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LOGAN

T he platform loomed ahead, bathed in the pale, cold light of the moon. I’d scoured Heraclid land all day, only to find myself back here, where I’d caught her scent first.

Every step dragged me closer to a truth I didn’t want to face, but I wouldn’t falter. I wore my alpha pride, my pack’s dignity, like a shield. Inside, I was chaos.

She’s there.

The scent of spiced apples was stronger than ever, pulling me toward her with a magnetic force I couldn’t shake. My wolf thrashed against me, slamming into the walls of my mind, his growls rattling through my chest. She was tied, hands overhead, a rope pulling her upwards.

Stop. Protect her.

I pushed him down, clenching my fists until my knuckles cracked. Protecting her wasn’t an option.

She spoke the curse .

She damned my pack.

She would pay the price with her life, and Orion would rule again.

This was likely a trick, an attempt to win my sympathy again—poor little oracle wolf who would consume Orion the moment I let my guard down.

Not happening.

My jaw tightened as I stepped onto the platform. The air was thick with the stench of damp wood and iron. She was slumped, her white dress in a heap beside her, replaced with an ill-fitting formal gown.

She looked fragile. Broken.

For a fleeting moment, something inside me broke too—but the memory of the curse rose up. My missing brothers, presumed dead. My family slaughtered, our children stolen, the loss of the power that had belonged to Orion since the Shadow Moon crossed this land.

All because of her .

She knows her time is up. This is one last effort to convince me otherwise. The Heraclids were wise to her ways before me.

The scent of her blood lingered faintly in the air, mixing with the memory of her in my dreams—those haunting dreams where she was radiant, strong, free. That wasn’t the woman in front of me now.

My wolf roared for me to stop. She’s yours. Ours. Don’t do this.

“She’s the curse,” I growled aloud.

Eve’s head jerked up; her eyes were wide, dazed. My chest burned, and my wolf howled in pain.

I couldn’t let it show. I hardened my expression, forcing every ounce of fury and purpose I had to the surface. She had to know why I was here.

Her lips parted and she spoke, trembling. “Logan…”

I stopped, barely a foot away. The heat of her scent wrapped around me, clawing at my resolve.

“You,” I said, not daring to utter her name aloud.

Her face fell, her eyes pooling with fear, betrayal, shame.

My wolf thrashed harder, clawing at my mind, desperate to reach her. You’ll regret this until the end of time.

I shook my head, trying to clear the thought, but it was as much mine as it was his.

“Speak the truth!” I demanded, my voice breaking before I could stop it. “Tell me what you did to Orion.”

Her silence was deafening.

I growled low in my throat, my claws flexing, itching for action. “ Speak ,” I commanded, my alpha tone powerful enough to send most wolves cowering. But not her. Whatever she was, I wouldn’t be able to command her into doing as I wished.

She remained still, and I thought she might stay silent forever.

“You think I wanted this?” Her breaths came quick and shallow, her chest heaving as if the words themselves were chains she was dragging forward. “That I asked to be the Heraclid oracle?” Her silent laugh was bitter. “Every choice was ripped from me. Every word they forced me to speak was like carving pieces out of myself.”

“That’s not my problem,” I growled.

“You think I cursed your pack? I refused, over and over. I wouldn’t do it. I only spoke what I saw in my visions. And I won’t deny that. But I did not speak a curse on you. ”

The wolf inside me snarled, urging me to believe her. I couldn’t—I wouldn’t . My jaw clenched as I stepped closer, towering over her. “Then why is my pack falling apart?” I demanded, anger and confusion twisting together into something I couldn’t control.

She flinched. “I didn’t want to see what I saw,” she whispered. “The visions… they weren’t of destruction. They weren’t of curses.”

“Then what were they of ?” I pressed, my fists clenching so tightly my nails dug into my palms.

“You.”

I nearly lost my balance.

“ You ,” she whispered, like a confession. “It was always you.”

My wolf surged at her words, his howls filling my mind with a longing so fierce it nearly drowned out my rage. I forced him back. This woman was at the center of everything that had gone wrong, everything that had torn my pack and my life apart.

