyes, the way her lips parted like she had been about to say something else. But then, just as quickly, she masked it. Her expression hardened, her posture straightened, and whatever moment of hesitat
SOPHIA'S POVThe door clicked shut behind Nathan, leaving behind an almost suffocating silence. My hands trembled, still warm from where I had touched his chest, from where I had stopped him.I exhaled, pressing my fingers to my temples, trying to will away the chaos brewing inside me. The bond between us was still thrumming, a faint echo of emotions that weren’t entirely mine. Frustration. Determination. A deep, aching need.Lucas’s voice broke through the silence.“Well.”I turned to face him, expecting sharp words, anger – anything that matched the tension in the air. But instead, he just stood there, watching me. His expression wasn’t furious, not yet. If anything, it was too controlled. Too calm.He ran a hand through his hair, exhaling slowly. “That was something.”I let out a breathless, almost bitter laugh. “Yeah.”Lucas crossed the room in a few easy steps and stopped just in front of me. His hands found my arms, warm and grounding. “Are you okay?”The sincerity in his voice
SOPHIA’S POV The sun filtered gently through the curtains, casting warm stripes across the wooden floor. For once, the house was quiet – not with the eerie kind of silence that came from something being wrong, but the kind that only came after a storm. I stood in the kitchen, barefoot, a mug of tea cradled in my hands. “Ow, hot.” I burned my fingers as I dipped it in the mug to taste the tea. Then replied myself, “Of course it's hot you dummy. You just made it.” I sighed and leaned my head lightly against the cabinet door as I stared at the empty hallway beyond. The twins were still asleep, for now. I had let them sleep in. I’d taken the day off. No Kate, no kitchen, no demands. I texted her before dawn. “Can’t come in today. Family stuff. I trust you.” I didn’t say more, and she didn’t ask. She just sent back a thumbs-up and a heart. I knew she would understand even with no explanation. The truth was, I didn’t even know how to put words to what had happened last night. I wa
VICTORIA'S POVThe air reeked of stale beer, sweat, and desperation. Ew.But, it was exactly the kind of place I’d expect to find a disgraced Alpha drowning in his own failure. Go figure.The bar was tucked into the corner of a forgotten alley, away from prying eyes by broken neon signs and shattered dreams. How do the humans say it again? Ahh, yes. What a boulevard of broken dreams.I stood outside for a moment, letting my eyes adjust to the dim glow bleeding through the fogged windows. The faint thundering boom of music sounded from within – some cheap EDM beat vibrating through shitty speakers – and over all of that, somehow louder than it all, the rough voices of men exchanging bets, boasts, and laughter that reeked of low intelligence.I pushed the door open.The warmth inside hit me like a wall, thick with body heat and alcohol fumes. It was a human dive, alright. Ugh.Cheap wood paneling, flickering lights, a couple of dart boards with knives sticking out of them. A fight was b
NATHAN'S POVThe rain had finally stopped.I watched the last beads slide down the windowpane of my office, the world outside slick and silver under the afternoon light. It had been a quiet day—restless, but quiet. The kind of quiet that gets under your skin, makes your wolf lift its head and sniff the wind.Still, I tried not to read too much into it. I had things to do—real things.I turned my attention back to the table in front of me. A spread of papers, drawings, and a carefully wrapped pair of gifts sat in the center. One for Alex. One for Alexia.I had put them together after our last talk—gifts that I hoped the ancestors would be proud of, sure, but also from me. I’d carved their names into the wooden boxes myself. Inside were tokens of our world—hand-polished stones charged with protective runes, small journals bound in soft leather, and a pendant each, etched with our crest. It was slightly different from the other pendants I had gotten them—this one had the Bennett family c
THEON'S POVThe council room was a pressure cooker. It was almost as though the collective heat emanating from the council members could cook a hard, battle-seasoned wolf.Heat radiated from more than just the fire crackling in the hearth. It steamed from the anger in the room – wolves packed wall to wall, voices rising, tempers flaring. And no matter how tall I stood or how hard I glared, it wasn’t enough to keep the unrest at bay anymore.“He left,” Brannon, one of the newer council members, arms folded across his massive chest. “Our Alpha abandoned us.”“He didn’t abandon us,” I snapped, my voice ringing out like a whip. I imbued a bit of authority so as to make lesser wolves obey due to the chain of command. “He made a choice. One he told us about. One he took full responsibility for.”“He left,” someone else echoed. “When the fire hit. When the house burned. When Victoria and her father tried to kill him – he walked away. What kind of Alpha does that?”One of the younger wolves,
SOPHIA’S POVAlexia’s eyes glowed with a strange, pulsing light – unnatural and far too old for her six-year-old face. They didn’t blink as she stared straight ahead, her small hand still raised, fingers curled like she was holding something I couldn’t see.“Alpha Nathan, leader of the Moonstone Pack… you are in grave danger.”My heart slowed down, stuttering in its steady walk. The air itself seemed to still, the warmth sucked from the room. I started to step forward on instinct – my baby – but Elara caught my wrist, holding me firm. Her grip was steady, but her gaze never left Alexia. Her silence screamed, don’t.Then Alexia’s head turned. Slowly. Mechanically, like her bones had turned to gears with knobs for muscles. Until her glowing gaze landed on me.“And you… Sophia of the broken bond…”I stopped breathing.The voice was still hers, still soft and small – but it was laced with something heavy and ancient. Something that didn’t belong inside or anywhere near my daughter’s body.
