Bastien’s POVIt still feels strange to sit at my father’s desk.When I first took over as Alpha I continued using my personal study for pack business, but after a few months Donavon suggested I transition to the official executive office. I reluctantly agreed, and though I’m now used to sitting in Dad’s chair, I know I will never truly fill his shoes.Taking care of the pack is the only thing keeping me going now.It took a long time for me to find my way as a leader: sabotaged by forces beyond my control and mourning the loss of my mate, only the danger posed to my pack kept my head above water. Over time doing whatever was required to protect the pack evolved into true governance, and one day I woke up and realized I was no longer merely going through the motions.In some ways this was my enemy’s biggest mistake. If they hadn’t continued trying to destroy my family’s legacy and weaken the Novas, I probably would have given up. Instead they gave me a reason to fight.Not a day goes

Third POV A decade of planning, three and a half years of hard work, and it might all be undone by a fucking tip line.  I’ve gotten lax, lazy and discouraged by my plans’ low yields. Somehow I missed the developments in the Calypso pack, the search for Volana wolves that could return Selene to Bastien’s orbit.  In some ways it was inevitable. Bastien was bound to visit Eros lands one day, but I always imagined I’d have time to prepare, time to obscure Selene’s presence in Asphodel and erase her scent. I would have been able to hide her, if I’d only had the time. Granted, it’s not as if things were going off without a hitch before. In fact, Bastien has proved to be imminently more resilient than I predicted. Rather than crumpling under grief and the crushing pressure of leadership, he’s persevered, growing even str

Selene’s POV   By now they’ll have found the apartment.   By now Bastien will know about Lila.   Will he know she’s his? Will he recognize his own scent, like a bonfire in the nighttime forest, blended with my own through the apartment? Will Drake be safe at my mate’s mercy now the truth is out?   I glance at my daughter in the rearview mirror, counting down the minutes until we finally reach the safehouse. She’s cozy in her carseat, playing with the cloth doll I gifted her at the equinox, babbling away happily in her own special language.   We’ve been driving for more than two hours, and I’m beginning to worry that I haven’t heard from Drake yet. Surely he should have been in contact by now? Surely he should have checked in to make sure we made it to the meetup with his driver and were on the road.   “Mommy,” Lila asks, catching me watching her. “Wh

Bastien’s POV The first thing I see is the fear on Selene’s face. Fear I hate myself for causing. She’s backed into a corner, appearing so much more like the lost little wolf I pulled from a tree, than the confident woman I met today. It takes all my strength to pull my eyes from Selene’s haunted expression and survey the rest of the scene, at which point I realize why she’s in the corner. The tiny body is visible even now, with pint-sized hands clutching her skirt and a gleaming pair of two-toned eyes peeking out from behind her leg. Mate, Axel croons with satisfaction. And mate’s pup. Mine, both mine. We don’t know who that pup belongs to yet. I caution him, though I cannot help but feel drawn to the tiny creature in a way I can’t explain. I don’t care who she belonged

Selene’s POV After eight years in a veritable dungeon, I thought freedom was escaping to Elysium. After spending three years married to a man who didn’t love me and obligated to help lead a pack of shifters who hated me, I thought freedom was finding my independence in Asphodel. After nearly four years of living without my wolf, I thought freedom was getting her back when I became a mother. I was wrong every time. This is freedom. Transforming, releasing my soul and setting her loose – that is the freedom I’ve been missing my entire life. Running on all fours through the rolling Vega hills with no map and no limitations, no hurdles to jump or weights slowing me down: it’s adrenaline like I’ve never experienced. I don’t care that I’m not in the forest, or that it’s broad daylight. I don&rs