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
CAST - Lila had barely stepped through the door when she snapped at us, exhaustion written in the way she moved and spoke. She had no idea how desperate we'd been for her to get there. Declan had been acting so strange all day, fussing and squirming like he couldn't get comfortable. He'd barely eaten and barely napped, and nothing we did seemed to help. By the time she got home, we were both at the end of our ropes, hoping she'd have some maternal magic that could fix whatever was wrong.Instead, she told us off. Told us to talk to each other and leave her out of it. Then she disappeared into the bedroom and slammed the door, leaving us standing there like idiots with Declan still fussing in my arms.I wanted to be mad at her, but I couldn't. Not really. She'd been running on fumes for weeks, balancing school, us, and Declan. Still, it hurt to see her shut down when we needed her. Declan seemed to sense it, too. He let out a whine and buried his face in my chest, his tiny body hot
LINC - I didn't remember him doing it. Cast didn't remember either. Even Lila, shaking and pale, said she had no recollection of the bite. Yet, as we sat there on the bed in the pool house, trying to piece it all together, his mark stood out darker than mine. It wasn't subtle. It wasn't something we could brush off. We all sat there, unable to articulate the emotions bouncing heavily between us. Between the three of us. She was caught in the middle, her entire body shaking. One hand was pressed to the mark on her neck, the other resting over her stomach. I sat on one side of her, Cast on the other, and we both touched her in the same way. A hand on her knee, the other on her back, trying to steady her, or maybe ourselves. She shifted between us restlessly, leaning against me for a moment, then to him. Her breathing was uneven, and I couldn't stop running my fingers lightly over her skin, trying to calm her. Cast and I didn't look at each other. We couldn't. We didn't need to.
CAST -I wasn't sure why it happened. Why Linc let it happen. Why any of us did. It was like the moment had taken on a life of its own, and we were just caught in its current. She had crumbled onto the floor, overwhelmed by how we were acting. I couldn't leave her there. I bent down and scooped her up, her body slack against me, and something in the way she folded into my arms shattered the last of my restraint.Her lips were right there, and I didn't think before kissing her. It wasn't soft or cautious. It was the kind of kiss that demanded more. Her lips pressed back against mine, but then she broke away, looking toward Linc. He was already behind her, his hands resting on her sides, his fingers dragging in slow, deliberate patterns on her growing belly. She looked caught between us, her breaths uneven as her eyes darted back to me. She was about to panic."You need us both, don't you? Just… just let it happen." My lips brushed hers again, desperate to pull her back to me.Her att
Declan’s breathing finally evened out, his tiny body curling against me in complete trust. I placed him back in his crib, smoothing the blanket over him as gently as I could. The nursery quieted again, leaving just the soft hum of the baby monitor in the corner.I turned to CeCe, still sitting on the floor near the crib. Her hands rested in her lap, and her focus stayed on Declan. “He’s fine now. You should go back to your room and get some sleep.”She hesitated, biting her lip. “Helena’s in there… busy.”I raised a brow. “Busy?”She shifted awkwardly. “With her boyfriend. I don’t really want to walk in on that.”I crossed my arms, leaning back against the edge of the crib. “Are they being safe?”“As best they can,” she admitted, looking at her hands. “The healers won’t exactly help with that kind of thing. It’s… hard to get what we need.”“That’s just the old traditions still lingering,” I explained. “The healers were scared of the old alpha and stuck to whatever rules kept them out
LINC - Her skin was soft and smooth beneath my hands as I traced the curves of her body. I felt the goosebumps rise on her skin as I kissed her neck. The way she responded to my touch left no doubt. She wanted me as much as I wanted her. We fit together perfectly. My fingers slid over her back, savoring the warmth radiating from her. She leaned into me, her breath feathering against my neck as I pulled her closer. Her hands roamed, exploring me in ways that made everything else dissolve into nothingness. The sound of her heartbeat thrummed against my chest, grounding me in the moment, in her. My mouth moved over her skin, tasting every inch. She arched under me, her body soft and eager. I pulled back just enough to look at her, but the shadows covered her face. "I need you," I murmured, letting my lips find hers again. The kiss built into something that made us feel endless. Like our bodies could melt together and become one. My body moved against hers as I growled against her
