Dear Readers,
We’re closing in on 300 chapters and soaring past 300,000 words! I can’t believe how far we’ve come, and it’s all thanks to you. This story wouldn’t be what it is without your time, energy, and unfiltered reactions pushing me forward.
Now, I want to hear everything. Your thoughts, feelings, wild theories. Is the book dragging? Should it go on forever? Should the characters have made different choices? Regrets? Triumphs? What’s been in your head while you've been living in mine? (Too weird? Ehh, too late now.)
Spill it all, don't hold back.
Love y’all. - Eden
LILA - The bond roared in my mind, a chaotic storm of fear and fury radiating from Cast and Linc. Their emotions weren’t just lingering in the background, they were crashing into me with every heartbeat. I hadn’t figured out how to manage this part yet, how to separate their panic from my own. It was overwhelming and suffocating.Cast’s breaths grew louder and uneven. Linc kept his hand on his shoulder, not to calm him but to keep him from falling over the cliff. It wasn’t working. The anxiety between them was thick enough to choke on. I could feel their fear like it were my own. Not just fear for themselves but for me, for the twins, and for everything we thought was safe.They were unraveling, and through the bond, I felt myself unraveling too."Go upstairs," I declared.Neither of them moved. I sighed. "The guards will stay. They won’t let anything happen."Linc glanced at the guards. "You don’t take your eyes off her," he barked, pointing toward me. "If any of them try anything,
Hey again, wonderful readers!I can’t thank you enough for all the responses to my last note. The flood of comments here and on social media has been incredible. I seriously love hearing from you and interacting. It’s what keeps me writing and makes it so easy to let these characters come to life. You’re the heartbeat of this whole process, and that’s why I love including you in it.As Eileen pointed out, the original ending really focused on Cast’s redemption and the evolution of the trio’s relationship, and we are just tying up loose ends now. But because my brain never knows how to sit still, I’ve already come up with a ton of new stories and scenarios for these characters. The problem is, once they move into my head, they don’t like to leave, and I'm not good at evictions. Know what I mean? So here’s where I need your input. I could keep going with this story, but updates might slow down a bit (think 1-2 per week). I could also wrap this book up and start a new one to kick off the
LILA - Cast and Linc were still upstairs, their emotions tangled in the bond, striking against me in relentless waves. Cast's thoughts twisted and changed violently as he fought against the feelings they brought up. It was always this way when she was involved. The past she carved into him never really faded. Now, she was here, stirring it all up, knowing exactly what she was doing. He knew it too, but that didn't stop the memories from cutting deep.Linc held firm, taking the brunt of Cast's unrest, his own exhaustion creeping in with every second. Cast had allowed it, just enough to keep himself from breaking entirely. If he hadn't, he'd be in pieces by now. These two, always walking the edge of destruction. At least they were doing it together I guess. I climbed the stairs, each step dragging through the energy pressing against me. The door to our room stood slightly ajar. Inside, Cast paced, arms rigid at his sides, steps quick and sharp. Linc sat on the edge of the bed, his f
LILA - I didn't think. I moved. My feet barely touched the stairs as I flew down them.CeCe was pinned against the bars, her face pressed so hard into the metal that the skin along her cheekbone had split. Her swollen belly strained against the cold steel. Mrs. Roman had one hand twisted in her hair, the other reaching through the bars, nails sinking into her skin. The woman claiming to be my mother had her palm over CeCe's stomach, her entire body shaking."I can't tell, Elizabeth! I can't fucking tell!"Rage exploded inside me. I grabbed Mrs. Roman's wrist and wrenched her away. A sickening crack split through the air, her arm snapping like brittle wood. She didn't even have time to scream before her face smashed into the bars. Blood smeared against the metal as her body sagged against them.The other woman recoiled, stumbling back until her skull cracked against the stone wall. She dropped to the floor instantly.CeCe collapsed the second their grip on her was gone. She hit the st
CAST - The rage had been building, but when the guard slid into the room, eyes wild and frantic, everything inside me shattered. The walls couldn't contain it. Nothing could."I saw them!" he gasped. "Hundreds of them! They tore her apart!"Linc snapped to attention. "Who? What are you talking about?""The spirits! They ripped that woman downstairs to pieces! I was watching Lila, but... but..."That was all I needed to hear. Lila was downstairs. My whole body tensed, instincts snapping into place. I moved for the door, but something slammed against it, locking us in.Linc and I hit the door at the same time. It didn't budge. The guard scrambled back, pressing himself against the wall. The walls themselves seemed to pulse, the air thick and vibrating. We weren't alone up here. Whatever was keeping us from getting to Lila wanted us stuck.No. No. No.My skin burned, my muscles straining. I hit the door again. And again. The room groaned around us, the floor shifting beneath my feet. Th
CAST -Everything inside me stilled. No rage. No regret. No grief. Just stillness. Complete and utter stillness. The others expected me to fall apart, to crumble under what I had done. They thought killing her would break me, that it would shatter something vital. But as I stood over her lifeless body, watching the blood seep into the floor, all I felt was relief.CeCe and the baby were safe. The healers had stabilized them, and Lila had refused to leave their side. She was staying in the med bay with CeCe and Declan, who clung to her like he was afraid she would disappear. He had spent more time with her than anyone, his attachment to her undeniable. Lila didn't try to fight it. She sent Linc and me to our room with the twins, a silent order masked as a suggestion. She didn't trust either of us to be alone.We didn't argue. We should have been exhausted. I should have been curled up in on myself, wrecked by what I had done. But as Linc and I lay tangled in the sheets, the exhaustio
DECLAN - The steps outside the school had become my throne. I leaned back, elbows resting against the warm concrete, my shirt half-unbuttoned. I had the sleeves rolled up just enough to let the breeze graze my skin and spread my scent through the courtyard. The afternoon sunlight clung to the lingering humidity, but it didn't bother me. Nothing really did these days except the heat. I felt the power simmering beneath my skin. Everyone else did, too. It wasn't just the way I carried myself or the way I never had to say a word to get attention. It was more than that. My name, Declan Roman-Oxford, came with a legacy stitched into every syllable. Heir to both of Georgia's dominant packs, it wasn't a secret. Even if it were, the way people gravitated toward me made it impossible to hide. Girls never left me alone. Ever. Even a few of the guys seemed to struggle. They hovered now, clustered in a half-circle like moths drawn to a flame they couldn't resist. I didn't even need to look up
DECLAN - I slammed the truck door and stomped up to the porch. Gaia didn't even flinch. She just sat there, twirling her hair between her fingers like she had all the time in the world.Roxy and Tory climbed out of the truck behind me. They were already bickering before their feet even hit the ground."What is she doing here?" Roxy muttered under her breath, not that it mattered. Gaia could read lips."Probably here to annoy us, like always," Tory shot back.Gaia rolled her eyes, that smug grin spreading wider as she watched them. She signed, "Nice to see you too."Neither of them understood sign language. By choice. They'd both refused to learn it, which meant I was always stuck in the middle of their spats."She said it's nice to see you too," I grumbled, already regretting every life decision that led to this moment."Yeah well, the feeling's not mutual," Roxy snapped, glaring at Gaia.Gaia let out a soft, throaty laugh, the kind that didn't need to be loud to be obnoxious. She si
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