LOGINDAMON'S POV "Why?" The word barely rose above a whisper. It didn't sound like my voice. It sounded like it belonged to the frightened little boy I'd been twelve years ago. Mother flinched. Not visibly enough for anyone else to notice. I noticed. Her lips parted. Then closed again. "I'm sorry." "No." The word left me before I could stop it. "No." My voice was louder this time. Somehow, I found the will to go on. To speak. "That won't work." Silence. The fire crackled quietly behind me. Somewhere outside, water continued to trickle through the stream as though the world hadn't just turned itself inside out. "I'm sorry..." she tried again, her voice barely above a whisper. The female I'd met at the bottom of the ravine, with her fierce composure in the face of those creatures, and the female standing before me now felt like two entirely different people. I still couldn't wrap my head around any of it. Twelve years. Twelve entire years.
DAMON'S POV "Why?" The word barely rose above a whisper. It didn't sound like my voice. It sounded like it belonged to the frightened little boy I'd been twelve years ago. Mother flinched. Not visibly enough for anyone else to notice. I noticed. Her lips parted. Then closed again. "I'm sorry." "No." The word left me before I could stop it. "No." My voice was louder this time. Somehow, I found the will to go on. To speak. "That won't work." Silence. The fire crackled quietly behind me. Somewhere outside, water continued to trickle through the stream as though the world hadn't just turned itself inside out. "I'm sorry..." she tried again, her voice barely above a whisper. The female I'd met at the bottom of the ravine, with her fierce composure in the face of those creatures, and the female standing before me now felt like two entirely different people. I still couldn't wrap my head around any of it. Twelve years. Twelve entire years. I
DAMON'S POV "Why?" The word barely rose above a whisper. It didn't sound like my voice. It sounded like it belonged to the frightened little boy I'd been twelve years ago. Mother flinched. Not visibly enough for anyone else to notice. I noticed. Her lips parted. Then closed again. "I'm sorry." "No." The word left me before I could stop it. "No." My voice was louder this time. Somehow, I found the will to go on. To speak. "That won't work." Silence. The fire crackled quietly behind me. Somewhere outside, water continued to trickle through the stream as though the world hadn't just turned itself inside out. "I'm sorry..." she tried again, her voice barely above a whisper. The female I'd met at the bottom of the ravine, with her fierce composure in the face of those creatures, and the female standing before me now felt like two entirely different people. I still couldn't wrap my head around any of it. Twelve years. Twelve entire years. I laughed. It wasn't amuse
DAMON'S POV "Sorry," she said, as though the word alone could serve as an answer. As though it could explain twelve years. It took far too long for her apology to register. A constant ringing filled my ears, growing louder with every passing second until it drowned out almost everything else. My mind felt impossibly loud... And utterly hollow. I kept trying to form a thought. Something coherent. Something that might become words. Nothing came. The female standing before me looked like my mother. She sounded like my mother. Even the way she held herself tugged at memories I'd buried years ago. Yet every instinct insisted it was impossible. I'd watched them lower the coffin into the ground. I'd stood beside Rhoda while the council representative spoke of loss and sacrifice. I'd spent twelve years forcing myself to accept that I would never hear Mother's voice again. People did not simply come back from the dead. Instead, I remembered. I remembered the
MICHAELA'S POVI hadn't understood why Damon had stiffened at the sight of the sorceress.From everything he'd told me, she was the one who had saved him and Rhoda from the creatures in the Northern Wilds. She'd saved me too.I'd assumed he would look at her with gratitude.Perhaps even admiration.I'd been trying to figure out how to tell him that this female was the very same sorceress who had tried to kill me months ago. I had no idea how he would react to that revelation.Instead...When we both turned toward the voice and he saw her standing in the doorway, the warmth that had filled his eyes only moments ago vanished.It wasn't replaced by confusion.Or gratitude.Or even suspicion.It became something else entirely.Utter bewilderment.The kind that seemed to strip a person down to nothing.He looked as though he'd seen a ghost.No...Not a ghost.Someone he'd convinced himself he would never see again.His shoulders went rigid beneath an invisible weight.Instead of gratitude,
DAMON'S POV Soft sunlight filtered through a narrow opening high above, spilling into a hidden clearing tucked between towering walls of ancient stone. I stopped without meaning to. The place felt... Impossible. The nightmare we'd escaped seemed impossibly far away, as though the mountain itself had swallowed every trace of it and spit out something new. A narrow stream wound quietly through the clearing, its crystal-clear water slipping lazily around smooth stones polished by countless seasons. Moss climbed the surrounding cliffs in thick emerald patches, while stubborn vines draped themselves over ledges that had likely gone untouched for centuries. The air no longer smelled of blood or decay. Only wet stone, wood smoke and the fresh herbs drying somewhere nearby. Nestled against the cliff stood a small stone dwelling. Nothing grand. Nothing remarkable. Just a modest home built into the rock itself, as though the mountain had opened its arms and quietly sheltered it from
“I’ll go first.”I step in front of Damon, reaching past him to tear a strip of fabric for his bandage.He watches me like he’s bracing for impact.I pause for a moment, considering my questions.There are too many.They’ve been circling my mind ever since he returned from the Winter Pack.Ever sin
The next day, I go to see Mum and Talia. The moment I step into the room, Mum looks at me. And then she looks away. She doesn’t say a word. Not a greeting. Not a question. Nothing. I have been gone for almost a month and she still has absolutely nothing to say to me. The silence sett
“You,” I whisper, stunned. “Me,” she replies. She closes the door with deliberate care, the soft click of the latch sounding far louder than it should. Then she turns and takes slow, unhurried strides into the room as if she owns it. As if she has always owned it. In the full light, I see her
When our lips meet, every form of reasoning obliterates. My mind combust into electric sensations. He growls, taking control of the kiss. Mouth claiming mine with the urgency of a collapsing star. Heat pours between us, reckless and blinding. When my lips part, it isn't an invitation. It’s ine







