LOGINSAGEBy the way, he had ruined it… I thought, suddenly remembering Adam’s statement. And his provoking question.He knew I was Maya. Something about a mark… How had he noticed that? Whatever, he had ruined it.The thought burned hotter than the magic thrumming beneath my skin.I had wanted this moment to be mine. I had wanted to peel the truth back slowly, to savor every second of dawning horror on their faces, to choose the exact instant I would say the names that haunted them. Maya. Dora. Sage. One soul, three lives, an unbroken chain of pain they had forged with their own hands.And Adam had taken that from me.The fury rose fast, cracking my composure and smile clean through. I snarled at him before I even realized I was moving, the sound ripping from my throat like an animal’s warning.“Why do I hurt you?” I scoffed, my voice trembling with something dangerously close to hysteria. “You hurt me first. All of you.”I swept my gaze across the room, taking them in one by one. The b
I had imagined this moment a thousand different ways.In some versions, Adam screamed. In others, he begged. Sometimes he went quiet in that hollow, terrifying way that meant something inside him had shattered beyond repair. I had rehearsed the angle of my smile, the tilt of my head, the exact cadence of my voice when I finally told him the truth.But reality?Reality tasted better.I watched it happen from the bed, watched comprehension ripple through the room like a slow-moving plague. Disbelief first. Then hurt. Then something darker, something rawer, carving its way into Adam’s face as if an unseen hand was peeling him open layer by layer.His brothers looked no better.Noah’s fury faltered, confusion edging into his glare. Daniel’s confidence cracked, eyes flicking between Adam and me as if he were trying to force the pieces to fit. Claire’s rage wavered, uncertainty tightening her mouth. Naomi looked lost. Rachel looked afraid, just like the others. After all, the vampires wer
ADAMI was still frozen when Noah’s words landed. The room seemed to still tilt, reality folding in on itself as if the truth I had just uncovered had loosened the seams of the world. My chest was tight, my thoughts colliding, overlapping, refusing to settle. Sage was my Maya. Maya was Dora. My wolf paced restlessly inside me, a low, savage satisfaction rolling through him like thunder. I told you.I barely heard him.She was here.After all the blood, the years, the searches, the ghosts—I had my mate back.The realization hit me all over again, sharp and blinding. Maya. The innocent girl I had tainted with experiences she hadn’t known how to name, had become Dora—who had looked at me like I was the embodiment of everything she despised—and finally had become Sage.Sage, who met my authority with sarcasm and fire, who had bent the laws of magic like they were suggestions.How did someone become that? How had she alone become three women with different dispositions, different fire?
ADAMI sat beside the bed and watched her breathe.The room had gone quiet after the priest and doctor left, the incense fading into something softer, something almost intimate. The only sound was Sage’s steady inhale and exhale, the faint rustle of sheets when she shifted. I lowered myself slowly onto the chair near the bed, then found I couldn’t stay there. Restlessness drove me closer, until I was perched on the edge, elbows on my knees, hands clasped so tightly my knuckles whitened.Could it be? Could my wolf be right all this time? The question slid through my mind like a blade, fanning the flames of restlessness within me.Could it be? Could it really be? Oh gods…Could Sage be the one I had been circling all these years without knowing it? Could she be the answer to a longing that had never truly gone quiet, no matter how hard I tried to bury it beneath duty and conquest and crowns?My gaze traced her face—the curve of her cheek, the faint crease between her brows even in sl
ADAMI watched them work on her as if I were already losing her.The priest murmured prayers under his breath, fingers glowing faintly as he traced sigils in the air above Sage’s body. While the doctor moved with efficient calm, checking vials and bandages, checking her pulse, her breathing, her pupils. Magic and medicine mingled in my room, the air thick with incense and herbs, sharp enough to sting the back of my throat.I paced. Back and forth, from the foot of the bed to the window, then back again. My boots thudded softly against the polished floor, the sound grounding me just enough to keep me from tearing something apart. Or someone.She lay too still.Her face was pale against the dark sheets, lashes resting against her cheeks, lips parted just slightly. If not for the steady rise and fall of her chest, I might have thought her gone.And yet, even unconscious, there had been that smile.The memory of it gnawed at me. Before her eyes had fluttered shut—she had smiled at me, af
SAGEI was dimly aware of Adam before I even opened my eyes, before his arms came around me, before his voice reached me—raw, frantic, cutting through the ringing emptiness in my head as he shouted my name like it was a lifeline. Strong arms tightened around me, hauling me up before my knees could even think of giving out. I felt him pull me against his chest, felt the way his grip tightened, even more, possessively, violently, as though daring anyone to come closer.“Don’t touch her,” he snarled at someone. “Get back. All of you.”I smiled faintly to myself, even as exhaustion dragged at my bones. He really was exactly where I wanted him.Adam carried me as if I weighed nothing, his strides long and purposeful. I heard him bark orders as we moved—telling them to go home, telling them they were safe now, telling them that I had completed my side of the bargain. His voice carried authority, certainty, and the unmistakable thread of relief.Smug satisfaction curled through me, warming







