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LOGAN

THREE MONTHS LATER

I woke to the sensation of Eve’s fingertips dragging along my chest, soft as feathers but burning with intent.

I smelled her arousal and smiled before opening my eyes.

When I turned my head, I was greeted by a knowing grin and hungry eyes. Her nightgown was nowhere to be seen and her breasts lifted with her breaths, hard nipples greeting the morning and instantly making me hard. She drew circles along my chest, adjusting herself so she could reach across me and pull herself up, dancing kisses across my torso.

My oracle wolf. My naughty little fated mate.

She ducked her head under the covers, and Goddess, I knew what was coming next. I let my eyes roll back as she swirled her tongue along my already hard length .

Since the fight with Grayson, when we both surrendered to each other, something elemental had changed between us, a bond that felt less like a tether and more like a tide—unrelenting and inevitable. Her presence alone was a force, but it was more than that. It was the way my world had become our world.

Our physical closeness was a language of its own. Her fingers lingered longer on my arm, her body naturally leaning into mine whenever we stood side by side. And I had stopped resisting the magnetic pull to touch her, whether it was tucking a strand of hair behind her ear or tracing my thumb along the back of her hand. She was mine, but our love wasn’t possessive. We didn’t have to say it out loud, and we were no longer two separate beings learning each other’s edges.

We were not separate halves made whole. We were something entirely new.

She moved so her body was perpendicular to mine with her gorgeous ass in the air while her hot, wet mouth surrounded my cock. My head rolled against the pillow. The thrill of her tongue circling the head of my dick sent bolts through my brain as pleasure took me over.

I pulled down the cover to watch as she took me deep into her throat, and I ran my fingers through her gorgeous long dark hark. Strands of it cascaded over her face and the wild beast glowed gold in her eyes.

She ran her mouth up and down me, gently dragging her teeth and pushing me to the limit. It was so hard to hold back with her, especially when she was doing this only for my pleasure. It was all I could do not to come all over her right there and then .

“Evensong,” I gasped as she sucked on the head of my cock, rounding it with the flat of her tongue.

Shut up and let me fuck you with my mouth , she said to me through the bond, and I moaned. I was the alpha… but so was she, and my wolf would do anything she said. She nibbled gently, but the playful threat was clear.

Yes, ma’am.

I’d be a fool not to follow her instructions. Her lips tightened around me, one hand at the base of my shaft and the other pressing into my balls. She knew exactly what I liked and how I liked it, and could find new things I liked when I least expected it.

“Yes, my dirty little mate,” I whimpered. She began sucking in a frenzied motion, her hand following her lips and driving me up the fucking wall . She moaned against my cock and I knew I wouldn’t be able to hold on any longer. I reached down, finding her pussy soaking wet, and I moaned with the need to fuck her.

No , she said, pushing my hand back. It’s all about you.

I want your pussy, want to slam into you the way you like it.

She looked at me. And you’ll do it. Later. Be a good alpha and come over my tits.

She didn’t have to ask twice.

She pumped me with her hand, watching me as I went into paradise, my orgasm bursting out of me. I grabbed the sheets and I would have done anything, anything , for her. She could have asked me to move to Iceland and I’d have been on the next plane. Anything for the mate who knew how to make me come like that.

She crawled up toward me, settling into my arms. I pulled the blanket over us both and kissed the top of her head.

“Can’t we stay here all day?” I mused, still feeling a bit lightheaded.

She kissed the side of my mouth. “Big day, Alpha. Rhys will be waiting for you in the Old Town and I’ve got to make sure everything is perfect for tonight.”

Tonight.

Three months had passed since the Heraclids and Orions became a collective, but we still had a long way to go in creating strong relationships between us.

“Are you sure it isn’t better to wait?” I asked. “In time, more Heraclids will have trust in us. A bonfire rite might turn them off. The Heraclids never did anything like that together.”

“All the more reason they need it now, my alpha.” She smiled with that glint I loved. She was as much a leader now as I was. And she knew it.

She also knew I loved it when she called me that.

“Trust isn’t just built with time, but by sharing new memories together,” she said.

Damn it, she’s right.

I heard that. She winked at me.

