LOGINAva's pov
My mother is fighting for her life with an unknown disease and all you care about is tossing your granddaughter into the hands of another man who will treat me like trash and dump me.” The memory of my mother getting beaten up by my father rushed into my head and more tears rolled down my eyes. “She's in coma today because you refused to save her!” I screamed. “You were supposed to be her mother, her confidant but you pushed her away….” My voice broke as more tears streamed down my face. “You pushed her away….” My voice finally broke. My grandmother was fuming and boiling over with rage and in our home, that meant I was in deep trouble. “I hate….” Before I could complete my words, I felt a sharp sting tear across my face. The feel of my grandmother's hand on my face forced more tears out of my eyes. “How dare you?” She whispered, boiling with anger. My heart sank deep into my stomach. Tears dropped from face like a downpour and I bit my lips to hold back the tears but I failed. All this while I tried keeping my face away from the family, burying myself in the only science lab in the pack just to find a cure for my mother's disease. The unknown disease caused by years and years of suffering and enduring abuse from my father and the other men she married after separating from him. “Fine. If you won't let me be then I guess I have no choice than to leave this house for you. You can disown me, do whatever, I don't care but I'll rather die than attend that stupid party!” I spat angrily with more tears rushing from my eyes. Grandma Ava pursed her lips for a second then all of a sudden, she broke out laughing. Dark, hollow and terrifying. The sound of her laughter since shivers run down my spine. “You want to run?” She started, staring into my eyes. “Run if you can. Go on, run! Go start your life somewhere in some stupid unknown pack where we won't be able to find you. But if you're going to spend another minute under my roof, in my home, you're going to do anything I tell you to and that is final!” That was it. My entire family sat there, watching the woman who ought to be concerned for her daughter's life in the hospital, fight her grandmother over some stupid mating ceremony. Yet none of them said a word. None of them stood up for me….or my mother. I shook my head, finally getting the memo. I ran my eyes through the room for the last time, making sure to land my eyes on every single one of them. “I regret being a member of this family and I hate all of you. I hate you!” I spat with venom and stormed out of the room, tears flying out of my eyes. As I ran out into the hallway with blinding tears, I caught my uncles and aunts yelling my name. “Ava! Ava!!” They screamed but I didn't stop. My heart thumped hard against my chest as I ran into my room and slammed the door behind me. The minute I got in, my legs crumbled and crashed beneath me. I fell to my knees and broke out in the most heart wrenching tests of my life. “Arghhh!!!” I screamed as grandma Ava’s words rang in my head over and over again. My heart tore over and over as I thought about everything. Tears kept rushing out of my eyes until the sound of my phone ringing broke in. At first, I ignored the call and kept wallowing in my tears until the calls became too hard to ignore and I was forced to answer it. “Hello. Ava speaking.” I forced words out of my mouth. “Good evening, Miss Ava. I'm Lydia, calling fton the hospital. I just wanted to tell you that our doctor came in and reviewed your mother today and I'm afraid her health has gotten worse.” “What?” I spat out in shock. “I’m afraid she only has a limited time to live now. We can't keep her alive anymore, I'm sorry.” “Hold on….what are you talking about?” I rushed out, fear gripping my heart. “What do you mean she has a limited time to live? The last time the doctor told me….” The lady cut me off. “We were ordered to take her off life support. You might want to come in and spend your final moments with her.” With that, the call beeped and ended. “You have to go back home, Ava.” My subconscious whispered. My hands trembled, more tears rolled down my eyes, I stared at the dead phone in my hands and more tears just fell. She was fine when I visited her the day before, what could have happened in just one day? Did someone mess with her treatment? Her vitals were quite stable the last time, why would the doctor suddenly order them to take her off life support? I didn't know what to think or what not to think. My head became a beehive as different thoughts buzzed in my head. However, I knew I had to go back to my grandparents. I hated having to go back to the same people who mocked my mother for help….but I had no choice. “Ugh! Why me?! Why me?!” I cried out loud, tears falling from my eyes. My voice rang out in the forest followed by the sounds of birds flying away. The hospital's call rang in my head and the more I thought about it, the more I fell into confusion. Yet, I had to go home to the same people who put her there in the first place. “No, there has to be another way.” I whispered to myself, pacing around the forest. I tried coming up with a way to help my mother without going back to my grandparents but for the next twenty minutes, nothing came up. That was when it dawned on me. My mother and I were trapped with my evil grandparents and now, her life was in their hands. Seeing how I had no other choice, I decided to swallow my pride and return home. However, the walk of shame back home had me biting my lips to hold back my tears. My tears reminded me of how desperate I was to leave my grandparents, how desperate I was to have a life of my own doing the things I loved. “Why me?! Why me?!” I cried under my breath. Soon, I found myself back at home and the minute I got to the door, I sucked in my breath. “This is going to be a long one, Ava.” I muttered, bracing myself for the hell I was about to go through. I clicked the door knob open and there she was, waiting for me with a smirk on her face. “I see you've decided to return home. I wonder why that is.” My grandmother snickered with an evil smirk on her face.AvaDawn slowly settled across Valley Creek.The mountain was covered in snow, and it seemed to be a peaceful night. The storm was over by sunrise. A breezy wind was blowing through the trees.The room was very quiet.Nearly everyone had returned to work or to bed for a good sleep.The entire world seemed silent for the first time after the beginning of labor.I sat by the window while Sena was sleeping in my arms.She was snuggled tightly into a warm blanket, her little face on my chest. She made little noises from time to time and fell silent once more.I just couldn't stop looking at her.I had been dreaming of this day for months.I had thought about holding her.Seeing her.Hearing her cry.None of my thoughts had gotten me ready for how real she was.She was not a probability anymore.She wasn't a future I was looking forward to.She was here.My daughter.I brushed my finger across hers, whose hand was so small.Her fingers gripped mine while I slept.I had a smile before I kne