Her arms were stretched high above her head, her wrists bound tightly and secured to the low branch of a weathered tree. Her body hung just enough to make her heels barely brush the ground. The sight of her like this ignited something feral in me.

I was caught between the man I needed to be for my pack and the man I feared I’d become if I ended her.

“You’re lying,” I said, but I had already begun doubting. “Why would your visions be about me if not to curse my bloodline?”

Her head tilted back, the rope pulling taut with the movement, her neck arched in a way that was more bold than submissive.

“Because every time he demanded I curse you, you were there.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.

“In my visions, you weren’t the one suffering. You were fighting . You were trying to save them—your pack—even as everything around you fell apart.”

The tension in her body, the stubborn fire in her eyes. She was telling the truth. Or at least, she believed she was.

Her shoulders shook, her body trembling as she took a ragged breath.

“I don’t know why the Goddess chose me to see you, but you became the only thing I could hold on to,” she continued, her words rushing out. “Every time Grayson demanded I curse Orion, I saw you . Standing, hunting, protecting—even when you didn’t have enough left to give. I didn’t curse you. I couldn’t. Because…” She hesitated, the words sticking in her throat. “Because you were the only thing that gave me hope.”

My wolf went silent, his relentless howls muted by the sound of her, as if even he needed to process what she had just said.

She blinked away tears. She looked so small, so fragile—nothing like the figure I imagined when I thought of the curse-sayer who doomed my pack. Nothing like the woman I had convinced myself to hate.

Hope.

The word reverberated in my mind. How could I be her hope? When all I felt was failure weighing on my shoulders, when all I had done for years was scrape together pieces of a pack that deserved better?

“Stop!” I shouted, even though I wasn’t sure who I was commanding—her or myself.

She flinched, her head jerking back slightly, but she didn’t cower. Everything in me wished she would look away. “Stop what?” she asked.

“Stop trying to twist this,” I snapped, though my tone faltered. “You think saying that makes up for what’s happened to my pack? For everything we’ve lost?”

Her lips parted, but no words came. Instead, her gaze was steady, and it burned. I felt exposed. She could see through every wall I had ever built.

My wolf stirred again, heavy and insistent. She’s telling the truth, he growled. She’s ours.

She’s the curse-sayer , I snarled back at him internally, my jaw tightening.

My wolf refused to relent, pacing within me, claws scraping against the edges of my control. She didn’t curse us. She saw us. She saw you.

I ran a hand through my hair, trying to ground myself. Her words were a poison I hadn’t expected, seeping into every crack in my resolve, making me question everything .

“You don’t understand what’s at stake,” I finally said. “What you’ve done—what you’ve seen—it doesn’t change the fact that my pack is dying. Everything I’ve worked to protect is slipping away.”

Eve shook her head, her expression anguished. “I didn’t do this to you,” she said fiercely. “I didn’t want this—any of it. You have to believe me, Logan. I can help you.”

Logan. My name on her lips was both a balm and a knife point, soothing and wounding at once. I hated it.

And I needed it.

“This sounds like a trick.”

“Logan,” she said. I needed her to stop saying my name or I was going to come undone before her. “I felt your pain. When you fought Damian. I owe you, and more than that, I’m sure the Shadow Moon Goddess intended me for you. For Orion.”

Her words settled in the air between us, fragile but unyielding, and I couldn’t breathe.

My wolf growled, low and urgent, urging me closer. Take her. Protect her. Don’t let her go.

I stepped back instead, fists clenched at my sides. “I came here to end this, to stop the curse at its source.”

Eve flinched. “I’m not your enemy,” she whispered. “You have to believe me.”

Her scent hit me again, sharp and intoxicating, clouding my thoughts. Baked apples and cloves. I staggered, overwhelmed, gripping a nearby tree for balance.

I can’t kill her.

The realization struck like a lightning bolt, electrifying and terrifying all at once.

“This is messed up.” I buried my face in my hands, momentarily wishing this situation was anything but what it was.