NATHAN'S POVElara didn’t wait for us to react. She was already halfway down the hallway by the time I caught up.“Is it Alex?” I asked, heart slamming against my ribs.“Yes,” she said sharply. “But not in the way you think. Come on.”I didn’t look at Sophia – we were moving too fast – but I felt her presence behind me. Her heartbeat was quick, light footsteps trailing mine as we reached the twins’ room.When Elara threw the door open, everything in me froze.Alex lay in bed, his body drenched in sweat. But it wasn’t a fever. His skin glowed faintly, like moonlight was trying to escape through his veins. His fingers twitched, his back arched once, and his lips moved silently, like he was trying to speak in a dream.Alexia sat beside him, hands pressed to his chest, brows furrowed in fierce concentration.“Elara–” Sophia’s voice broke. “What’s happening to him?”Before she could answer, Alexia turned to us. “Shhh.”She didn’t shout, didn’t cry. Just raised her tiny finger to her lips.
SOPHIA'S POV“No way in fucking hell.”The words cut through the room like a whip cracking. Sharp and final.But the second they’re out, my chest constricts. Fucking hell. I see it in his eyes – the flicker of hurt – but I don’t care. I can’t care. Not now. Not when my entire world’s been turned on its head again, and he’s the one holding the match.Nathan doesn’t say anything. He just stands there in the kitchen’s low light, like he expected this. Like he knew it would go this way and still came anyway.Good.He should’ve known better.“You think you can just walk back into our lives,” I start, pacing because I can’t be still, my hands doing their part in the conversation too, “say a few heartfelt things, drop some ancient-wolf-magic prophecy on me – and I’m supposed to just what, uproot everything and go back to Moonstone?”“I didn’t say it would be easy,” he said, voice calm but low.I whirl around on him. “Don’t do that. Don’t use that calm, measured tone with me. You left. You ba
NATHAN'S POV Her voice breaks the quiet. “We need to talk.” Fucking hell. I knew what it was going to be about. I nod, even though I already know this won’t be easy. I follow her to the kitchen, where the light is low and everything feels too still. It smells like honey tea and something faintly herbal, probably whatever she brewed to ease Alex’s symptoms. I take the seat across from her, my shoulders tight, heart steady but heavy. She doesn’t waste time. “I saw things tonight,” she says, arms crossed, voice tight. “Things I don’t understand. You touched Alex and… the way your aura shifted, your eyes… even the air changed. I felt it, Nathan. Through the bond.” I hold her gaze. “I know.” Her brows lift slightly. “You’ve changed.” I don’t argue. “I have.” She waits, like she knows I have more. Then she spelled it out for me. “What the fuck aren't you telling me, Nathan?” She’s right. It was time to finally, fully come clean. “I didn’t always know what I was,” I say quietly
SOPHIA'S POVBut that was clearly a problem for another day, as Nathan didn't give two shits about any other thing.“Where is he? Where is he, Sophia?”Nathan’s voice crashes through the house like thunderous waves in a storm. The walls seem to echo with it. My breath hitches. The room spins for half a second before my feet find the ground again.I turn sharply, hand gripping the counter for balance. He’s standing there in the doorway, shoulders tense, chest rising fast, eyes wild and glowing faintly gold. His wolf was really struggling to come to the surface and from what I could tell, it looked like only the gods themselves were holding him at bay. I’ve never seen that look on his face before.Not even when we fought. Not even when everything between us broke.“Nathan.” I breathe, but he’s already moving. Storming past me.“Elara!” He shouts. “Where is he?”Her voice comes from the hallway, calm but urgent. “Upstairs. Second door on the left.”“Nathan, wait!” I go after him, but he’