The golden rays of the setting sun seep through the campus trees as I sit with Sarah, Ruth, Tyler, Leo, and Matt in the university’s open garden. The day has been filled with laughter and teasing, my friends ensuring I don’t slip back into the somber mood that has clung to me since the rogue attack on my birthday.I find myself smiling more than I expected, enjoying the warmth of their company despite the lingering anxiety in the back of my mind. Since that night, every shadow feels sharper, every sound more threatening. My Lycan, Caroline, has been restless too, pacing in my mind and reminding me that the world isn’t as safe as it seems right now.But for now, I’m choosing to enjoy this. Tyler is telling a story about his disastrous attempt at cooking dinner last week, complete with dramatic hand gestures and exaggerated voices for ever
It’s been a few days since the Matt-kiss disaster, and the memory still burns brighter than a solar flare. Caroline hasn’t let me forget it either, gleefully replaying Luis’s scowl every chance she gets.“Do you think he was mad because he wanted to kiss us? Or because Matt actually did?”“Shut up, Caroline,” I mutter, brushing past a low branch as I stalk through the woods near the Vanderwilson estate.My wolf huffs, the sound full of amusement. “You’re no fun. You know, it’s been three days, and Luis is nowhere to be found. Maybe he’s stewing. Brooding. Imagining all the ways he could—”“Caroline!”“—ruin his brother's existence,” she finishes with a snicker.I roll my eyes and focus on the task at hand. The woods are unusually quiet today, the kind of silence that sets my teeth on edge. Luis may be ignoring me completely, but I’ve thrown myself into something much bigger to keep my mind busy: the rogue problem.They’ve been getting bolder, striking closer and closer to Vanderwilson
The deafening wail of the school alarm shatters the silence, yanking my attention away from Luis and toward the door. My pulse quickens as I hear faint but distinct police sirens approaching in the distance.“What the hell?” I whisper, my voice drowned out by the relentless blaring.Luis’s jaw tightens, his gaze darting to the window. “Humans must’ve seen the rogues,” he mutters, his tone laced with irritation. “We can’t deal with this here. If the police show up, we’ll have an entirely different mess to clean up.”“Fantastic,” I say, throwing up my hands. “Just what we need—rogues and cops.”Luis shoots me a sharp look. “Agatha, focus.”“Focusing,” I reply quickly, though my sarcasm doesn’t completely disappear.“Come on,” he says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me toward the door. His hand is warm, firm, and entirely too distracting.Caroline, my wolf, huffs in my head. “I wouldn’t mind if he held onto us forever.”“Not helping, Caroline,” I snapped internally.We slip out of the lib
Standing at the doorstep of the Vanderwilson mansion, I grip the handles of my suitcases as though they’re the only things anchoring me to the ground. The cold air wraps around me, biting at my skin, but I barely feel it. My eyes are fixed on the sprawling mansion before me, its towering arches and intricate stone carvings practically dripping with opulence.“I would have never thought there’d be a day where I’d resent this place,” I mutter internally to Caroline, my wolf. “Is it too late to go back to campus?”Caroline snorts. “Oh, sure. Let’s run back to the campus crawling with rogues. Fantastic idea. You want me to call the ambulance now, or should we wait for the rogue to chew through your leg first?”“I’m just saying,” I grumble. &ld
The journal sits heavy on my lap like it knows its secrets might crush me. I flip through its pages, scanning my father’s meticulous handwriting. His words are calm, measured—a stark contrast to the chaos spinning in my head. The more I read, the clearer the pieces become, but it’s a puzzle I’m terrified to finish. If Luis’s father was involved in my father’s death, does that mean Luis knows? The question feels like a slap. And then there’s Lilly. Could she really be oblivious to something so monumental? Or has she, too, been playing her part in some dark family conspiracy? Caroline speaks up, her voice sharp and biting. “You’re spiraling again. This is why we don’t do detective work at night. Go to sleep before you have an existential crisis and decide to run into the forest barefoot like a lunatic.” “I’m fine,” I snap, though the tightening in my chest says otherwise. Caroline snorts. “Sure, and I’m a vegan wolf.” I ignore her. The mansion outside my room feels too quiet,
It’s been three days since my awkward run-in with Luis’s father, and his words still echo in my mind. “We value respect and honesty in this house.” The irony of it burns like fire in my chest. If honesty were truly a virtue here, this mansion wouldn’t feel like a tomb stuffed with secrets.But right now, I have a bigger problem: my sister, Lilly.The conversation we had yesterday plays on a loop in my head like a bad soap opera. She’d cornered me in the kitchen after dinner, her voice soft but her eyes suspiciously red. “Agatha,” she started, her tone too careful, too measured, “how do you feel about Luis?”How do I feel about Luis? What does that even mean? He’s the man who saved me from my horrible stepfather, yet he’s also the guy who looks at me like I’m an unfinished puzzle missing the one piece he’ll never find. And now, I’m living under his roof with my sister—his wife.“Uh, he’s...fine?” I’d said, trying not to look as uncomfortable as I felt.Her lips pressed into a tight lin
