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My father called for another test the next morning. He wanted to understand the fragment’s reaction to Cesar under controlled conditions, the same way we had tested Elara’s fragment days before.I was not looking forward to it.We gathered in the small chamber again. My father, Julian, Cesar, and me. Elara had asked to be present too, claiming she wanted to understand the third fragment better, though I suspected she simply wanted to watch.Julian stood close to me the entire time, his hand resting on my lower back like he needed the contact to stay calm.“We will start slow,” my father said. “Cesar, take three steps toward Selina and stop.”Cesar nodded and crossed the room carefully. I felt the fragment stir as the distance closed, a low hum building in my chest. He stopped exactly three steps away, and the hum settled into something steady, almost comfortable.“How does that feel?” my father asked me.“Manageable,” I said. “Like background noise.”“Cesar?”“The same,” he said. “Qui
Julian led me away from the courtyard without speaking. We walked through the side corridor until we reached our room, and only then did he turn to face me.“What was that,” he said. His voice was tight, controlled in the way that meant he was working hard to keep it that way.“What was what?”“You and Cesar. Standing there. Talking like…” He stopped himself and exhaled hard. “Like there was something between you.”“Julian,you saw how the fragment reacted. We were only trying to understand it.”“That is not what I saw.” He paced to the window and back. “I saw the way he looked at you. I saw the way you looked back. Do not tell me that was just about the fragment.”I felt my own temper rise to meet his. “Are you accusing me of something?”“No.” He stopped pacing and faced me directly. “I am telling you how it felt to watch my mate stand close to a stranger and have something pass between you that I could not touch.”The words landed harder than I expected. I thought of Elara, of the we
The morning after the vision, the pack gates opened for a visitor.I was crossing the courtyard with Julian when Hector came striding toward us, a wide smile on his face I had not seen from him before.“My nephew is here,” he said. “Cesar. He has been traveling for two years. I did not expect him until next month.”Julian raised an eyebrow. “The wanderer finally comes home.”“He always did things on his own schedule,” Hector said, already turning to walk toward the gate. “Come. You should meet him.”I followed, the fragment inside me strangely still, like it was holding its breath.The gate opened and a man stepped through leading a tired horse. He was tall and handsome with dark hair pulled back and a travel cloak dusted with road dirt. He looked around the compound with the calm attention of someone used to walking into unfamiliar places.Then his eyes found me.The fragment inside my chest exploded.I gasped and grabbed Julian’s arm. Pain shot through my ribs, sharp and sudden, lik
Two days passed.Elara kept her distance. She still came to meals. She still trained in the yard. But she did not seek me out and she did not seek Julian out either. She moved through the pack like someone working something out in her head.I tried not to watch her too closely. It was hard.The fragment inside me stayed quiet most of the time. But every so often, usually at night, it stirred. Not painfully. Just a slow turning, like it was trying to remember something.On the third night it woke me up completely.I sat up in bed gasping. Julian woke instantly beside me, his hand already on my arm.“Selina. What is it?”“I do not know.” My chest felt tight. Not from pain. From pressure. Like the fragment was pushing against something from the inside. “It feels different tonight.”“Different how?”“Like it wants out.”Julian was already pulling on a shirt. “I am getting your father.”My father arrived within minutes, hair messy, eyes sharp despite the hour. He sat on the edge of the bed
I woke up before dawn.The fragment was still there. Sitting quiet inside me like a second heartbeat. Not painful. Not loud. Just present. Like a house guest who had moved in and was trying not to make noise.I lay still and listened to it.Julian’s arm was heavy across my waist. His breathing was slow and even. I did not want to wake him so I stayed still and thought about everything.Elara had agreed to the link. She had let me anchor her fragment. But she had also looked me in the eye and told me she had not stepped back. That she still wanted my mate.She did not pretend. I had to give her that.But it also meant last night changed nothing between us except the power arrangement. She was still my rival. Just a more stable one now.I slipped out from under Julian’s arm and went to the window. The sky was dark purple at the edges. The pack grounds were quiet below.My wolf stirred and nudged the fragment gently. Testing it. The fragment pushed back. Not hard. Just enough to say it w
My father stared at me for a long time.“That is either very smart,” he said, “or very dangerous.”“Can it work?” I asked.He picked up the old book and turned the pages slowly. His finger traced lines of old writing. The candle flickered between us as I waited.“There is something here,” he said finally. He turned the book toward me. The writing was faded but I could make out a few words. Bloodline direction. Shared source. Carrier to carrier.“What does it say?” I asked.“It says that when two carriers share the same bloodline, they can form a direct link,” he said. “Not through a mate bond, but through the bloodline itself. You would anchor her fragment and keep it from drifting.”“And the risk?”“If the link goes wrong the fragment could pull from you instead. It could drain your connection to the origin point. And weaken you from the inside.”“But if it works?”“If it works,” he said quietly, “Elara stays stable. Julian stays out of it. Your bond stays clean.”“Then we try it,” I
I had approximately thirty seconds to make a decision.Tell Patricia and risk Julian dying before anyone reaches the western ridge. Go alone and walk directly into whatever Rhoda had built out there. Neither option was good but one of them was way worse.I folded the note and put it in my pocket.T
“We have to warn him,” I said.“The trackers will reach him before anything happens,” Ethan said, but he was already moving back to the desk and spreading the patrol map flat. His voice carried the particular tone of someone saying something they wanted to be true rather than something they were ce
I waited exactly four minutes.Then I walked to the door and pushed it open.Julian was standing behind his desk, both hands flat on the surface, leaning forward. Ethan stood on the other side, arms loose at his sides. Neither of them was speaking when I walked in, which meant they had either just
Rhoda found me before breakfast.I was moving through the main corridor toward the east hall when she appeared from a side passage like she had been waiting there, which she probably had. She fell into step beside me smoothly, the way someone does when they want the interaction to look accidental t







