DECLAN - I startled awake, breath catching hard. My body tensed, expecting the usual flood of images, the heavy, sinking feeling that came every time I crawled out of sleep. But there was nothing. No nightmares. No flashes of Gaia. Just quiet.Suki was still curled up beside me, the blanket barely covering her. She had gotten too hot in the middle of the night and tossed her shirt somewhere across the room. I stared for a long moment, wondering if she did it to torture me. Maybe it was on purpose, a test of how much self-control I had left. I had spent two weeks fighting every urge, pulling back when I wanted to push forward. That was ending tonight.The second I recovered from the shift, I was taking care of this. I was done waiting. She was mine, and I was going to make sure she knew it. In every way I could. I was relieved she was still asleep. Still so peaceful. I probably talked in my sleep the entire week. I did that a lot as a kid. I still did when I was stressed. Dad used t
DECLAN - I tried to push past her, but she held her hands up. "You can't go inside. Not right now."I froze. "What do you mean we can't go in?""Something happened," she said. "No one's allowed inside."My stomach dropped. "What the hell happened?"She shook her head. "Linc, Lila, and Cast went to Linc's old apartment in the city to shift. If you want to go there, you can."Suki and I exchanged a look. That was too close to the city. Too close to people. I didn't know what this shift would be like, and I wasn't about to risk tearing through concrete walls because I lost control.I exhaled sharply, turning back to Selena. "No. That's not a good idea."She hesitated before speaking. "Go to the burned-down house."Every muscle in my body locked up. "You can't be serious."She didn't waver. "You need a place to shift. That's your option."My heart hammered against my ribs. "What happened here? Why can't I shift at the pack house?"She stayed silent.I stepped forward. "Selena—""Don't wo
DECLAN - Fire tore down my spine. It twisted through every limb. My bones cracked. They shifted under the surface. They broke apart and reformed in ways that weren't natural. A scream wrenched from my throat. It came out raw and ragged. My legs gave out. I fell forward. Suki caught me, arms wrapping around me, pulling me tight against her."Stay with me," she whispered.I wanted to. I wanted to hold onto her and never let go, but I couldn't. The pain grew worse. It tore through every inch of me. It turned me inside out. My hands clenched around her waist. My forehead pressed hard into her shoulder. Everything inside me screamed to stay close. To hold on. To let her keep me together. But the shift had other plans.Another wave of fire ripped through my body. It was stronger than before. My back arched. My fingers spasmed. A growl, deep, guttural, completely inhuman, tore from my throat."Suki..."She held on tighter. "I know. I know."I wanted to believe she did, but she couldn't. No
SUKI - Declan's wolf moved like nothing I had ever seen. I had spent countless moments wondering what he might look like. Would he carry his father's stark, shadowy appearance, or would the softer colors of his mother break through? He was a spitting image of Cast, so I was expecting him to be dark, tall, and strong. And a bit chaotic. The reality surprised me. His coat held the deep hue of Cast's fur, intense and powerful, but lighter shades wove through like lighter veins hidden beneath the darkness. He shimmered slightly as the faint light caught the streaks, giving him an otherworldly presence. He wasn't just a wolf. He was an embodiment of raw strength, each muscle carved for dominance, a predator poised at the peak of power. I was in awe.His eyes held me captive immediately. Those icy, striking blue eyes were the only thing truly familiar. They belonged to Declan. They had always belonged to him. Seeing him this way felt oddly comforting. He was beautiful, a creature perfe
DECLAN -I couldn't stop staring at the bruises. They darkened her arms, deep purple patches against her skin. More bruises ran along her ribs, circling her sides, marking every place I fought her, every spot I had thrashed to get free. Each mark told me exactly how much I'd lost control.Suki didn't move away despite everything. She lay still against me, her breathing steady, calm. She hadn't flinched once through it all. She hadn't complained or tried to escape. She'd just held me down for an hour, refusing to let me lose myself completely. And why?Because I panicked.Because I convinced myself something was broken when the truth was obvious. The moment we were marked, I would hear her, and she would hear me. It wasn't complicated. It wasn't something to fear. But panic had overtaken me anyway, and she'd paid the price.The ache spread through my knuckles. The truth hit me again and again. I'd hurt her because I couldn't keep my fears in check. Those bruises weren't just from the
DECLAN -My muscles burned with exhaustion, but urgency propelled me forward. I focused on the crunch of gravel and the bite of the night air, anything to keep my thoughts from spiraling. I was ready to mark her. I was so ready to be marked again. But the exhaustion was heavy. I needed a good shower and more sleep before that could happen. It needed to be special, not whatever could happen now. When we reached the front steps, I shoved the door open with what little strength I had left. Light flooded the hallway, stinging my eyes. Figures blurred in the brightness until I blinked hard and forced them into focus.Linc stood just inside. He looked drained, his face streaked with tears. I'd never seen him so openly wrecked. Cold spread through my limbs, replacing the heat still clinging to my skin.I stepped closer. "What happened?"He closed his eyes and looked away."What is it? Is it Gaia? Did something happen to her?" My voice cracked at her name. I didn't even notice Mom until her
DECLAN - I drove through the darkness at a reckless pace, focused on reaching the hospital. The truck felt cramped. I kept my focus on the road, refusing to glance at the passenger seat. Suki was silent and distant. I hated the silence. I hated knowing Roxy in the backseat refused to speak beyond a few mumbled phrases. The last thing these two usually were was quiet. I pressed harder on the gas. Trees blurred. The wind blasted through the cracked window. Everything had changed too fast. Our parents tap-danced around the truth, and that had only pissed me off. Rumors tangled with what I thought I knew. I couldn’t stop replaying it. Tory’s blood matched Dad, not Lincs.I checked the rearview. Roxy stared at nothing. Her eyes had always matched Dad's. If the twins belonged to Mom and Linc, why did Tory share traits with Dad? Our parents always claimed I was Dad's and the twins were Linc’s. Tory’s results blew that apart. I glanced at Suki. She sat locked in her thoughts. I wondered i
DECLAN - Footsteps approached behind us. I didn’t turn until Roxy shifted beside me. A doctor stepped around the corner, clipboard in hand. He paused when he saw us, scanning the three of us in that detached clinical way.“You can see her,” he said, directing it at Roxy. “But only you.”Roxy stepped forward immediately. I followed, but he lifted a hand to block me. “No. Not you. And not her either.” He looked at Suki. She didn’t argue. I did.“I’m her brother,” I snapped. “You don’t understand, our blood matches.”He didn’t flinch.“It doesn’t make sense, but it’s real. You need to test mine. It might help her.”He didn’t fully believe it, but he glanced toward the nurse behind him and muttered something under his breath. She nodded and turned back down the hall.“Fine. We’ll draw it.”The nurse came back and led Suki and me into a small waiting room. Cold chairs. No windows. Just the stale hum of old vents and the buzz of fluorescent lights. I sat. Suki stayed standing.“You haven’t
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