LOGINEloiseAfter breakfast, we took the kids to school.Elian ran toward his friends as if he’d been separated from them for a hundred-year war, not three days. Liora, on the other hand, clung to my skirt with that mix of shyness and emotional manipulation she’d inherited from no one, because I’d never been like that.“You’re terrible at lying,” Alondra said.I crouched down in front of my daughter.“Sweetheart, don’t you want to go inside?” I asked affectionately.“Not today.”“Why?” I asked with genuine curiosity.“My heart says no,” she replied simply.Elijah covered his mouth with his hand, and I pointed a finger at him without looking at him.“Don’t laugh,” I ordered.“I’m not laughing.”His aura was buzzing with laughter.Traitor, I thought irritably.“Your heart is going to have fun with the other kids,” I told Liora.She frowned.“My heart wants sweet bread,” she said without hesitation.“Your heart is very clear,” Elijah said.“Elijah,” I warned sternly.Finally, Liora agreed to
EloiseReturning to Blood Moon after Emmett’s ceremony felt strange.Not because I didn’t want to go back.Blood Moon was my home, even though it took years for a part of me to say that without feeling guilty. It was the place where I’d learned to sleep without a knife under my pillow. It was the pack that looked at me with suspicion at first and then gave me flowers, warm bread, trust, and a crown unlike any other. It was the home where my children were born, where Elijah loved me with a patience that sometimes still seemed impossible to me, and where Isa believed she had a divine right to enter my kitchen, my bedroom, and my emotional life without asking permission.However, after seeing Emmett take command of Steel Fangs, returning to our home in the mountains felt different.As if a door that had been open for years could finally be closed without feeling like abandonment.That’s maturity, Alondra said with suspicious solemnity.Since when do you talk about maturity?Since we’ve h
ElijahEmmett’s ceremony ended with such a profound sense of peace that it left me feeling suspicious.We had fought wars; we had seen gods walk upon our lands; we had buried friends, enemies, and pieces of ourselves. We had rebuilt two packs that, at different times, had been on the brink of becoming ruins with pretty names. We had children, trade routes, signed treaties, festivals that were no longer canceled due to threats, and a bed that, despite two small children with a predatory instinct to invade it at dawn, remained the safest place in my world.Even so, when Steelfang fell to his knees before Emmett and called him Alpha, an old part of me braced for the blow.There’s no blow. There’s a boy who survived and is now a man. Breathe, idiot, said my beast.He was right.I looked at Emmett on the dais and didn’t see Marcus Everard’s heir.I saw the boy Eloise carried on her back during an impossible escape. I saw the teenager who would fall asleep over border treaties in my library
EloiseThe party that followed was massive.Steel Fangs celebrated like a pack that had decided not to ask permission to be happy. There was music, endless tables, traditional dances, games for the kids, and speeches that Emmett tried unsuccessfully to avoid.Isa cried at least five times while watching my brother enjoy himself.Nalia pretended she didn’t cry at all, even though Vladimir wiped away a tear for her and she threatened to send him into the sun. He reminded her that the sun no longer killed him thanks to Grace’s magical agreements, and she said she’d find another way.Elian climbed onto a table to declare that his uncle was “a real Alpha, not just a practice one.”Liora handed out flowers to random people with the solemnity of a tiny priestess.At sunset, Elijah and I stepped away for a moment into the garden of the old family home.The house no longer hurt the same way, and a feeling of peace completely washed over me.The place had been restored, not as a museum of my ch
EloiseYears later…Emmett hated ceremonial robes.That was the first thing he said the morning he was to officially become the Alpha of Steel Fangs.He didn’t say he was nervous or that he wasn’t ready; he just got caught up in the robes while ignoring the fact that he wished our father were there with him. That’s how I knew he was just trying to hide his nerves.And I smiled because Emmett wasn’t the same boy he used to be.He had become an adult—tall, handsome, with our mother’s green eyes and our father’s proud bearing. Everything about him screamed authority, and I held back my mockery as he stood in front of a mirror with an expression of utter indignation while Hann tried to adjust the steel clasp on his shoulder.“This is too heavy,” Emmett said.Hann, with more gray hair than years ago and a patience forged in the
EloiseIt turned out to be a false alarm, but hours later, the next day, Elian was born, and the ancient forest blossomed.It wasn’t just a poetic way of putting it—it truly blossomed.I woke up before dawn with a deep pain, unlike anything I’d ever felt. For a few seconds, I lay still, confused, with one hand on my belly. Then another contraction came, stronger, and I understood what it meant.“Elijah,” I said hurriedly.My mate woke up immediately.He didn’t open his eyes slowly or ask what was happening; he was simply awake, alert, with Gref under his skin.“Is it the baby?” he asked right away.“Yes,” I said in a hoarse voice.His face changed.Panic, joy, terror, and devotion played across his face in a matter of seconds. Then, an extraordinary mix of it all.“Elijah,” I said with da
EloiseEmmett still hadn't woken up.And part of me was really scared that something was wrong with him. I had no idea what Hall had done or how much damage he really wanted to cause; the reality was more heartbreaking than I could admit, but I still controlled myself as best I could.The door rang
ElijahI always thought I would never meet my soulmate.Ever since the dark forest cast that evil spell that changed my life completely, I had resigned myself to not looking for her and living a life without love. Dreaming of the woman of my life was an unattainable ideal, yet she came to me in the
EloiseMy head felt like it was going to explode.An unbearable pain woke me abruptly from my sleep, and I cursed under my breath in pain. I didn't know what was happening; I just wanted to keep sleeping, to have calm and peace. I sat up in bed and took deep breaths until I realized that the textur
EloiseI didn't know how, but I ran with my eleven-year-old brother on my back.I covered us with the robe and ran to the meeting point, just as Claris had instructed. I did it without hesitation, without fear, only with the cold determination to do it to save our lives.The fear had vanished in th