The air in the Vanderwilson mansion feels thicker than usual, like the walls themselves are holding their breath, waiting for something to happen. My father has been watching me. No, studying me—the way I look at Agatha, the subtle exchanges between us that I thought went unnoticed. Turns out, nothing escapes Alexander Vanderwilson.I should have been more careful.Now he’s using his observations to twist the screws, manipulating me with carefully chosen words, always delivered with that smug, knowing look.“Stay focused, Luis,” he said earlier tonight, swirling his whiskey like he was discussing the weather instead of my life. “For the sake of the pack’s stability, your loyalty to Lilly is non-
The mansion is too quiet, a silence that feels heavy, like it’s hiding something. Or maybe it’s just me hiding something. Either way, I can’t shake the tension hanging in the air, especially when Lilly is around. She’s been watching me more closely lately, her sharp eyes darting between Agatha and me like she’s trying to solve a riddle no one gave her the clues to.Mark is restless, pacing in the back of my mind. “You’re being obvious,” he mutters, his tone laced with amusement.“Am not,” I hiss back internally.“Are too. She’s staring at you right now.”I glance up, and sure enough, Lilly is watching me from across the hall with that signature Vanderwilson scrutiny. I force a smile, which she
Lilly paced the length of her lavish bedroom, her steps brisk and uneven. The grand space, adorned with gold accents and rich, dark wood furniture, suddenly felt suffocating. She had barely slept the night before, her mind gnawed by insecurities and half-formed suspicions.Her Lycan's voice slithered into her thoughts, smooth yet insistent. “It could be someone you know.”She froze mid-step, her hands gripping the silk sash of her robe. “No,” she whispered, shaking her head as if to ward off the idea. “Luis wouldn’t—he couldn’t.”“Men can be foolish,” her Lycan continued, a bitter edge creeping into its tone. “Even the strongest can stray. And haven’t you noticed how distracted he’s been lately?”Lilly’s jaw clenched. She had noticed. How could she not? Luis, once the epitome of attentiveness, had grown distant. His eyes often seemed far away, his thoughts tethered to something—or someone—else.Her fingers itched to confront him, to demand answers, but she wasn’t ready for what those
The moment we step into Winter Fall, it feels like we’ve walked into a horror movie. The trees are taller, their twisted branches reaching for the sky like they’re trying to grab the moon. The air is cold, but not the kind that makes you shiver—it’s the kind that sinks into your bones and whispers, Turn back while you still can.“This place gives me the creeps,” I mutter, my eyes darting around the shadows that seem to move even when the wind isn’t blowing.Luis, as usual, is completely unfazed, his smirk as irritating as ever. “You just don’t appreciate the thrill of adventure.”“Adventure?” I snort. “I’ve had plenty of adventures. Like that time your sister and I were running for our lives on campus because of rogue wolves. Or have you forgotten that little detail?”Luis shrugs, clearly unimpressed. “That was different. This is a controlled adventure.”“Controlled?” I roll my eyes. “This is a suicide mission with extra steps, Luis.”We press on, the glowing symbols on Luis’s map cas
The journey to Winter Fall begins in the ungodly hours of the morning, when the sun hasn’t even thought about rising. I’m trudging along behind Luis, muttering complaints under my breath like a grumpy old woman. Luis, on the other hand, is whistling cheerfully, completely out of sync with the danger we’re walking into.“Do you ever stop being insufferably chipper?” I snap, glaring at his back as we navigate through the dense forest.He turns to flash me a dazzling grin, his teeth practically glowing in the moonlight. “Nope. Someone has to keep the morale up, and you’re clearly failing.”“Oh, please,” Caroline chimes in, her voice oozing sarcasm. “Let’s all applaud the shiny-haired prince of bad decisions. What could possibly go wrong following him into rogue territory?”I snort, shoving a branch out of my path. “Luis, just so we’re clear, I’m only doing this because I don’t have a better plan.”He claps me on the back like we’re old friends going on a road trip instead of two people s
