CAST - I stormed out of the nursery with what Lila said still ringing in my ears. I couldn't stay in the pack house any longer. It was suffocating. Every corner reminded me of how out of place I was. I didn't belong here. Not really. But then again, did I really belong anywhere at this point?I headed to the pool house, hoping it would bring some sense of normalcy, some comfort I couldn't seem to find anymore. As I walked through the door, the familiar space filled with my things greeted me, but I felt an emptiness I couldn't shake instead of relief. The silence was unbearable. I sat on the edge of the bed for a minute, staring at the floor, waiting for the feeling to pass. It didn't.This place used to feel like home. A safe retreat when everything else was too much. But now? It felt hollow. I stood up, frustrated, and left without looking back.Back at the pack house, I wandered aimlessly, pacing the halls like I was searching for something. The kitchen. The sitting room. Eve
LILA - I carried Declan to the bedroom, his little body warm and snug against me. He played with the fabric of my shirt as I pushed the door open with my hip. Linc lay sprawled on the bed, his snores loud enough to compete with the air conditioner. I climbed onto the bed and settled Declan between us. He squirmed a little before rolling toward Linc and grabbing at Linc's chest.Declan's fingers curled into the sparse hair there and tugged. Hard. Linc grumbled in his sleep, muttering something unintelligible before one eye cracked open. He looked down at the little boy and grinned, clearly groggy but amused."Well, good morning to you," Linc mumbled, still half-asleep. Declan giggled and hugged again. Linc caught his hand and pulled it away. "What is this, your new thing? Hair-pulling?"Declan squealed, and Linc chuckled. He brushed at Declan's curls. "I'll wake up like this every morning, little man. The only thing better is if your mama's in my arms, too."I tried to smile, but the
LINC - I finally caved and let Cast move into the bedroom. Not because I wanted him there, not because it was the logical thing to do, but because it was the easiest way to manage everything without losing my damn mind. If he was in the room, I didn’t have to wonder what he and Lila were doing when I wasn’t around. I didn’t have to deal with the nagging questions or my temper showing up at the worst times. No matter what they were doing, whether it was holding hands or kissing, it pretty much felt the same to me. The funny thing was they seemed to go out of their way to avoid touching me when I was around. It was almost ridiculous, like some unspoken agreement to keep their distance while I was watching. The only exception was when they drifted together in their sleep, like magnets that couldn’t help but pull toward each other. I wondered if that would change once Cast was in here full-time. Would they let their guard down when I wasn’t paying attention? Or would they keep pretend
SELENA - Linc still kept us under guard, even after we were moved out of the cage and into a regular room. The guards loitered just outside the door, their presence impossible to ignore. Every now and then, I caught the murmur of their conversation or the faint sound of their boots shifting on the hardwood. It wasn't freedom, not entirely, but it was better than the basement. I didn't complain. I couldn't. Being with Jaed made it worth tolerating everything else.The bond between us was unlike anything I'd ever experienced. The pull wasn't just physical, though that was undeniable. It was deeper, something primal that connected me to him in ways I didn't fully understand yet. The intensity of it scared me. I'd known him for less than two days, but every glance, every touch, made me feel like I'd been waiting my entire life for him. Being away from him, even for a few minutes, felt wrong. Like I'd left a piece of myself behind.The decision was easy when Cast came in and told me to p
SELENA - I pressed my hands against his chest and pushed him gently back onto the bed. The movement caught him off guard, and he grunted in surprise as his back hit the mattress. His wide-eyed look made my entire body hum, but I didn't pause. I climbed over him, my knees settling on either side of his hips as I leaned down to undo his pants. I worked quickly at the button, and my fingers brushed against his lower stomach as I did. I felt his breath hitch beneath me. He didn't resist. His body stayed tense, but he lifted his hips slightly to help me slide his pants down. I trailed over him, taking in every detail, much like he did with me. He was already hard, his cock standing rigid, a bead of precum glistening at the tip. I smirked as I wrapped my hand around him. He twitched under my touch, his breathing uneven, and I felt the tension in his thighs as he tried to hold himself still. I leaned forward slowly, letting my tongue flick against him first, tasting the salty slickness
CAST - Lila slept between us last night. Her back pressed against me while her head rested lightly on Declan, curled against her chest. It should have been a regular night. Peaceful, even, but the strain was impossible to ignore. Sharing a bed with Linc was awkward at best and suffocating at worst. Every shift of the mattress, every small sound, felt like a challenge to see which of us would crack first. I stayed still, staring at the ceiling, counting the seconds until morning.When dawn crept through the curtains, Lila stirred. She mumbled something I didn’t catch before slipping out of bed, careful not to wake Declan as she moved him from the bassinet to where she had been lying between us. I watched her move toward the bathroom, grabbing her robe and heading for the shower. Linc shifted on the other side of the bed, turning toward me slightly. I thought he might say something for a second, but instead, he scoffed and rolled onto his back. Declan stretched in his sleep, his tiny
