The defense didn't have much. They knew it, too.I watched as their lead attorney fumbled through statements, trying to spin what was already undeniable. He spoke in circles, leaning on technicalities that had already been dismissed earlier in the case. The jury barely reacted. They weren't buying it. Neither was the judge. I had been sitting through this trial for hours, but this was the moment that stood out the most, watching someone try to cover something so blatantly wrong with weak excuses.Some of what he said didn't even make sense.I glanced at Linc when one of the defense attorneys said something about "reinstating the natural order." Linc shifted slightly but didn't react. Nessa, seated beside him, didn't flinch either. If anything, she looked bored. Like she had expected this level of failure from them.After another ten minutes of stumbling nonsense, the judge sighed and glanced at the clock. "The jury will now deliberate. Due to the late hour, we will adjourn and reconve
Linc didn't answer. He just stood there, silent. Whatever Nessa had meant about my eyes, whatever it was that had rattled him so badly, he wasn't going to explain it.Instead, he sighed. "Drop it for now. There's too much happening at once, and we don't need another thing on top of it."That didn't settle right. "Is it bad?"For the first time since we left court, Linc actually smiled. "No. This one isn't bad. Just not something we need to bring up right now."I let it go for now.The only thing I still needed to know, the one thing clawing at my brain, wasn't about Nessa or the case or even Kat. "You used to talk about your dreams. About her. Do you still have them? Even now that she is..."Linc shifted. "Same as always. Before and after. Gets worse when I get stressed. Unless your dad... well, let's just say there are reasons I seek him out sometimes."That was enough of an answer for me. I didn't press further.We drove back in silence. My head was a mess.Linc's fated mate had bee
Something about that answer stuck in my head longer than it should have.I hesitated, then typed out another message. "Are you going to freak out if Suki and I... happen?"Gaia took longer to respond this time. When she did, the answer wasn't what I expected."I know this won't end unless you do. I hate it, but I know what we are. I was never your mate until I marked you. So, live it out. Get it out of your system so you can come back to me."I swallowed hard, staring at the screen. I was unsure what to even say to that. Before I could decide, another message popped up."But if you go further with her than we did... I might get a little mad."I exhaled sharply, locking my phone and setting it down. That didn't feel like jealousy. It felt like an inevitability. Like Gaia knew exactly what was going to happen and had already made peace with it, or at least convinced herself she had.Suki stretched out on the bed, her hair a mess, looking like she had been waiting for me to stop fighting
I wanted to keep going, wanted to lose myself in her, but the thought of Gaia snapped through the haze. If Jaed hadn't interrupted us, we would have slept together. There wouldn't have been a way to stop it. And now, here, with Suki pressing against me, that same fire was taking over. Except there wouldn't be any interruptions this time. No one to stop me before I crossed a line I wasn't ready for. And Gaia would know. I barely managed a nod, my voice rough and unsteady. "Yeah, I hope so." She kissed me. Nothing careful, nothing slow. She met me with the same intensity I felt, no hesitation, no second-guessing. My whole body locked up as raw need took over my senses. I gripped her thighs, dragging her into me, grinding against her, chasing that friction before I could stop myself. My head screamed to slow down, to think, but my body was already gone, already locked onto the way she felt against me.I had never let myself have this before, never let myself give in, and now I was seco
The second I woke up, everything hit at once. Last night, I hadn't felt it. I had let myself get caught up in Suki, in the way she reacted to me, in the way it felt to touch her finally. But now, in the quiet of the morning, my whole body locked up with something I hadn't been ready for.Gaia.It wasn't just guilt. It was worse than that. The sharp, suffocating ache of knowing I had done something I couldn't take back. Last night, the mate bond had been quiet. I hadn't felt anything but Suki. But now, now that the rush had faded, I swore I could feel Gaia's sadness sinking into me. They always said mate bonds worked differently when they weren't fully formed when only one side had marked the other. I hadn't marked Gaia. She had marked me. And last night, I had convinced myself that meant she wouldn't feel what I was feeling. That she wouldn't know.I had been wrong. Completely, unforgivably wrong. Last night, I hadn't even thought about it the way I should have. I should have question
I ran the words through my head again and again, muttering them under my breath as I walked. Nothing sounded right. Nothing sounded like enough.Gaia, I...I'm sorry...I didn't mean to...Nothing fit. Nothing could fix this.The pack house loomed ahead, but I didn't speed up. Each step felt heavier than the last, like my body already knew what was coming and wanted to slow it down. I didn't know how bad it would be, how much of her disappointment I'd have to face before I even opened my mouth.Then I saw her.Gaia sat on the porch, wrapped in a blanket, small against the massive wooden steps. Her hair was a mess from sleep, but I knew she hadn't gotten any. I didn't need to ask. I could feel it. JI stepped closer, forcing my breathing to stay even. I signed, "Did you sleep?"She didn't answer. Didn't move.I stopped in front of her, waiting, stomach twisting so tight it hurt. I reached for the blanket, wanting to pull it away so I could wrap my arms around her, to close the distance