I know. I winked back.

The Old Town was alive again. The air buzzed with the sounds of renewal—hammers striking wood, various tools buzzing, and voices carrying over the rising framework of what would be our new future. My boots crunched on the packed dirt streets as I weaved between scaffolds and carts laden with supplies. Sunlight bounced off freshly glazed windows, casting fractured rainbows onto the cobblestones.

The bones of the Old Town, broken and abandoned, were knitting themselves back together. It wasn’t just a town being rebuilt; it was the heart of Orion.

Near the old market square, where half-constructed stalls leaned against one another like friends sharing secrets, I spotted Rhys giving orders to a group of workers. His sleeves were rolled up, his arms streaked with dirt and sweat. He gestured for a beam to be lifted.

Orion wolves worked alongside Heraclids, their movements tentative but cooperative, like they were still feeling out the boundaries of this new alliance. The scent of the wolves mixed in the air—distinctive, complex, and strangely harmonious. It wasn’t perfect yet, but it was happening.

“About time you showed up,” Rhys called, his grin a flash of teeth. “Or did you think rebuilding an entire town was beneath your pay grade?”

“Didn’t want to steal your thunder,” I shot back, stepping into the square. “Besides, it looks like you’ve got things handled.”

He barked a laugh, hefting the beam into place himself when the others hesitated. “Hardly. At least they’re working together. You’d be surprised how many Heraclids actually wanted to leave their old lands, to put that behind them.”

I nodded, watching as a young Heraclid woman—her features strikingly similar to an Orion family I recognized—passed planks to one of our wolves. “Some of them fit here better than I expected.”

“Bloodlines,” Rhys said. “I’d say there was more intermarriage—or worse—than anyone wanted to admit. A lot of them already have roots here, even if they didn’t know it. Makes the transition easier.”

“Easier for some,” I said, following the hesitant movements of a pair of younger Heraclids hanging back at the edge of the square, uncertain. “Others still look like they’re waiting for the sky to fall.”

“Yeah,” Rhys said, quieter. “Grayson’s reign left scars, Logan. It’s going to take more than a few months of construction to rebuild trust.”

He turned back to the workers, but his wolf flickered, his presence sharpening.

“What is it?” I asked, my voice low.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he mumbled.

That flicker wasn’t nothing.

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Or maybe I’m waiting for you to do some actual work for once.”

I chuckled, though I didn’t buy it. Still, I let it slide. “Guess I’ll stay and supervise.”

He snorted, rolling his eyes. “Supervise. Right. Don’t get in the way.”

I stayed anyway, finding work to do where I could. The Old Town was being rebuilt—and it was healing.

Watching Rhys out of the corner of my eye, I couldn’t shake the sense that he was distracted.

The day passed in a blur, the hours slipping by as I lost myself in the rhythm of the work .

I barely registered the approach of her steps until her scent reached me—wild apples and earthy cloves.

Eve. My wolf stirred immediately, and when I turned, there she was, framed by the setting sun. She demanded attention without asking for it. She’d grown into her role, her wolf’s power radiating with every move. My alpha and fated mate.

She stopped beside me, her hand brushing my arm. That one touch sent a flood of memories rushing through me—her laughter that morning, the warmth of her skin against mine, the way she looked at me like I was hers and hers alone. My wolf settled instantly, content in her nearness.

“It’s coming together,” she said, her voice low but carrying an edge of pride. “You’ve done good work.”

I shook my head, gesturing toward Rhys, who was deep in conversation with a group of workers across the square. “That’s all him. He’s the one keeping this place moving.”

Her expression softened. Her wolf was reading him, sensing the emotions beneath the surface. “He’s troubled,” she said quietly.

I nodded, pride and unease twisting together in my chest. “He’s been more contemplative since the packs joined. But he’s holding it together.”

Her eyes lingered on Rhys before she turned back to me, taking in a deep breath and smiling. “It’s time.”

“For what?”

“To bring them together,” she said as she backed away.

The fire blazed higher with each added branch, the wood snapping and crackling as if it were alive, feeding on the collective energy of the pack. One by one, wolves approached, each holding a branch. The flames cast flickering shadows across their faces as they placed their offering into the fire and sparks shot into the night sky like tiny, fleeting stars.