And then my arm pulsed. I could swear the blood ran faster through me and I looked down instinctively to the ink in my skin. The tattoo for my brothers seemed almost alive, the lines shimmering faintly in the dim light, their presence resonating deep in my chest. There was something primal within me, a command moving through my veins.

Touch her.

My pulse echoed between my ears, drowning out the logic that kept me grounded, leaving only instinct in its wake. A soft glow enveloped her, faint and silvery, like the light of the moon had decided she alone was worthy of its attention.

My wolf surged, drunk on her scent, on the visceral force that poured from her like a siren’s call. Baked apples and cloves. Warmth and fire. I couldn’t stop myself. It struck me—the beauty I saw in her wasn’t just in her face, though that was enough to undo me. It was something that burned in her core, radiant and untamed, as though her very soul was straining against her human form.

I stepped closer, the space between us shrinking until we were inches apart. Her breath cascaded over me, soft and uneven, mingling with the storm inside me. My hand lifted, trembling as though it wasn’t mine, until my fingertips brushed her cheek.

The contact was barely there, a featherlight touch, but it set me on fire, a pulse of energy so profound it stole my breath. Her skin was impossibly soft beneath my hand. I traced the line of her jaw, moving with a reverence I didn’t know I possessed, as though she were something sacred, something fragile.

Her lips parted as she inhaled quickly, the sound sending a shiver down my spine. My thumb brushed the corner of her mouth, and my wolf howled, triumphant and wild.

And then it hit me .

The force of it was staggering, slamming into me so hard I stumbled backward, my heart hammering in my chest. My wolf growled, furious at the distance. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe.

She is mine.

The words echoed through me, undeniable and absolute, and the truth of it made my knees weak. I looked at her, really looked at her, and I saw everything—the bond, the pull, the inevitability of what she was to me.

My fated mate.

“Damn it,” I cursed under my breath, raking a hand through my hair. “How can that even be possible?”

“What?” she asked, breathless.

I can’t kill her. And I can’t leave her there.

There was only one option.

“You’re coming with me.”

She didn’t argue. She didn’t beg.

I loosened the ropes hanging over the tree branch, my movements quick but rough. I used one arm to ease her down but instantly regretted it. A wave rushed through me at the touch, her breath rolling over me. Her body became tense, so I knew she felt it too. Damn it.

“What are you doing?”

“You heard me.” I turned away, composing myself as I slung the ropes over my shoulder. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

My wolf howled within me, triumphant, while the man in me wrestled with the implications of what I was doing.

I couldn’t trust this sense of a fated mate, a bond that was foreign and uncomfortable in my mind. I didn’t know what else she would become—a threat, a savior, a mistake… Th e only thing I knew was that she was coming home with me.

I couldn’t take chances.

I started stripping off my clothes. Her eyes widened as I moved swiftly, knotting the rope to be able to transport her in the only way I knew how.

“What are you doing?”

“Getting ready.”

“You’re going to shift?”

“It’s the safest way for me to get to my bike. I can move fast enough that the Heraclids won’t sense me until I’m gone.”

She whispered, “What about me?”

I sighed. “Well, Oracle Eve, I don’t know what to believe at this point. We’ll figure that out later. In the short term, I’m taking you to my bike and to my pack lands.” I cringed. “You’re going to have a bit of a bumpy ride.”

“Why? Am I going to ride you?”

“Um, no .” I approached her, steeling myself against the sensations I knew would come, but there was no other option right now. I couldn’t take the chance that she would try to escape and hand me over to the Heraclids. Fated mate, perhaps, but her motives remained elusive at best.

“Then what are you…”

“You’ll wake up soon.”

With my hunter prowess, I touched the right spots and Eve fainted into my arms. I adjusted her dress so it became a makeshift stretcher and tied the ropes around her shoulder, hanging them loosely over my shoulder and hip.

My wolf did not like it one bit, but even he understood.

I started out on foot, carrying her in my arms until we reached softer fields. There, I could shift and drag my mate through the softest paths I could find en route to my bike.

I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing, and my packmates were going to lose their shit.

But the Shadow Moon Goddess wasn’t wrong on this one.

As we reached the fields, I swept her hair out of her face, shifted, and we took off toward Orion.