登入Hannah's POV The vision began with a heartbeat. Not mine. Someone else's. Slow. Ancient. Powerful. It echoed through my head once. Twice. Then the world disappeared. --- At first there was only darkness. The kind that existed before the first sunrise. Before kingdoms. Before wolves. Before vampires. Before history remembered itself. Then Light. A valley stretched before me, untouched by civilization. Mountains pierced the clouds in the distance while an enormous silver lake reflected the moon overhead. Except... There were two moons. One white. One crimson. A shiver raced down my spine. This wasn't a dream. This wasn't the future. This had already happened. Somehow... I was watching the past. People emerged from the forest. Not ordinary people. The first thing I noticed was the silence. No conversations. No laughter. Only purpose. On one side stood wolves. Dozens of them. Massive. Powerful. They shifte
Atreus POV The summons arrived before sunrise. Most people imagined vampire politics as dramatic declarations delivered by cloaked messengers. Reality was considerably less theatrical. A single black envelope rested on the desk in my study when I woke. No servant had seen who placed it there. No guards had sensed anyone entering the estate. The crimson seal pressed into the wax bore only one symbol. A sun encircled by thirteen stars. The Council of Daywalkers. There were only two reasons the elders convened the full council. War. Or prophecy. I broke the seal. A single line had been written in elegant handwriting. The council gathers at first light. Attendance is required. No signature. There didn't need to be one. --- The council chamber lay beneath one of the oldest buildings in Los Angeles. From the outside, it appeared to be nothing more than an abandoned cathedral swallowed by time. Inside, it was another matter entirely. Ancient ston
Hannah's POV Anger was exhausting. I'd always imagined it would feel powerful. Instead, it felt heavy. Like carrying a backpack filled with rocks everywhere I went. The worst part wasn't even the anger itself. It was how much energy it took to stay angry at someone I still loved. Every morning I woke up determined to hate Atreus a little more. Every night I went to bed remembering something that made hating him impossible. The way he'd laughed when Anton accused him of being suspicious simply because he never blinked enough. The patient way he'd explained vampire history because I'd been genuinely curious. The afternoon we'd spent at the beach, arguing over whether seagulls were evil. His terrible sense of humor. The quiet smile he'd always worn whenever I started rambling about books. Those memories refused to disappear. I hated them. Mostly because they made me smile. And smiling felt dangerously close to forgiving him. I wasn't ready for that.
Atreus POV I called Hannah six times. She answered none of them. The first time, I told myself she needed space. The second, I reminded myself she had every right to ignore me. By the sixth call, I stopped trying to justify it. She wasn't ready to speak to me. Maybe she never would be. The thought sat heavily in my chest as I lowered the phone and stared out through the floor-to-ceiling windows of my office. Morning sunlight poured into the room, bathing the city below in warm gold. Normally, I enjoyed mornings. Daywalkers always did. It reminded us that we were different from the rest of our kind. Today, I barely noticed it. The text I sent to her was on delivered. I had sent only one text. I'm sorry. Nothing more. No explanations. No excuses. Nothing that demanded a response. She'd read it an hour ago. She hadn't answered. I deserved that. A knock interrupted my thoughts. "Come in." The office door opened. Tyler stepped inside.
Hannah's POV If there was one thing I had learned over the past three years, it was that pretending was easier than feeling. Pretend I wasn't homesick. Pretend I didn't miss my family. Pretend Damon's death hadn't left behind questions I could never answer. Pretend I was fine. Eventually, if I pretended long enough, I almost believed it. So naturally, I tried the same thing with Atreus. It lasted exactly one morning. I woke before sunrise after spending most of the night staring at my bedroom ceiling. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw him. The way he'd smiled after kissing me. The warmth of his hand against my cheek. Then the look on his face when the vampire elder had asked the question. Does she know she's your soulmate? I groaned and buried my face beneath my pillow. "I hate you," I muttered. Unfortunately, my heart didn't seem to agree. A knock sounded on my bedroom door. "Hannah?" Anton. "I'm alive." "Good." "You've been in there for
Devon's POV I had always hated being compared to my brother. Not because Damon was a bad person. Not because I disliked him. The problem was simpler than that. People looked at twins and assumed they were identical. They weren't. Not really. Not where it mattered. Damon was fire. Impulse. Movement. The kind of person who made decisions first and worried about consequences later. I preferred certainty. Facts. Patience. I liked understanding a situation before stepping into it. Damon liked kicking the door open and figuring things out afterward. It had driven our mother insane. Our father too. Me? I had learned a long time ago that trying to keep up with Damon was pointless. He wasn't meant to be followed. He was a storm. Storms went where they wanted. That was why we eventually drifted apart. Not because we hated each other. Because we lived different lives. When Damon left the Blackwater territory years ago, nobody was particular
Cora's POV I wake slowly. The first thing I notice is the light. Gentle, golden, spilling through the windows of the room. My body feels heavy, still aching from the fight, but the worst of the pain has dulled. My muscles tremble as I shift slightly, testing each limb. Then I notice her. Sitti
Cora's POV I wake slowly. The forest is quiet, the kind of quiet that feels earned rather than empty. For a long moment, I stay still, afraid that if I move, everything will come crashing back at once. Pain is there—but muted. I sit up with a hiss, muscles trembling under the effort. My body f
Cora's POV: Morning comes quietly in the forest. No bells. No voices. No pack calling me home. I wake curled against the base of a massive oak, leaves pressed into my cheek, the earth cold beneath my spine. For one terrifying second, I forget where I am—then the ache in my chest reminds me. Th
Eric's POV Morning patrols are supposed to be routine. That’s what I tell myself as Anton and I move along the eastern border, the early sun filtering through the trees in pale gold streaks. But routine doesn’t mean safe—not anymore. Rogues have been getting bolder, pushing closer to pack land,







