(Katelyn's POV)“Do you not want to have kids?” I asked carefully, unsure of what Ryder's answer might be.Ryder looked down, conflicted. "That's not..." he hesitated, shaking his head as if he wasn't sure what to say now that I had put him on the spot. "I... I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe? I just... This is not something I want to have to think about now."I saw disappointment flash across Liz’s face, but she masked it quickly. "I don't want to either... but there's no way Simon is going to let this go," I said, my voice filled with hopelessness.Ryder shook his head, his frustration flaring up again. “Well, I think we should just tell Simon to go fuck himself.” I let out a small laugh at the unexpected comment. “Trust me, I think we’d all like to tell him that, but he's still going to want an answer.”“He’s just one Council Member!” Ryder insisted. “No one else seemed to give a fuck! In fact, they agreed that it was our business!" he snapped, his frustration mounting.He was r
(Ryder's POV)The cold water beat against my skin, hammering against me relentlessly as I tried to ground myself in the moment. To face all the questions and fears that had been building up inside me all night.It hadn’t just been Simon’s endless prodding and accusations, though that had definitely been where it all started, rather, it was the weight of everything he’d stirred up. And now that the dust was starting to settle, I couldn’t shake the uncomfortable thoughts that kept circling around my head.Kate’s words from earlier echoed in my mind, her gentle question digging deeper than I’d let on... "Do you not want to have kids?"I’d brushed her off. Not because I didn’t want kids, but because facing that question meant facing so much more. It meant facing the role I’d been avoiding for almost as long as I could remember.I leaned against the cool tiles, letting the water run down my face as I stared at the floor, my thoughts racing even faster now.It was so much easier to think th
(Katelyn's POV)Gray morning light began to creep its way up the dark sky and I found myself tiptoeing my way to Ryder’s room, the air still cool and quiet in the house.He was still asleep, curled up under the blankets, his face softened by dreams. For a moment, I just watched him, the rise and fall of his chest, the slight furrow of his brow even in sleep. I climbed onto the bed beside him, lying on my side and snuggling close, just savoring the quiet stillness around us.Gently, I reached up and brushed a lock of hair away from his eyes, feeling the familiar ache in my heart as I studied him. Even in sleep, he seemed troubled, as if the weight of everything was impossible for him to fully shake, even in his dreams.My fingers traced gently across his cheek and his eyes fluttered open.“Hey,” he murmured, his voice thick with sleep. “What’re you doing here so early?”I gave him a small smile. “I could ask you the same thing. I thought you were going to come back to my room last nigh
(Katelyn's POV)The Fortress loomed ahead as we drove through the early morning mist, its walls stark against the gray sky. It was only 9AM, but I already felt like I'd lived an entire day, the pressure of this moment having weighed on me since the second I opened my eyes. I was so eager to just get this done and behind me now. To wake up every day feeling this stressed was a living nightmare.Tyler was at the wheel, Ryder in the passenger seat, and I was huddled in the back, watching the scenery blur past as we approached the imposing structure. My heart thudded dully in my chest as we got closer, the reality of what lay ahead settling heavily over me.I was trying to stay calm, trying to remind myself of all the things I could control rather than the things I couldn't. And I’d have Tyler and Ryder nearby if I needed them.I'd told them that they didn't have to stay. Today seemed to be all about me, anyway. So there wasn't much point sticking around if they didn't need to.Of course
(Katelyn's POV)As I glanced up, I saw Ryder straighten from his casual perch on the table, his jaw clenched as he watched Simon with a hardened expression. I nudged his leg, looking at him with wide eyes and a slight shake of my head, urging him to keep his cool.With a sigh and a dramatic roll of his eyes, he relaxed a little, though I could still feel the tension radiating off of him.Simon took his seat directly opposite me, setting out a few papers with deliberate precision. “You boys are welcome to go now,” he suggested with a dismissive tone. “The others will be here shortly.”Tyler, unfazed, replied, “No, it’s fine. We’ve got nowhere else to be.”The statement hung in the air, a subtle reminder that I wasn’t alone here and wasn’t about to be. Simon’s expression didn’t change, but a faint sigh escaped him as he settled back in his chair.Silence fell over the room, thick and uncomfortable. No one seemed to want to speak, not even about something as trivial as the weather.I was
(Katelyn's POV)The tension in the room was thick, and I could feel it pressing down on me as I took a deep breath. Helen glanced down at her notes and then back up, giving me a patient, almost gentle look.“We’d like to start by addressing the matter of Harlan and your alleged abduction,” she said, her tone professional but not unkind. “That is, after all, one of the main reasons for our visit.”I shook my head, feeling a sudden urge to redirect them. “That… that isn’t really the beginning,” I murmured, my voice quiet but firm.Helen’s eyebrows lifted slightly, clearly interested. “Alright then,” she said, folding her hands on the table. “Where would you like to start, Katelyn?”I breathed in, steeling myself, feeling the weight of her question settle over me.“I guess... I guess the real beginning was at the Lunar Eclipse Celebration,” I explained, the memory of that first experience flooding my mind. “That... That was the first time that I 'saw' something.”Helen’s eyes lit with cu
