LOGINAtreus 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
Anton's POV I had no idea what to say. For once in my life, I genuinely had no idea. The park was quiet around us. Streetlights cast long shadows across empty pathways, and somewhere in the distance, traffic hummed through the city like a constant heartbeat. Beside me, Hannah stared at the ground. Her eyes were red. Her shoulders slumped. She looked exhausted. The kind of exhausted that sleep couldn't fix. I had seen Hannah survive things that would have broken most people. I'd watched her leave everything she'd ever known behind. I'd watched her carry grief she barely understood. I'd watched her adapt to a completely different life without complaining once. But tonight felt different. Tonight she looked lost. And that made me worried. For several minutes, neither of us spoke. I didn't rush her. There wasn't any point. When Hannah wanted to talk, she would. When she didn't, trying to force it only made things worse. Eventually she took a s
Cora's POV The sunlight barely pierced the horizon when I woke, my chest tight, pulse racing. My heart thudded erratically, as though it had been running for hours. Sweat clung to my hair, and I couldn’t shake the vivid fragments of the dream. I was small, barely more than a child, running thro
Eric POV The call comes just after dawn. I’m already awake when my phone vibrates on the bedside table, the low buzz cutting through the quiet like a warning. My wolf lifts its head immediately, alert, instincts sharpening before my mind fully catches up. Anton’s name flashes across the scree
Cora's POV The world didn’t stop ringing after the fight. It faded slowly, like sound sinking underwater, clashing metal, snarls, screams, the crack of bones dissolving into a distant hum. By the time the fires were put out and the wounded were being tended to, exhaustion settled into my bones
Cora's POV The pack doesn’t sleep that night. Lincoln territory hums with restless energy, warriors moving between buildings, patrols doubling, weapons being sharpened under torchlight. The scent of fear and adrenaline hangs heavy in the air, mingling with ash and iron. War is coming. And







