LOGINThe crowd continued to applaud as Thea took one final bow before exiting the stage. The moment she was out of sight, Elijah grabbed my hand.“Come on,” he said, already pulling me toward the aisle. “Let’s get backstage before everyone else.”We made our way through the crowd, accepting congratulatio
AgnesEight years had passed by.The concert hall was packed to capacity, not a single empty seat in sight. My spine ached like hell from sitting on the hard wooden chair for the past two hours, and my pregnant belly made it impossible to find a comfortable position. Elijah kept rubbing his neck and
“Mom?” Thea’s voice called. “Everyone’s waiting. Are you ready?”I took one last look in the mirror, adjusted the mask slightly, and turned toward the door.“Ready,” I said, opening it to find my daughter standing there in a midnight blue dress that she had designed herself. Her own mask, shaped lik
AgnesOne year later.I stood in front of my mirror, hardly recognizing the woman staring back at me. Two years. It had been two years since I met Elijah—not counting that foggy night we conceived Thea seven years before that, a night neither of us could fully remember thanks to whatever drugs had b
Initially, I resisted. The thought of sharing my pain with a stranger when I had spent so many years being treated like a madwoman for my trauma scared the hell out of me. But Elijah was persistent, reminding me that we all carried burdens that were too heavy to bear alone.And so, twice a week, we
AgnesThe weeks following the destruction of the Lunaris Stone passed in a blur.Elemental Enterprises, of course, was immediately shut down by the authorities. Every known international law enforcement agency descended on Richard’s territory, working alongside Richard and us to document the crimes
“They’re my parents. You think they’re not going to come when your husband arrests me for no reason?”Before I could answer, Elijah snapped his fingers. Ava was roughly pulled away by James, much to my father’s chagrin. My father followed, of course—and didn’t even look at me as he passed.Now, only
AgnesElijah’s question caught me off guard. Honestly, I hadn’t even been expecting to make it this far, and now that I was here, I was utterly mortified and unsure of what to say. Here I was, standing in a lacy black nightgown in front of him, under the guise of bringing him tea.Of course I wasn’t
I glanced at him. “What did you do?”“I stopped going to the arcade, and started acting like a good little Alpha.” He shrugged as if it were nothing, but the muscle in his jaw ticked, indicating his true feelings.“You were just a kid.”Elijah paused and shot me a sidelong glance. “Alphas don’t get
Once she was satisfied with the space between us, however, her previous bravado returned. She pulled her shoulders back and said, “So that’s what this is about: that little girl. You think she’ll replace your dead daughter, don’t you? Well, she won’t. She’s not yours, Agnes, and she never will be.”