I didn't even remember deciding to come here. One second, I was running. The next, I was shoving the back window open and climbing through. The glass rattled in the frame as I slipped inside, boots hitting the floor of the empty house. The Riverwalk house. I didn't live here. My parents barely used it. But I knew the alarm code, knew every creaky board, every stuck window. Knew the way it smelled like the river outside, the scent settling deep into the old walls no matter how many times it had been aired out. I didn't know why I was here. I didn't know what I wanted. I just knew I couldn't go back. Not yet. My whole body shook, too wired to sit, too wrecked to move. Everything clawed at me from the inside, my mind stuck in a loop I couldn't break. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to be bitten. I didn't ask to be tied to someone before I even understood what it meant. I hadn't wanted that bond, but I had honored it. I had tried. I had done everything I could to be a man about i
A sudden wave of nausea hit. The burn turned brutal, curling deep, coiling like something alive inside me. My breath hitched, and in that split second, I knew. This was coming back up. All of it. The relief vanished, replaced by the horrifying realization that my body was done pretending to handle this. My limbs tensed, instincts kicking in too late, the floor tilting as I scrambled toward the bathroom. "Oh, fuck..."I crashed into the bathroom, barely making it before hitting the tile. The second my knees hit the floor, my stomach turned so hard it felt like something inside had torn open. Everything inside revolted, rejecting every drop of liquor I had forced down. My throat burned as bile seared its way up, tearing through me in brutal waves, each worse than the last. The liquor clawed its way back out, scorching and violent, stripping everything raw on its way up.My arms locked against the toilet, gripping hard as my body convulsed again, heaving until there was nothing left. My
DECLAN - We took the long way back to the packhouse. It took far longer than the ten minutes I'd agreed to. Suki was going to give me hell for that. She’d probably time it down to the second and bring it up at dinner, then again at breakfast. I was already prepared to ignore the first three times before I gave in to whatever atonement she had planned. Honestly, I was looking forward to the punishment. Gaia and I fell into old habits. She challenged me to spot tree knots shaped like animals. I told her she was making them up when she did. She called me arbitrary and pronounced it correctly. I lobbed a pinecone at her head. She caught it, grinned, and tucked it into my hood when I wasn't looking. It was familiar. Just two people who used to know every inch of each other, finding the quiet rhythm again without forcing it. When the porch came into view, I slowed. "You and Dorian should stay," I paused. "The east wing at the Roman packhouse is yours if you want it. No strings. Just.
DECLAN - "I'm sorry." I looked over. She kept her eyes forward. Hands shoved into the front pocket of her hoodie. Shoulders stiff. We walked side by side. The trees closed in around us while the porch lights faded behind. Neither of us said anything for a long time. Our feet crunched through the undergrowth. The breeze rolled between us. I didn't try to close the space. Neither did she. But neither of us veered away either. The remains of the old house peeked through the trees. Blackened beams and collapsed stone still scattered across the clearing. A skeleton. A memory. "For how I rejected you. And for not telling you why." I didn't answer until we reached the house. "You didn't just reject me. You vanished." She flinched. "I know." "So why?" She took a deep breath and stopped walking. Her eyes stayed on what was left of the front steps. "I'd gotten the call. The implant was finally approved, and they found a werewolf doctor who could do it. It was scheduled. It was final
DECLAN - That was her fated mate.It was written in the way he tracked her every move, in how he hovered just close enough to guard but not crowd. His posture said protector. His eyes, sharp and constantly scanning, said no one would get within reach unless she wanted them to. He moved like he'd been made for that role. Like every instinct in his body had clicked into place the moment he met her.He moved like he already belonged next to her.Judson finally spoke. "This going to be a thing now? Fated mates falling out of the sky onto your porch?" Then he squinted. "Wait. No way. Dorian?"The other man stepped forward, arms crossed. "Judson."Judson huffed. "Damn, talk about the sky falling. Of course it's you."Gaia looked between them. "Wait. How do you know him?"Judson tilted his head toward Dorian but didn't look away. "Med school. He was top of the class. Never let anyone forget it. Ever."Dorian crossed his arms. "And you were always one sarcastic comment away from getting kic
