OliviaMy mind was a whirlwind of thoughts as Nathan paced the room, laying out his plans on how to deal with the witch.“Honestly, Olivia, it sounds like it should be straightforward enough,” he said, conviction filling his voice. “All we need to do is trap her in her own hut. Layla told us that a circle of salt is supposed to neutralize her magic, right? Then we set the place on fire, and it’s done. Over. Easy.”Easy.His words hung in the air like a cloud, heavy and dark. The thought of taking a life—witch or not—clawed at my conscience. Nothing about it seemed even remotely close to ‘easy’. In fact, the very thought of it made me sick.But what choice did we have? The witch held a claim over Aurora, and who knew how many more innocent lives would be tarnished if she remained a threat?“I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” I mumbled, the weight of our choices pressing down on me. “No one should have to die, you know?”Nathan paused his pacing to look at me, his eyes searching my
NathanThe morning light was just beginning to break over the horizon, casting soft rays through the nursery window.I found myself staring at the twins as they slept. They looked so cozy and warm, swaddled in their cribs, their little chests rising and falling with each innocent breath. The urge to protect them tightened around my heart like a vice, and that was precisely why I decided to slip out early to get to work.Quietly, I backed out of the room, pulling the door shut with the gentlest click.I had to make a decision today—a dangerous, irreversible decision—and I needed to plan it out. My feet carried me out of the house and through the town, finally stopping at the Council building.As soon as I entered my office, I picked up the phone. “Levi, I need you and the others here. Urgent meeting. Ten minutes.”Levi’s voice crackled through the phone, tinged with both concern and curiosity. “Alright, Alpha. We’ll be there.”True to their word, Levi and a handful of my other trusted
OliviaI was sitting up on the couch, staring at the front door, my heart pounding in my chest. The hands of the clock were merciless, ticking away the seconds that felt like hours.It was late, too late. Nathan had never given me a specific time frame as to when he would be back, but it was almost midnight—well past any reasonable hour.And all this time, I had been sitting here gnawing at my nails, a nervous habit I had relied on to calm myself ever since childhood. I really needed to stop doing it, but it was the only thing to keep myself from shaking right now.As I waited, all of the worst scenarios ran repeatedly through my head. What if the witch had somehow figured out Nathan’s plan? What if Nathan got hurt? Could the witch be coming for the twins and me next? My thoughts spiraled into dark corners I didn’t want to explore.Just as I was about to reach for my phone to call Nathan, the front door burst open. He stepped in, looking exhausted, his eyes carrying the weight of a lo
OliviaI watched Nathan as he welcomed Cade into our home with forced politeness.“Cade, please, make yourself comfortable. Can I offer you a drink?” Nathan gestured toward our mini bar that was a part of the dining room setup.“Sure,” Cade answered, his voice lacking any real enthusiasm as he followed Nathan.Seizing the moment, I gave Layla a quick, discreet wave and tilted my head toward the living room. “Let’s talk.”Carrying her little boy in her arms, Layla followed me. Once we were safely out of earshot, I turned to her, my voice dropping to a whisper. “Is everything okay? Has Cade said anything?”Layla looked slightly distressed. “He just got here yesterday, Liv, and we’ve barely talked. He even got his own hotel room and said that he won’t stay with me until he figures all this out. To be honest, I’m really nervous about how this whole thing will unfold.”My gut tightened with concern for her. I already felt bad enough that she was taking care of her son by herself, but the f
OliviaThe tension in the room was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Cade’s arms were wrapped tightly around Layla, but even from where I stood, I could see her body stiffening in his embrace.“Layla, are you alright?” he asked, his voice a mixture of genuine concern and defensiveness.“Do I look alright to you?” Layla finally snapped, shoving his arms away. “You’ve been distant, refusing to even help me with our—no, my son. I feel so alone.”I glanced at Nathan, whose eyes were narrowed. He was clearly upset but holding it in, like a simmering pot on the verge of boiling over.“You feel alone?” Cade retorted, his voice rising. “How do you think I felt finding out that the child I thought was mine is actually Nathan’s? It feels like you lied to me.”“Lied to you?” Layla scoffed, wiping her tears away angrily. “That’s ridiculous, Cade. I told you everything as soon as I found out. This is a timing issue, nothing more. Why can’t you see that?”Before Cade could come up with anoth
OliviaEverything was dark, so dark that I couldn't see an inch in front of me. My mouth snapped shut just as I was about to tell Nathan that I loved him, leaving me shocked and confused.“Whoa, what happened?” I blurted out, swiveling my head around.For some reason, I found myself gripping the amulet that Layla had given me.Maybe it was because the room was suddenly so quiet that I could hear my own heartbeat, or maybe it was because the room instantly felt several degrees colder, as if an icy wind had just blown its way through, despite the fact that the doors and windows were closed and that it was only mid-September.Nathan chuckled nervously through the darkness, pulling away from our embrace. “Looks like the power went out. Just stay here, Olivia. I’ll check the fuse box in the basement.”But something didn’t feel right. A tingling sensation was emanating from the amulet in my palm, stronger than before, a feeling that had me on high alert. Instinctively, I reached out, grabbi