MilracThere was still snow falling outside the medical wing.The storm was now settling down.Gentler.Although the wind was blowing through the mountain, the world seemed different.Smaller.Softer.As though all the world outside this room had withdrawn from reality for a while.The healers were invited in, but they quietly came in and out.Their work was finished.They spoke quietly before they all went away.There was silence for the first time in hours.Real silence.I sat by Ava's bed with our daughter in my arms.I had held weapons.Led armies.Ruled a clan.Confronted opponents who were as old as many kingdoms.With all of that, none had prepared me for this.She was ridiculously tiny.She placed one of her little hands on my finger.Her fingers couldn't even fit around it.But somehow she managed to cling on with great strength.I stared at her for as long as I could stand it.Perhaps it was just a few minutes.Time was not making any sense any longer.Ava's quiet amusement
AvaTime didn't matter any more.Breaths were now contractions.The storm was still raging somewhere outside the walls of the medical wing, but I barely heard it now.Everything had narrowed.The room.The voices.The constant hands of the healers.The loving hug, warmth and kind feelings that had been all around our child for months.All things were contained in one single moment that never ended.I breathed slowly.Then again.A quiet voice came near to me.I could hear the voice but not the words.The bond came before my ears.Milrac.He was still by my side.He had never left.Not once.He had been exactly where I needed him from the beginning of labor until this day.Occasionally, holding hands.Occasionally brushing hair off of my face.At times, simply remaining silent.More than words could, the silence did.As another contraction arrived, I tightened my grip on his hand.It was more powerful than the previous one.My whole body was intent on one thing.One purpose.I closed m
AvaIt was now late winter, and it had fully settled over Valley Creek.The night was cold and still, with snow drifting softly over the mountain. The silence that was typical and would have been considered rest. Stability. Peace.I was reading inside the medical wing.Or at least I was trying to.I found reports on the table in front of me. Routine updates. Clinic follow-ups. Minor changes to dosage charts. Nothing urgent. Nothing unusual.Then it happened.It was no big deal.It was not sudden.Initially it wasn't painful at all.It was just a matter of certainty.And my hand hovered over the pages of the report I was reading.Suddenly, I couldn't breathe anymore.Then I knew.Labor had started.I sat very still.I didn't move for a second.Not because I was afraid,My mind was getting used to the changes.As always, my researcher instincts came first.I didn't record the time like I would have loved to.But I went ahead and registered that feeling.Noted the rhythm.Observed the sh
MilracThe night was more quiet at the archive.Not silent.This archive was never silent again.Someone was working at all times.There was someone all the time doing research.There was always a new thing to find out.However, once night fell, there was a change of sound.The constant motion reduced.Conversations became quieter.There were fewer and fewer footsteps.The mountain was breathing more slowly.I came in to the conference room just after sunset.There were papers all over the large table in the middle.It wasn't surprising.Petra had been on the scene.Every time Petra was fascinated by something, paper multiplied. She never got tired of working on something she finds fascinating until she gets to the end of it.Kael somehow made the situation worse.They had created hazards in various parts of the archive together.I stepped inside.Ava was already in the area.And so were Petra, Kael, Vessa, and Eryn.There were piles of the papers around them.One wall was taken up wi
The following morning was as normal.It began in a normal way at least.Half way through the day, the archive was in shambles.I knew it would happen some day.When Petra felt the warmth firsthand, it was inevitable.It was a very busy morning in the archive.Records were transported from shelf to shelf by the researchers.Couriers came in from various territories with new submissions.There was a discussion going on about classification procedures near the records section to the west.Everything felt ordinary.I was going over papers for the clinic when Petra suddenly walked up to me and stood next to my table.That occurred frequently, and I hardly looked up any more."Question."I sighed."Good morning, Petra."Almost noon."Still counts."She ignored that.Also normal.“Did you notice strange activity on the network lately?”I knew right away something was suspicious.Very suspicious.I lowered my pen."What sort of strange behavior?"Petra stared at me.Then narrowed her eyes,Th
Ava's povWe left at first light with four guards and no banner.Milrac's idea. No banner meant no announcement, no ceremony, no signal to my grandmother or the coalition that we were moving. Just two people and a small escort walking into the trees like they had somewhere ordinary to be.Nobody wa
Milrac's povWe kept the young wolf in the stable until he told us everything he knew, which wasn't much and was probably true precisely because of that.His name was Fen. Nineteen years old. No pack affiliation. My grandmother had found him at the eastern gate offering food and coin for a simple e
Milrac's povThe gathering took less than an hour.We told them everything. Soren and Mira. The Council's game. What the full moon would demand. When we finished, nobody left.Calla spoke first. "We hold our own minds. Feel you both, but stay ourselves.""Exactly," Ava said.A young wolf near the b
Milrac's povThe book in Ava's hands was older than the mansion. Older, possibly, than the pack itself.I watched her read, the bond carrying the exact moment each passage landed in her, a flicker of recognition, then the sharp tightening that meant something had frightened her and she had decided