DECLAN - "You're not gonna pout if I drink the last one, are you?"Judson didn't even glance over. "Only if you waste it."I reached for the bottle closest to him, smirking when he didn't try to stop me.Crickets chirped loudly in the trees. The house behind us had finally gone still. It was peaceful.A lazy row of empty beer bottles lined the railing like some halfhearted scoreboard. Judson leaned back again, one ankle hooked over the other, shoulders loose. That rare kind of settled that only happened when nothing needed to be said.We were both quiet. Not the kind of silence that needed filling, just the kind that held space. The kind that made it really easy to notice how much I liked having him here. Judson wasn't soft, but he didn't crowd either. There was something about the way he held space, like he understood exactly how not to mess it up. I hadn't realized how rare that was until I felt it.Until headlights swept across the tree line.Judson didn't move, but I straightened
DECLAN - I squinted. "So... you left your pack?"Judson shook his head. "Not really. My sister's mate stepped in. Human guy, believe it or not. Doctor. Weirdly chill. He helps now with the medical side, which freed me up to go to college and train properly. They all said it made sense. I guess... I just haven't thought much about what I was gonna do after."He paused, then shrugged. "Now I get it. I wasn't supposed to leave the South yet. I was supposed to be here. Meeting her. If I'd been back in North Carolina, this wouldn't have happened. Or it would've taken years."He looked out toward the trees. "So no. I didn't leave them. I just followed where I was needed next."I blinked. "You live on the Riverwalk."He grinned. "I know. Kind of perfect, right? It's loud on the weekends and peaceful at sunrise. Plus, amazing food within walking distance."I stared at him.He raised his bottle. "Look, I didn't plan to meet my mate while helping chart bloodwork samples in a borrowed lab, but
DECLAN -When we pulled into the driveway, Dad and Linc were already waiting.They didn't speak, but I felt something in the way they stood there. At the time, I'd figured they were just sizing up Judson, doing the protective dad routine. But now, after everything Judson had said, it clicked in a way that made my chest feel too tight.They already knew.Not just about Judson. About what he might be. About how important he was going to be. Just like they'd known about Mom. Just like they'd kept it all quiet. For me.I'd spent so long thinking I was figuring all of this out on my own. That the timing was random, or fate, or whatever the hell else. But maybe it wasn't. Maybe Cassy hadn't just guided me.Maybe my whole damn family had. Perhaps they'd been walking beside me the entire time, keeping quiet so I could come to it on my own.Judson wasn't the surprise.I was.They stood at the edge of the porch, arms crossed, matching unreadable expressions locked in place. The second we still,
I stepped forward and stifled the growl as best I could. "Hey. Get up. Now!"The guy startled awake. "What?"Tory shot up in the bed, wide-eyed. "Declan, no! No, wait! This is... this is Judson."She looked panicked. But not afraid. Not at all."He's... he's my..."I stopped. Everything shifted. I looked at her. Looked at him. Looked back."You're mate."She nodded.I took a breath. Held it. Then stepped forward and stuck out my hand. Judson stood, still looking like he expected me to deck him. He shook my hand. I shook his harder.Tory glanced between us, then spoke up. "He's a nurse practitioner here. Was walking past the ICU when I first came in. Caught my scent in the hallway and almost dropped his coffee."Judson rubbed his hand where I'd gripped it "I tried to play it cool. Avoided eye contact, walked the long way around, you know, the usual 'don't poke the angry fathers and big brother' protocol. I thought I was being slick about it too. Barely even looked at her. Just nodded a
We didn’t leave the woods.Not that day. Not that night. I didn’t want to, and neither did she.We ran until our legs trembled. We played, circling and snapping at each other’s heels, tackling and wrestling in the mossy patches of clearing. We swam again, slower this time, more tangled up in each other than anything else. We lay in the grass and the sun, curled together, drowsy and content.And then we shifted.Over and over.Human, wolf, back again. Each shift smoother than the last. No moon. No pain. Not really. Not like the pain I had braced for my entire life. Just choice. Pure choice and ability. The power that came with it was almost addictive. I always wondered what they meant when saying the power overtook the pain. It was raw. It was strong. I loved it.And I loved her.We didn’t talk much, not out loud. But we didn’t need to. We were in each other's heads and had no plans to leave. When we shifted back to skin, we couldn’t stop touching. Couldn’t stop reaching. It was like
It hit all at once.One second I was halfway to my knees, still trying to breathe through the pull of her shift. The next, my ribs cracked outward and my body folded. I didn't fall. I collapsed.The pain was nothing like the moon-forced change I'd endured before. This wasn't guided or timed. This was raw. A hundred fractures all at once, my limbs pulling and twisting, muscles screaming as they rearranged.I couldn't stop the sound that tore out of my throat."Cassy!"I didn't even know what I was asking. Just that I was begging. My mind reached for her. I was desperate and frantic.Her voice came, faint and steady."You're never selfish, so you would've never asked."Bones popped in my jaw. My fingers stretched, then broke, shifting in crooked bursts. I slammed my hand into the dirt and gritted my teeth against the next snap. My skin burned. My eyes blurred.Oh shit.Did she make me...Cassy... Did you do this?Another bone cracked somewhere deep in my back, cutting the thought in hal