(Katelyn's POV)Helen’s pen paused on the paper, her eyes locking onto mine. The hint of sympathy was gone, replaced by a harder, more focused expression.“Harlan found out...” she repeated slowly, as though she were carefully unpacking each word.“Yes,” I replied, nodding. "That's the whole reason he took me, right? He knew about my abilities... He seemed to know more about them than I did. Between him and Doctor Prince, they seemed to have some very high expectations for me.”Roderick’s jaw tightened, and Helen’s brow furrowed as she made another note. Simon, however, looked almost pleased, as if he had been waiting for this part of the story all along.Helen looked up, her gaze piercing but curious. "Doctor Prince?"I nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was his name? He and Harlan were talking about me like I was some kind of science experiment. He questioned me on my abilities and the kind of stuff I could do.""Hang on," Simon interjected. "You're jumping ahead now. How did you g
(Katelyn's POV)I looked down at the jagged line running across the table again, my heart pounding as I tried to make sense of it. The crack stretched from the place where my hand had slammed down, all the way across to Simon’s side, the splintered line cutting a stark path across the polished wood.It looked deep. Too deep. “It was probably already cracked,” I muttered dismissively, more to myself than to anyone else, hoping the words might somehow explain the unexpected fracture. For a second, no one in the room responded. They just watched me with unreadable expressions. Still, I could feel the sharp weight of their disbelief.I swallowed, trying to push back my frustration as I clenched my fists at my sides. “I need to take a break from this insanity,” I stated, my voice low and cold. “I actually can’t believe that you’re questioning me on this. I'm the one who was abducted! I'm the one who was snatched from my home! But you come here...” I stopped myself, breathing in a sharp br
I adjusted my grip on the tiny, squirming bundle in my arms and smiled as a chorus of laughter echoed through the Valentine house."Could you hold her for a sec?" I asked Ryder, shifting Ava into a more comfortable position. "I forgot my phone downstairs.""Absolutely," he replied, his face lighting up as he took her from me.I had to admit, Ryder had surprised me. I’d always known Tyler would step up to fatherhood like it was his destiny, but Ryder… I thought he might need a little more coaxing along the way.To my relief, and, I'll be honest, surprise, that hadn’t been the case at all.Ryder had embraced fatherhood like a natural. Late-night feeds? He was right there with me. Diapers? No problem. Making sure I ate? He was relentless. And the way he loved our daughter, with every fiber of his being... God, it melted my heart daily.Tyler, on the other hand, was exactly the dad I’d known he’d be. He was steady, dependable, and endlessly patient. Where Ryder brought the energy and fun,
(Katelyn's POV)I nodded slowly, processing it all as I tried to picture it in my mind's eye."Oh! And get this!" Ryder piped up with an excited grin. "Michael, the guy you wrapped around the pillar? He's Simon's cousin!""What?! How do you know that?" I asked, confused.Tyler replied this time, "Well, when we were leaving, we bumped into Simon in one of those long, winding corridors. He started going off at us asking where we were going and if we had permission to leave, blah blah blah... But Helen shut him down. She told him that the decision had been made and instead of giving us a hard time he should probably go and check on his cousin because the last time she saw him, he didn't look so good.""You should have seen his face," Ryder smirked, chuckling to himself. "He just stood there for a moment, still blocking our path, but then I think something clicked in his head. He probably saw that we were all covered in blood and shit and realized that something was wrong and he practicall
(Katelyn's POV)The first thing I registered was the sound of hushed voices and the faint smell of lavender.My eyelids felt like they’d been superglued shut, but after what felt like an Olympic-level effort, I finally managed to pry them open.My vision swam, the room around me looking like a watercolor painting that someone had left out in the rain.Where was I? WHO was I? It felt like I had been asleep for a hundred years.I blinked repeatedly, willing my vision to focus, but when it finally did, nothing seemed familiar.It was dark, from what I could tell, and the only light was coming from a lamp somewhere on the other side of the room.I shifted onto my elbow, trying to sit up, but I instantly regretted it. Pain throbbed in my skull, my head spinning like I’d spent hours on some rotating carnival ride. A groan escaped me, and the low murmurs nearby stopped immediately.“Kate?” A voice cut through the haze... Familiar, warm, desperate.My gaze darted toward the sound, and there t