LINC - Just getting dressed wasn't going well. My shirt didn't sit right, and the buttons on my cuffs fought me every step of the way. I tugged the collar, muttering under my breath as I glanced at the stack of papers on my desk. Meetings, approvals, and tours for the empty apartments. Another full day. The apartments had been vacant for too long. When I took over, many of the old ways, and the people clinging to them, left. Most of those who bailed were men who couldn't stomach the idea of change. Now, we had fifteen empty units scattered across the land, ready to be filled. I decided to open them to anyone from Roman or Oxford packs, which should've been simple. A clear, logical solution. Of course, nothing was ever that easy. I grabbed my jacket off the back of the chair when the door slammed open. Selena marched in without knocking, her face pale, her hands twisting at her sides like she didn't know where to put them. "Selena," I snapped, shrugging into the jacket. "Does n
LILA - By the time I stumbled through the door, everything in me screamed to collapse right where I stood. My backpack slipped from my shoulder and hit the floor with a thud that echoed louder than I expected. My muscles ached from hours of sitting through lectures, the stiff chairs doing me no favors. The quiet house wasn't comforting. It wasn't peace. It was the kind of quiet that warned of brewing chaos, waiting for the right moment to erupt.I glanced around as I kicked off my shoes near the couch. Toys were scattered everywhere, and Declan's cars and blocks made a colorful minefield. I spotted one of his stuffed animals face-down in front of the TV, its floppy ear twisted to make it look just as done with the day as I felt. The faint hum of voices drifted from the kitchen, low and tense. The urge to escape to my room hit hard, but I barely managed two steps before Cast appeared in the hallway."You're home," he said, looking like he hadn't stopped moving for hours. His shirt wa
Ian didn't wait for my answer. He turned, moving fast toward the packhouse, Suki limp in his arms. I stood there for half a second, torn between Gaia and Suki. One was my mate. One I shouldn't care about. One had nearly killed the other. But standing there, body wrecked, blood still thick in the air, I didn't feel like running after Gaia. Not this time. I turned and ran after Ian. The packhouse was already chaotic when we got there. Someone must have smelled the blood. Ian pushed through the doors, heading straight to the medbay. I stayed on his heels, breath still too ragged, my ribs screaming with every step. Mom and the pack healer were already waiting. Ian laid Suki down carefully, stepping back as Mom pressed a hand to her forehead. "Her breathing is steady. She'll be fine." I didn't move. Couldn't. Suki looked too pale. The blood stood out too harshly against her skin. I forced my body to stay still even though every muscle screamed to pace. "She's healing fast," the he
Gaia lunged at him. Ian didn't move. He braced himself, standing firm as her massive form slammed into him. The force of it sent a shockwave through the ground. He held his position, absorbing the impact, pushing her back with raw strength alone. His white fur bristled. Gaia struck again, snapping at his throat, but he dodged, twisting at the last second to drive her off balance. She hit the dirt hard, paws digging into the earth as she pushed herself back up in an instant. Her entire body shook, not from exhaustion but from pure, unchecked aggression. Ian snarled, lowering his stance, but he didn't strike back. He didn't need to. He was blocking her, stopping her, keeping her from finishing what she had started. Something shifted in Gaia. Her breaths came hard, her body still wound too tight, but the moment stretched longer, stretched too long. Then, finally, she stopped. Ian didn't move, waiting, making sure she was really done. I didn't wait. The second she hesitated, I forced
DECLAN -The trees blurred past as Gaia ran, powerful and sure beneath me. I gripped her fur tighter, not because I was afraid but because I had never felt anything like this. The wind cut sharp against my skin, my pulse pounded in my ears, and my body moved in sync with hers like we were built for this. Everything in me buzzed with adrenaline, with the rush of speed, the sheer force of her muscles coiling and flexing beneath me. Then I saw it. A shadow slipped between the trees, fast and silent, keeping pace with us. Suki. Not now. Not like this. I silently begged her to stay back, to leave this moment alone, to not push this any further than it had already gone. But she didn't. Her wolf stayed just on the edges of my vision, always there, always lingering, never letting me forget what was still tangled inside me. The pull. The connection that refused to break, no matter how much I willed it to disappear. Then Gaia saw her. Her muscles coiled. A ripple of tension passed through