LILA - The knock startled me. My body stiffened as I clung to the remnants of composure, the ache in my chest almost unbearable. Cast turned off the shower and stepped out, grabbing a towel. I watched him wrap it around himself and head for the door. He seemed far too calm for this. "I've got it," he said, glancing back briefly.I didn't respond. The nausea still twisted in my stomach, and the bond with Linc burned at the edges of my mind, an unwelcome intrusion that wouldn't stop.Cast opened the door, sticking his head out just enough to block whoever it was from seeing inside. "I just finished showering, and Lila's getting cleaned up now. She threw up all over both of us," he explained, his voice casual like it wasn't a blatant lie. "I'll be out in a minute."I froze, heat flushing through me. Not from embarrassment but from pure fury.Before I could think twice, I grabbed a towel and stepped out of the shower, forcing down the bile rising in my throat. The lie was too much, and
CAST -The night stretched endlessly, each tick of the clock reminding me I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon. Tessa had adjusted my meds earlier in the week, upping the dosage just enough to screw with me. It wasn't the first night I'd spent like this, wide awake while the rest of the pack slept. It was starting to wear me thin.Kat, on the other hand, was out cold. Her body rested against mine, curled into my chest like she couldn't get close enough. The warmth of her breath skimmed my skin, steady and soft, the kind of rhythm that should've been calming. I trailed my hand over her back, tracing idle patterns out of habit more than intent.The room we were in wasn't really ours. It belonged to Lila, and she had Declan here, then briefly to me when I didn't have anywhere else to go. Now it was just "the extra," a placeholder no one had claimed outright. Yet, it was starting to feel like ours. Our stuff was scattered across the dresser and floor, the bed smelled like her shampoo, an
LINC - The road stretched ahead, cutting through familiar territory and leading us toward the human city. My eyes darted to the rearview mirror more often than I wanted to admit. Cast and Kat sat in the backseat, wrapped up in their own little bubble.Cast had her pulled against him, whispering something that made her shoulders shake with quiet laughter. Their heads tilted together, foreheads brushing occasionally, like they couldn't bear the thought of any distance.I told myself to be happy for them. They deserved it, after everything. But no matter how hard I tried, the sight made something twist inside me.Lila sat beside me, her hand resting lightly in mine, but it might as well have been someone else's hand for all the connection I felt. Her grip barely registered, her fingers slack against mine. She wasn't even pretending to care about the passing scenery. Her eyes stayed fixed on the window, distant and unfocused.I could feel the anxiety radiating from her, though she tried
LILA - Linc returned hours later without anything other than more exhaustion and cuts and bruises all over his body. He'd tracked over the entire property inch by inch and could not find Pheobe's scent anywhere else but in the nursery. It was unnerving, to say the least. The house felt different tonight. I moved down the hallway, trying to settle my breathing, trying to put the pieces together. Phoebe's scent, that unmistakable presence, was still here, still staining everything with questions. And I had to get to the bottom of it before it shattered the fragile ground Linc and I were walking on.The girl who smelled like Phoebe had been with Declan earlier, changing his diaper. Feeding him, burping him, and her hands all over him all day. She'd been in that nursery all afternoon. She'd never left, according to multiple people. I walked into the room where we'd confined her. I wouldn't allow them to keep her in the cold basement. She looked up, startled, and I could see her anxiet
LINC - Phoebe's scent hit me hard, sharper, and more potent than ever before. It nearly dropped me where I stood, my wolf surging to the surface in chaotic waves. It rooted itself in my instincts and refused to let go. My entire body reacted violently, muscles tensing as my wolf clawed for control. I wanted to fight it, to reject every maddening urge it awakened, but the instincts were overwhelming. All I could think about was the need to hunt, to claim, to dominate. I hated all of it.The basement air carried the acrid tang of lingering shifts. The full moon always left its mark, draining energy from our bodies and our minds. I didn't want Lila away from me during the shift, but the plan had been the safest for everyone. She'd stayed upstairs with Declan while Cast and I had been confined below, locked in the reinforced cells to ensure no one else bore the brunt of our transformations.As my limbs ached from the shift, the exhaustion was intense. Knowing Declan was safe upstairs h