The door slams shut behind Amelia, her footsteps echoing down the hall like an announcement of her righteous irritation. I flop onto the couch, groaning dramatically. “Luis,” I say, my voice muffled against the cushions. “Why is my life like this? Why can’t I have normal problems, like running out of coffee or forgetting my Nest-fix password?” Luis chuckles, settling into the armchair across from me with the ease of someone who doesn’t understand the concept of stress. “Normal is boring. You should thank me for making your life interesting.” I shoot him a look. “Oh, sure. I’ll send you a thank-you card as soon as I find one that says, ‘Thanks for the chaos and potential death.’” He leans back, stretching out like a smug cat. “You’re welcome.” Before I can launch into a tirade about his insufferable smugness, he pulls an ancient-looking ledger from the stack of dusty books on the coffee table. “Here,” he says, flipping it open. “What’s that?” I ask, sitting up. “Proof that
I pace the room like a caged animal, my nerves unraveling with every frantic step. My mind is a storm of questions and doubts. “What about Lilly? What about the pack? What about everything?” I whisper-yell to myself, clawing at my hair as if I can physically remove the panic from my head. “And Alexander! Oh my gosh, Alexander! He’s going to kill me! Or Luis! Or both of us!”Luis stands by the bookshelf, leaning casually against it, arms crossed like he doesn’t have a care in the world. His calmness is maddening. His blue eyes, sharp and unyielding, follow my every move, his expression unreadable.“Luis!” I stop pacing and point an accusing finger at him. “Say something! Don’t just stand there looking like you’re posing for a cologne ad!”His lips quirk into an infuriating smirk. “What do you want me to say, Agatha?”“Oh, I don’t know! Maybe something useful? Like, what does this mean? What do we mean? Or—wait. Do we mean anything at all?”Luis pushes off the shelf, his movements slow
The clock strikes midnight, and moonlight pours through the tall windows of the Vanderwilson library. The old wood creaks under the weight of silence, the kind that feels heavy enough to suffocate, but somehow thick enough to drown out the world. I sit cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by piles of yellowing ledgers and crinkling letters. I can almost feel the dust from centuries of forgotten words settling on my skin, but none of it is as suffocating as the weight in my chest.My fingers trail over the pages, tracing faded ink like I’m trying to read between the lines of my own life. But nothing makes sense. Every word is a riddle, a code that refuses to unlock itself."This feels pointless," I mutter, tossing another letter aside. It flutters to the floor with a dramatic thud, and I scowl at it like it personally offended me. "Every page is either vague or full of half-truths."Caroline’s voice flickers in my mind like a distant echo, low but persistent. You’re getting frustrated
Later that evening, the Vanderwilson mansion feels like a powder keg waiting to ignite. The air is heavy with unspoken tensions, and I’m ready to light the match. My steps echo down the grand hallway as I head toward Luis’s study, each one filled with more determination than the last.Pushing the door open without knocking, I find him seated behind a mahogany desk, casually scrolling through his tablet. The picture of calm composure.“Luis,” I say sharply, and his head snaps up, his dark brows knitting together.“Agatha?” His voice holds a mix of curiosity and concern. “You look like you’re ready to murder someone. Should I call for backup?”I slam the door behind me, the sound reverberating through the room. “If I were you, I’d start worrying about who I’m coming for.”He leans back in his chair, clearly trying to mask his surprise with nonchalance. “Alright, what’s this about?”I take a deep breath, trying to organize my thoughts. “I think your father had something to do with my dad
The air at Winterhill Estate feels heavier than I remember, a weight pressing down on my chest as I step through the grand entrance. The scent of pinewood and old leather still lingers, a haunting reminder of my childhood. I don’t bother greeting the maids or acknowledging the curious stares of pack members as I stride past them. My goal isn’t small talk or nostalgia; it’s answers."You're doing the right thing," Caroline murmurs in the back of my mind, her voice low and deliberate."Am I, though?" I reply, glancing at a portrait of my mother hanging on the wall, her smile eerily serene. My stomach churns. This place is a mausoleum of lies, and I’m here to dig up its secrets.The first stroke of luck is that Nick isn’t here. He’s off dealing with rogue attacks, which means I don&r
The mansion is too quiet, a silence that feels heavy, like it’s hiding something. Or maybe it’s just me hiding something. Either way, I can’t shake the tension hanging in the air, especially when Lilly is around. She’s been watching me more closely lately, her sharp eyes darting between Agatha and me like she’s trying to solve a riddle no one gave her the clues to.Mark is restless, pacing in the back of my mind. “You’re being obvious,” he mutters, his tone laced with amusement.“Am not,” I hiss back internally.“Are too. She’s staring at you right now.”I glance up, and sure enough, Lilly is watching me from across the hall with that signature Vanderwilson scrutiny. I force a smile, which she