OliviaI felt like I was going insane.After throwing up that... stuff, that black ink-like substance, my entire body felt like a live wire. Every cell screamed that something was wrong, but I had no clue what. It wasn’t just me, though. Even my wolf, usually a reassuring presence, felt sick and disoriented.“Nathan, I don’t know what's going on. What did she do to me?”Nathan ran a hand through his hair, clearly frazzled. “Olivia, we need to get you to the hospital. This isn’t normal.”I shook my head, already knowing what that route would entail.“And tell them what? That I threw up black gunk after a witch visited my house? They won’t be able to find anything wrong with me. It’s got to be some hex or something. Medical tests aren’t going to show that. She’ll definitely make sure of it.”He sighed, visibly frustrated but knowing I had a point. “So, what, we just sit around and wait for something to happen?”“I don’t know, Nathan. I don't know, okay? But right now, I’m not getting an
OliviaFor days on end, I had been waking up with this nauseous, flip-flopping feeling in my stomach.It was like riding a roller coaster on an empty stomach, but without the thrill. I found myself rushing to the bathroom every morning for four days straight, thinking maybe I had been hexed by the witch after all.But it wasn’t black stuff coming up anymore, and the amulet had been silent for days. It was all really weird.“Girl, you’ve been hugging the toilet bowl more than your man lately,” Angela said, stirring her coffee as we sat in my kitchen. She was in her nurse’s scrubs, visiting on her lunch break.The twins were blissfully napping in the next room, giving us a rare moment of quiet. Nathan was away at the Council building on Alpha duties, and had been mostly oblivious to my nausea spells because I had decided to keep it to myself for the time being, hoping that it would pass.I laughed, trying to shake off my friend’s accurate but also unsettling observation. “Don’t even jok
OliviaI gripped the edges of the podium, my knuckles whitening from the strain as I stared out over the sea of faces. All eyes were trained squarely on me, awaiting my words. But I was frozen.A tremor of nausea wormed its way up my throat as I stared out at them. What was I thinking—how could I have ever agreed to this? Speaking to crowds had never been my forte; that was Nathan’s arena, not mine. I was just the woman behind the scenes, the young mom who had never gone to college, the one who had been handed her job by her husband…Suddenly, a flicker of motion off to the side caught my eye—Nathan, standing just at the edge of the stage with his arms folded across his chest. Even from this distance, I could feel the weight of his steady gaze, that piercing Alpha stare that always seemed to see straight into the depths of my soul.He must have sensed my faltering because, slowly, deliberately, he offered me the faintest of smiles and a single, reassuring nod.And just like that, the
Olivia I looped my arm through Nathan’s as we stepped down from the podium, the applause from the crowd and the flashing of cameras having finally subsided after what felt like an eternity. “It’s over,” Nathan beamed, giving my arm a squeeze. “That wasn’t so bad.” I couldn’t help but grin back at him. “No, it wasn’t. You were great up there.” And he really had been great; the press conference had been an overwhelming success—any lingering doubts or trepidation we had harbored before had been utterly blown away by the sheer force of the crowd’s enthusiastic response. For so long, it had felt like we were fighting this battle alone, like the victims who had suffered under Dan’s horrific operation were little more than nameless, faceless casualties. But today, we had finally given them a voice. Their stories had reached the masses, had resonated and struck a chord with everyone who watched. Nathan had handled all of the questions that were thrown his way with poise and ease
OliviaI rapped my knuckles lightly on the door to Nathan’s office. A moment later, his voice called out, “Come in.”Stepping into the room, I placed my hands on my hips upon seeing the scene in front of me: Nathan was standing in front of the mirror, his shirt still untucked and his tie loosened. His desk was a mess of papers and folders, and it was clear that he had been checking over his notes last-minute before the press conference.
OliviaI wiped a bead of sweat from my brow, slowly turning to survey the progress that had been made in the park. The banners we had hung were a bold purple color, signifying our support of the women who had been affected by the trafficking ring.I couldn’t help but smile a bit as I looked at our progress. With the press conference today, followed by a festival to help raise funds for the shelter we were building, the park was bustling with activity as our pack members worked hard
NathanI leaned back in my chair with a weary sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose in a futile attempt to stave off the encroaching headache. Spread out on my desk was an array of file folders, legal pads scrawled with notes, and printed transcripts—a minefield of information that would need to be carefully navigated on the day of the upcoming press conference.It had been two weeks since Dan and Montgomery’s bodies were found in the confinement pit, and it had been a dizzyin
OliviaMy hands shook uncontrollably as I stepped up to the edge of the pit, clutching the metal grating until my knuckles turned white. A thick, cloying stench wafted up from the darkness below—the unmistakable reek of death and decay.Despite the waves of nausea already roiling in my gut, I leaned forward for a closer look.
OliviaThe air coming through the open windows smelled like the fresh sea breeze as we made our way from room to room, touring every nook and cranny of the newly completed cottage. It was perfect—cozy and quaint, while still boasting all the modern amenities one could want. But more than that, it was a sanctuary, a haven.A fresh start.
OliviaThe sound of power tools outside streamed in through the window while I folded the laundry, a distant backdrop to my swirling thoughts. I had grown used to the sound, and actually kind of enjoyed it. It was a reminder that life went on, that our family was growing.It had been a couple of weeks since I had made the decision to take a temporary leave from work in order to really focus on my family—on rebuilding that long-severed bond with my mother—and I was glad I did.
NathanI couldn’t stop the rage from simmering just beneath the surface as I made my way through the darkened forest toward the confinement pit. No one knew I was here—I was coming under the cover of night, my hair and face concealed by a hood.But I had to come. I couldn’t stop thinking about Dan and Montgomery, and I needed to see them.