MasukAurora's POVI rolled onto my back. Then my side. Then my stomach, burying my face in the pillow, breathing in the smell of lavender and loneliness.The charm Lucas had given me sat on the nightstand, catching moonlight. I didn't touch it. I couldn't.I rolled again. After tossing and turning for almost an hour, I reached for my phone.It was almost midnight. Priya would be awake … she was always awake, scrolling through something, laughing at something, living a life I had slipped out of without meaning to.My thumb hovered over her name. Then I pressed the call button.It rang twice. Three times. I was about to hang up, about to bury the phone under my pillow and pretend I hadn't tried …"Bitch." Priya's voice was sharp and angry. "Where the fuck have you been?"I flinched. "I … I've been here. I'm sorry. I didn't call. I know you'll hate me now.""Of course I do." She laughed, but it was a sad laugh. "How could you forget me like that? How could you?"The words landed like arrows
Aurora's POVI could hear my footsteps on the pavement as I ran; the sound was loud and too desperate. Tears slipped down my face; I couldn’t hold it back any longer. What the fuck did I say? I didn't mean it like that. I didn't mean any of it.But the look of disappointment on their faces kept playing in my head on loop.I ran upstairs, slammed my door, and locked it. I curled myself on the bed and cried into my pillow until the fabric was soaked and my throat was raw.Why couldn't they just understand?I checked my phone to see if any of them had tried to reach me or even sent a text, but they didn’t. I knew they wouldn't come, but I kept checking anyway, the screen lighting up my dark room every few minutes, my hope dying a little more each time.You messed up, my wolf said.How the fuck was I the one who messed up when they can't understand me?You are letting this blind you, she insisted. We have to be level-headed.Shut up. I pushed her deeper inside me, so far that I could ba
Lucielle's POVMate. Mate. Mate. I pressed my forehead against the cool window glass and begged my wolf to stop.Please. Just stop. You know we aren't capable of keeping a mate. My parents had hidden me for nineteen years, and my entire pack was wiped out in days when someone found out I was a healer. America was different, my wolf whispered. Shadowpine was strong. Aurora had been protected for weeks; unlike in our small park, we didn’t have any way to protect ourselves. It was hard to imagine the same thing happening here.But I knew better. I knew that strength was an illusion. That walls could be climbed, guards could be bought, and the only true safety was invisibility. I had buried myself alive to survive, and now my wolf was trying to dig me out for a man I barely even knew.I can't, I told her. Accepting this bond would expose me. I'm not ready to face that. I'm not ready to die."Lucielle." I jerked upright. Aurora was leaning across the aisle, her silver eyes worried, her h
Aurora's POVI woke up and stretched, my spine cracking in three places, my wolf still curled up and sulking from yesterday's breakdown. The light through the curtains was too bright. I rolled out of bed and padded to the bathroom. Brushed my teeth. Splashed water on my face. The girl in the mirror looked tired; my silver hair was tangled, my eyes still puffy from crying. I made a face at her. She made one back.Then I walked to the wardrobe. I stood there for a long minute, staring at my clothes. The oversized sweaters. The soft leggings. The simple dresses I had brought from Vancouver, the ones that said Don't look at me, I'm nobody special. They hung there like a wardrobe of apologies.I pulled out a grey sweater and held it up. No.I threw it on the floor.A blue dress. No. A pair of worn jeans. No, no no. I was pulling things out faster now, the pile growing at my feet, my breath coming shorter. Everything looked too plain. Like the old Aurora, the weak one, the girl who let
Lucielle's POVMy heart clenched with worry as I watched Aurora run.She moved like something hunted … pale hair flying, green sweater swallowed by the crowd, her silver eyes wide and wild. The door slammed behind her, and the sound echoed in my chest like a stone dropped down a well.I wanted to follow her. I wanted to stand up and push through the staring bodies and find her, hold her hand, tell her it would be okay even though I knew it wouldn't. But my feet stayed glued to the floor. My hands stayed wrapped around my bag strap, white-knuckled and trembling.Running will bring attention to me. I couldn’t risk that. I had to force myself to remember that being seen was what killed people like me.The hall emptied slowly. The councilman's voice had stopped, but his words hung in the air like smoke … protected at all costs, rare and special, keep your distance. I watched the students file out; I could smell their jealousy from a mile away.Behind me, two boys whispered, their eyes
Aurora’s POVThe professor dismissed us with a wave of his hand, but before anyone could stand, he added, "Everyone proceed to the main hall. There will be an address."The room erupted in murmurs. "What's happening?" I asked, pulling the green sweater tighter around me.Jenny shrugged, but her movements were sharper than usual, her jaw tight. "Dunno. It’s a council thing, probably."We filed out with the crowd, Lucielle trailing behind us like a shadow. By the time we reached the main hall, my heart was already beating too fast.The space was enormous, filled with tiered seating, a raised stage, windows that let in pale afternoon light. We found seats near the middle, and I tried to ignore the gap that opened around us …two empty chairs to our left, three to our right, like we were surrounded by an invisible wall no one wanted to cross."Sit with us," Jenny said to Lucielle, patting the chair beside her. Lucielle slid in, her bangs falling forward to hide her face.Then the side d
Aurora’s POV“I am fine, Lucas.”I forced a smile onto my face and pushed his hand gently away from my cheek. “Really. I am not crying anymore.”And the strange thing was, I wasn’t.My face was still wet from before, but the tears had stopped now that the worst of it had passed, all I felt undernea
Logan’s POV I didn’t even realize when my wolf had pushed his way to the surface.His eyes were mine now, gold and burning, the line between us so thin I could barely tell where he ended and I began anymore. I let out a growl low in my chest, and the sound of it dropped the whole hallway into sil
Logan’s POVI found my father in his study, going over the patrol reports like he did every morning.He looked up when I walked in, and something flickered across his face. Surprise, maybe. It had been a long time since I came to talk to him about anything that wasn’t pack business.“Well.” He set
Logan's POVI had spent twenty-three years building control, discipline, duty, and dominance. Then a silver-eyed wolf walked into my house and destroyed everything.I paced my room like a caged animal, my wolf raging inside me with a violence I had never experienced. Claim her. Mate. OURS. The wor