(Katelyn's POV)She was furious, but not with me. I could feel her... like a storm raging inside me, raw and untamed. I waited in the quiet shelter of my own mind, nothing more than an observer as I watched her wrath unfold. It was like witnessing a hurricane from the safety of a bunker, awe and terror warring inside me."We... We didn't know!" the iron-haired woman’s voice quivered, her arms raised defensively, as if they could shield her from the Goddess's divine fury."You didn't know?! You didn't know that you were exploiting them? Or you didn't know that I would care?" the Moon Goddes spoke through my lips, her words flowing like liquid thunder."I... We..." the woman stammered, her eyes darting around desperately, searching for someone, ANYONE, to come to her rescue. But no one did. No one dared to move. They were all frozen like statues in the face of the storm."You will—" the words spilled from my mouth, but I somehow managed to cut them off abruptly when I heard Tyler's angu
(Tyler's POV)"I don't know what to do," Kate whispered, her voice filled with helplessness as she looked up at me while I struggled against the attendants who held me in place."Let him go," she ordered, authority resonating through her voice in a way I'd never heard before.When they hesitated, she glanced toward the man she'd just sent flying through the air like a puppet as some kind of silent warning of her power.That seemed like enough for them to release me.The second I was free, I fell down beside her, desperate to stop the blood that was pouring from Ryder's neck. It was coming out so fast it was clear that they must have gotten an artery, the blood pulsating out of the wound in steady throbs."What do we do?" she whispered, looking to me for answers I didn't have.I reached out, holding my hand over hers in some futile attempt to stop the bleeding, but it was like trying to hold back a flood with a fucking paper towel.His neck was a mangled wreck. The flesh was torn open t
(Katelyn's POV)Tyler’s hand trembled as he held it in place over mine, trying desperately to stop the blood that continued to pulse out, albeit at a much slower pace now.His voice was a whisper and it wavered with desperation. "You’re going to be okay, Ryder. You hear me? Just hang on. Just—" he broke off, choking back a sob as his other hand found its way to Ryder’s blood-matted fur as he rubbed him affectionately.He looked at me, his face pale and his eyes swimming with tears that he tried uselessly to blink away.“Kate...” His voice cracked, barely audible above the rapid, shallow breaths of his brother. “The bleeding... it’s too much. He’s not healing fast enough.”His words struck me like a dagger to the chest. I'd thought it, but hearing him say it out loud made it real.“What are you saying?!” I cried, my voice raw and broken as I gripped Ryder’s limp paw, shaking it in hopes of some kind of reaction. My vision blurred as I let the tears spill down my cheeks. “Is he going to
(Katelyn's POV)Through a blur of tears, I found myself face to face with the broad-shouldered Elder, Michael."You're an abomination!" he snarled, his hands gripping my arms with a ferocity that promised bruises. "You're a curse! A witch! A temptress! Do you know how my family has suffered because of you?!" he spat as he shook me violently, his eyes filled with absolute rage."But... I..." I stammered, trying to form words into sentences, but my brain couldn't do it.All I could do was stare at him, still reeling from the fact that one second I had been kneeling beside Ryder, trying to help him, and the next, I was being violently shaken by a man who seemed to have gone full psycho."Katelyn?!" Tyler called out, realizing I was no longer at his side.Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him struggling against about three or four attendants who tried to hold him back.Suddenly, pain shot through my cheek and the world around me fell into a darkness that seemed to ebb and flow like the t
(Katelyn's POV)For a moment, the entire room froze and my ears rang with the word exterminated."We're leaving," Tyler said, his voice low as he snatched me by the wrist and tugged me toward the door.The attendants remained though, none of them making any move to unblock our path. Instead, they all looked toward the iron-haired woman as if waiting for her to give them some instruction."Move," Tyler demanded sharply as Ryder appeared on my other side."We aren't finished here," the iron-haired woman called out as three more attendants appeared to block our exit."She wants to leave," Ryder replied, his voice filled with venom as he turned to address her."We aren't finished," she repeated, her voice cold and sharp as steel."I thought you said this was a hearing," I shot back, glaring at her. "Was there some line in the invitation about being held against my will? Because if there was, I must’ve missed that part," I spat, trying to hide my growing fear with sarcasm.The room fell si
(Katelyn's POV)The iron-haired woman watched me, her grip on her notes tightening once more. Her restraint was evident as she took a deep breath before finally replying. “You have already been told, Miss Grey, that this meeting is for us to ascertain—”I cut her off, my own patience now unraveling fast. “God, you can’t even give me a straight answer! What are the potential outcomes here?!” I demanded. "Even criminals on trial know what potential penalties they'll be facing! Why can't I be afforded the same courtesy?! Are you going to impose some kind of limitations on me and my abilities? Or do you plan to lock me in a prison cell? Or maybe a tower in the middle of nowhere? Are you going to kill me? Seriously, what options are on the table here?!" I pressed, annoyed by how fucking evasive she was being.It felt like they had already made up their minds here. While a few of them did seem to be on my side, it's clear that many of them were not. And those who sat on the fence would likel