DECLAN -I made it back to the house just as Gaia came tearing out the front door, furious. She was barely holding herself together. The second she saw me, she yanked her shirt over her head. My brain barely caught up. I froze as every muscle in my body seemed to ripple at once. I was still reeling from being near Suki. From the way she looked at me. From the way my body reacted even when my mind told me I belonged to Gaia. The confusion pulled me in opposite directions, turning every second into a battle. And now Gaia was storming toward me, tearing off her clothes, taking up every bit of space in my mind. "Damn, Gaia." I snapped my head to the side, forcing myself to look anywhere but at her. She stalked closer, bare feet kicking up dust. I frowned. Why the hell were her shoes off? She had stormed out of the house so fast that she hadn't even thought to put them on. That wasn't like her. She grabbed my chin and jerked my head forward. "We... werr 'dults. We... need to stop act
DECLAN - Suki stretched out on the rock beside me, legs extended, fingers tapping idly against the stone. She wasn't in a rush, and that only made everything worse for me."Why are you upset?"I stared at the dirt, exhaling hard. "You don't want to know.""Please. You rejected me. Nothing else you say can be worse than that."That shouldn't have hit as hard as it did. My hands tightened against my knees, but I kept my voice even. "Yeah... Sorry for that too."She shrugged like it didn't matter. "You did what you had to do. That doesn't mean I can't tease you about it."She smiled, not mean, not teasing, but something about it still made it impossible to ignore. I didn't push. Couldn't. Not right now.Some of the pressure in my shoulders eased. "You're handling it better than I thought.""What, did you expect me to run off crying?" She kicked a loose rock down the slope. "I don't do the whole helpless thing."I huffed. "I know. Takes a lot of strength to live out here on purpose all t
DECLAN - Mom knocked once before stepping inside, moving like she expected this to be a fight. Maybe she did. Maybe it was."Your dads worked out a deal with Jaed."I stayed where I was, back against the headboard, arms locked around Gaia. Keeping her here. Keeping her mine. "Doesn't matter. Nothing is changing."She did her best to ignore my attitude. "Gaia can still stay until her birthday."I scoffed. "You heard what I said. She was staying regardless of all the bullshit."Gaia sat up fast, then shoved off the bed completely. "Don't talk to your mother like that."Heat crawled up my spine fast. A burn that made my stomach wrench. Being called out pissed me off. Being called out by someone below me? Made my teeth ache.And I hated that I felt like that.Mom just watched, waiting. No reaction, no expression, no wasted effort. My breath felt thicker, slower, body bracing for something I wasn't even sure of. I forced my attention back to her instead of the fire sparking hot under my s
DECLAN - Jaed turned on his heel and stormed out, steps heavy enough to shake the floor. The door slammed hard enough to rattle the frame. Gaia moved fast, pushing out of the room after him without looking back. My body still burned, everything wound so tight I thought I might snap in half. There was no way in hell I was walking out there right now, not like this. I sat on the edge of the bed, planted my feet, and dragged both hands through my hair before forcing them down. If I kept doing that, it would only make everything worse. I needed to get it together. I needed to think about something else. Anything else. My breathing was too hard, too uneven. My pulse pounded in my ears. My entire body ached, my skin too hot, my blood thick and heavy. Every inch of me still screamed for her, for more, for everything I had been seconds away from having. I stared at the ceiling and tried to focus. No good. Every thought ran straight back to her. To the way she had felt pressed against m
DECLAN - By the end of the lesson, most of them had the alphabet down. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start. More than that, it was proof that this was happening. That Gaia was becoming part of us, not just some outsider with no way to connect.As the room emptied out, I felt her before she even touched me. Gaia slid her arms around my waist from behind, pressing herself against my back."You're incredible," she signed against my chest, looking up at me.I swallowed. Hard. "Come on," I muttered, taking her hand and pulling her toward my room.The second the door shut behind us, she was on me. She dragged me down to meet her lips. I didn't hesitate. I kissed her hard, ignoring the dull ache still lingering in my ribs. My shoulder moved without protest, and most of the cuts had already faded into thin scars. I knew I should still be careful, but touching her made everything else disappear. The soreness, the exhaustion, the remnants of pain all vanished the second she was in my arms.S
I found Cast and Linc in the office, going over some pack reports. Linc leaned back in his chair while Cast was half-standing, flipping through pages with a scowl. They barely looked up when I walked in, but I didn't care. I had something to say, and they were going to listen."We're starting ASL classes," I said, crossing my arms. "Everyone is required to attend. That includes both of you."Linc's brow lifted slightly, and Cast set the papers down with an exasperated sigh. "You're giving us orders now?" Cast asked, folding his arms over his chest."Yes."They exchanged a look. Linc sighed first. "Declan, you don't get to just..."I cut him off. "I do. And I am. This should've happened the second we knew Gaia was deaf. Jaed made sure every single person in his pack knew how to communicate with her before they moved there. But here? We're still scribbling on notepads like it's the Dark Ages."Linc's jaw tightened. Cast clenched his teeth, looking more annoyed than guilty. But I wasn't