“He's not just testing me,” he said, voice rough from howling and transformation. “He's testing all of us. Seeing if we're worth the effort of breaking.”
I met his gaze, feeling fear and resolve warring inside my chest like fighting dogs. Because Calder was right about one thing: we were the weak links in this supernatural food chain, the humans who didn't belong in a world of claws and fangs and necessary violence.
But we were also the reason Evan fought with such desperate fury. The people he loved enough to die protecting, which meant we were also his greatest strength.
“Then we don't give him the answer he wants,” I said, surprised by how steady my voice sounded despite everything we'd just endured.
Dad nodded, blood still staining his hands but his grip on the dagger never wavering. “We stand with you, Evan. Whatever comes next, we face it together.”
The words hung in the winter air like a promise and a threat rolled into one. Because we all knew this was just the beginning,the opening move in a war that would either forge us into something stronger or destroy everything we'd ever cared about.
But standing there in the aftermath of violence, surrounded by the people I'd chosen as family, I felt something that might have been hope.
Calder wanted to test us? Fine. Let him come with his rogues and his psychological warfare and his demonstrations of savagery.
He'd learn that humans might be fragile compared to werewolves, but we were also stubborn as hell when it came to protecting the people we loved.
And some things were worth bleeding for, even when the bleeding never seemed to stop.
The forest whispered secrets in languages older than civilization, and somewhere in the darkness, something howled an answer that sounded like a promise of war yet to come.
We'd be ready for it.
All of us. Together.
Because that was what family meant in Hollow Pines: the simple choice to stand beside each other when the monsters came calling, no matter what shape they wore or how sharp their claws might be.
The war had claimed Mom. It wouldn't take anyone else from us.
Not without a fight that would make tonight's violence look like a polite disagreement.
34
MOM'S WATERFALL
EVAN
The waterfall hadn't changed since I was eight and Mom first brought me here, her secret place hidden deep in the Evernight Forest where the pack rarely ventured. She'd called it her thinking spot, her place to go when the weight of being an Alpha's wife got too heavy for her delicate shoulders to bear.
The water fell maybe thirty feet from a granite shelf, tumbling over moss-covered rocks into a pool so clear you could count the stones on the bottom. Ancient pines circled the clearing like silent guardians, their branches filtering afternoon sunlight into patterns that danced across the water's surface.
It was beautiful. Peaceful.
Instead, it felt like a graveyard for memories I wasn't sure I was strong enough to carry anymore.
I settled on the flat boulder where Mom used to sit, the same one where she'd taught me to skip stones and told me stories about the forest spirits she insisted were listening from the shadows. My wolf stirred restlessly under my skin, pickingup scents that were almost familiar, almost comforting, but not quite right anymore.
Too much time had passed. Too much had changed.
“I don't know how to do this,” I said to the empty clearing, voice cracking on words I'd never been able to say when it mattered. “I don't know how to be what everyone needs me to be without you here to tell me it's okay to fuck up sometimes.”
The waterfall kept falling, indifferent to my breakdown. Water crashed against stone with the kind of relentless rhythm that should have been soothing but instead just reminded me that the world kept turning whether you were ready for it or not.
“I met someone,” I continued, because talking to empty air felt easier than carrying these words around like stones in my chest. “His name is Nate, and he's human, and he's probably going to get himself killed trying to protect people who should be protecting him instead.”
A breeze stirred through the pines, carrying with it the scent of wildflowers and something else. Something that smelled like lavender soap and the perfume Mom used to wear on special occasions. My throat closed up, and I had to blink hard to keep from losing it entirely.
Just a coincidence. Just my brain playing tricks because I needed her here so desperately I was willing to hallucinate her presence.