As the wolves moved around the fire’s edge, something remarkable began to happen. On the far side of the blaze, Rhys and other waiting Orion wolves extended their hands to their new packmates, clasped their forearms together, or grasped each other in the traditional Orion greeting—small gestures of acknowledgment and connection. It was a silent welcome, a bridge between the Orions and Heraclids. Those who had hesitated the longest were met with understanding gazes, and some even received warm smiles or murmured words of encouragement.

The ritual unfolded slowly, rhythmically, each wolf adding their piece—giving something up to find something new. The atmosphere thickened with meaning, charged with something that felt less like tradition and more like transformation. This was unity being built in real time, branch by branch.

Eve stood beside me, her arm brushing mine. She scanned the gathering with the intensity only she could carry. “They still worry,” she murmured, her voice barely audible over the crackle of the fire. “But they’re coming around.” I was being drawn into the reflection of the fire in her eyes. “I’m going to head over there. An alpha among them will help accelerate the bonding.”

I nodded. I felt it, too, the way the pack bond was growing, weaving through the gathered wolves like an unbreakable thread.

As the fire climbed higher, illuminating the plateau, I let myself breathe in the enormity of it. Grayson’s shadow was gone. The fracture that divided us for years was mending. And Eve—Eve was the heart of it all.

“Quite a spectacle.” The feminine voice was speaking inside my head. Not through the bond though, for the bond filled one’s mind, and her voice didn’t. Her voice was shrill, an arrow hitting between the eyes. She had to be using magic to communicate with me.

The unwelcome visitor nearly made me shift on the spot.

“Mariyah.”

I turned but couldn’t see her anywhere. As long as I was in human form, my senses would be limited. And Mariyah knew it.

I caught sight of a figure in the distance, cloaked in layers that merged with the night.

“Fires burn out, Logan. Even the brightest ones. And Orion remains incomplete.”

“You show up where you’re never wanted with cryptic warnings, and expect me to fear your empty riddles?” I controlled the wolf in my voice. Barely. Eve glanced at me, but I shook my head slightly, silently signaling her to stay put.

“Rebirth comes at a cost. This unity you’ve forged—it’s delicate. And it always will be as long as you allow that curse to eat into your pack’s bones. As long as you allow your twin brothers to wander the world, alone and troubled. Lost and aimless. Endangered and dangerous. That has never been Orion’s fate. And yet,” she sighed, “you allow it to continue. You have your precious little dove. Is that enough to make you forget your own blood, the brothers who were ready to sacrifice everything for you? Seems so.”

She had confirmed it: Wyatt and Nash were alive. But wandering the world? Lost and aimless? She raised more questions than she answered. Before I could ask, she melted away into the shadows. Her voice wafted through the air to me, magic prickling in her secret communication.

There will be no peace for Orion until the lost threads are woven together again.

Eve appeared at my side, taking my hand with a question in her eyes.

“Later,” I said softly, wrapping my arm around her and kissing the top of her head.

Together, we faced the fire, the heat warming our skin as Rhys shifted and howled into the night. The sound of it was strained with emotion, and I hardly recognized my brother in it. Others shifted to join him, their voices rising to meet the night sky.

Despite the symphony of my thousands-strong pack surrounding me, Mariyah’s words coiled in my mind, tightening with every breath.

There will be no peace for Orion until the lost threads are woven together again.

Eve leaned into me, but my attention drifted to the horizon, where the firelight faded into shadow.

My brothers.

The bond between us had been a lifeline once. If only I could reach them now. My arm tingled, and I instinctively touched the tattoo. It pulsed beneath my fingertips, almost alive.

Eve’s hand tightened around mine, pulling my focus back to her. Her wolf glimmered in her eyes, and I knew she felt it too: this wasn’t the end. It was only the beginning of a new battle.

The pack might be rising in strength along with our growing numbers, but shadows lingered, and we still had to fight.

I held Eve close as the fire roared and the wolves howled. It was exactly what I’d dreamed of, but the curse settled over us like an unfinished story.

The next chapter was already clawing at the edges of the horizon.