Elara The girls lingered by the kitchen doorway, nervously twisting their hands. An awkward silence fell over the room, and Ella and Zoe glanced up at me with uncertainty written across their faces. “Mommy, I thought we were having chicken cutlets…” That word—Mommy—seemed to shift something in
Sarah’s eyes lingered on him for a moment before she glanced at me. “Yes,” she said, a trace of something unreadable in her voice. “She’s a dear.” I clenched the knife just a little tighter at that patronizing tone, but I smiled, letting it brush past me like it hadn’t bothered me at all. Alaric
Elara The cold nipped at the edges of the window as I fastened the buttons of my coat, tugging it tighter around my waist. Outside, winter was finally beginning to set in for the year, blanketing the grounds in a layer of frost that shimmered faintly in the pale afternoon light. I glanced at the
After all, as Sarah had said, they were her children too. What was wrong with me, then? Why did I find it so hard to see it that way? … By the time we returned to the estate later that evening, our bellies full of hot cocoa, dusk had settled over the grounds, and the house glowed softly beneat
Elara The nausea hit the second I opened my eyes the next morning. I barely made it to the bathroom in time, my hands gripping the edge of the toilet as I heaved and my hair sticking to the sweat that was gathering at the nape of my neck. This was the third morning in a row, and it was only a
Elara The dinner table was too quiet. A little too quiet, if I was being honest. I had become so used to Ella and Zoe’s incessant chatter that I never tired of it, and so when they were suddenly silent, it felt eerie. Ella was sitting to my left, swinging her legs underneath her chair. She was p
Sarah set down her spoon with a clatter and reached for her glass of wine. “Moonwolves have been extinct for centuries,” she said idly, swirling her wine around in her glass. “So we thought,” Alaric cut in. “But the powder has been tested thoroughly, and it does contain Moonwolf blood. Which means
Elara The test wasn’t here. I had searched the dresser, the bedside table, the floor beneath the bed, and even the laundry basket, but the pregnancy test was nowhere to be found. I pressed a hand against my stomach, trying to calm the anxious knot that was starting to twist there. It was fine.
The school was bustling when we arrived, the parking lot teeming with parents and kids, all hurrying toward the bright red doors at the front of the building. Alex’s grip on my hand tightened as we approached, his eyes wide as he took in the sea of unfamiliar faces.“It’s okay,” I whispered, crouchi
ElaraThe house was alive with the all-too-familiar chaos of a school morning. Somewhere down the hall, Ella was shouting at Zoe about taking too long in the bathroom, and Zoe’s shrill rebuttal wasn’t far behind. The smell of toast lingered in the air, mingling with the faint bite of fall that crept
ElaraThe air that night was quiet—quieter than it had been in weeks. The house had settled into the kind of stillness that only came with exhaustion, the last embers in the fireplace flickering softly behind the glass. Even the wind outside had gone still, barely rustling the edges of the curtains
ElaraThe lanterns flickered softly against the night sky, their warm glow swaying in time with the breeze that danced through the courtyard. Even from this distance, I could still hear the faint music from the reception, the low murmur of conversation punctuated by bursts of laughter.But out here,
ElaraThe music was soft and sweet, drifting lazily over the twinkling lights strung across the open-air pavilion. Everything felt golden—the warm glow of lanterns, the hum of conversation over glasses of bubbly champagne, the faint crackle of the bonfire flickering in the distance.But none of it c
“Thank you,” he murmured, his voice cracking ever so slightly. “Thank you for giving me this.”I ran my fingers through his hair, gently pushing it back from his forehead. “You don’t have to thank me for anything, Alaric. This baby… it’s part of both of us.”His hands remained on my stomach as he li
ElaraThe house felt different as we stepped inside, the soft click of the door behind us sealing out the world beyond. It wasn’t just the warmth that greeted me, or the faint glow of the early morning sun filtering through the windows—it was something deeper. A stillness. A kind of quiet I hadn’t r
I wanted to tell her she was wrong—that this wasn’t some grand destiny I had been walking toward all my life. But I couldn’t. Not when I had felt it myself. That surge of power that wasn’t entirely my own. The way it had shattered the chains and driven Sarah back like she was nothing more than air.
ElaraThe sunlight hit harder than I expected, even though it had only been hours since I’d been trapped in that cavern. I squinted against the sudden golden rays of the morning sun, blinking rapidly as my eyes adjusted. But the others—the moonwolves—weren’t as fortunate.They stumbled as they emerg