The Crescent Pack had been on high alert ever since the first whispers of danger had spread. Eva sat in her chamber, her eyes staring out the window, watching the moon rise, but her thoughts were elsewhere. She felt the weight of every decision she had ever made bearing down on her, like the world was closing in. The twins, Caelum and Silas, were asleep in their nursery, but Eva couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Something was coming, something worse than anything she had faced before.
Then came the knock. A soft, urgent sound that barely registered in her mind until the door opened.
Max entered, his face strained with worry. He looked at her, but Eva could see the battle behind his eyes. His jaw was clenched tightly, his hands fisted at his sides. There was something he wasn’t telling her.
“What’s wrong?” Eva asked, though she already knew the answer.
Max’s voice was tight, controlled. “Georgina has been freed.”
The words hit Eva like a physical blow. She felt the air rush out of her lungs, her chest tightening with anger, fear, and a sense of betrayal that she couldn’t place. “What do you mean, freed? By who?”
Max took a deep breath, his eyes dark with frustration. “One of the Silverstone elders. Someone from within our own pack.” His voice dropped to a whisper as he continued, “They opened her cell. They let her go.”
Eva’s blood ran cold. The weight of his words settled into her bones, cold and unforgiving. Georgina—her mother—had already betrayed her once. But now, there was someone else, someone in her own home, someone who had been a part of her life for years, turning against them. The betrayal stung more deeply than she could have imagined.
“Where is she now?” Eva demanded, rising to her feet. Her voice was steady, but the fury in her eyes spoke volumes. Max shook his head slowly, his lips tight with frustration.
“She took Silas. She’s gone.”
The room seemed to tilt, spinning around Eva as she gripped the edge of the table to steady herself. Her world, her family, was shattering. She had just started to heal, to build something solid, something unbreakable with Max, with her sons, and now this. Her mother—Georgina—had taken the one thing she had promised to protect above all else: her child. The betrayal, the threat of losing Silas, was unbearable.
Eva’s eyes went cold. She took a slow breath, her mind reeling with the implications. Georgina wasn’t just a mother. She was a weapon. A weapon that had already done enough damage. She couldn’t allow her to take Silas. She couldn’t. Not again.
Suddenly, there was another knock at the door. Tiana, her twin sister, stormed in without waiting for a response. Her face was pale, her eyes wild with panic.
“They’re gone. She’s gone. Georgina took him!” Tiana’s voice was raw, cracking under the weight of her emotion. Her hands trembled as she reached for Eva, her breath coming in short gasps. “I should have killed her when I had the chance. I should have—”
“No.” Eva’s voice cut through Tiana’s words like a blade. She reached for her sister, her hands steady despite the storm raging inside her. “You couldn’t have known. None of us could have known.”
But Tiana wasn’t listening. She pulled away, her eyes blazing with fury. “You don’t get it, Eva. We’ve been betrayed. And I let it happen. I let her live. I should have done it. I should have ended it, before she could hurt you. Hurt Silas. Hurt us all.”
Eva stared at her sister, her heart breaking for Tiana. She understood the feeling—this was not just about Silas. It was about their entire family. Their past. The years of secrets and lies that had destroyed so much. She had been blind to it, too, and now they were paying the price.
The rage inside Eva flared up, hot and fierce, and before she could stop herself, she collapsed onto the floor, the weight of her emotions crashing down on her. Her body shook as tears welled in her eyes, but they wouldn’t fall. Not yet. She wasn’t going to let herself break, not in front of her family. She had made too many mistakes already.
“I let my past steal my future,” she whispered, her voice shaking with the force of the words. It was true. She had been so focused on her past—her mother, the pain, the mistakes—that she had let it consume her. Now, her son was in danger because of it. She had failed him. She had failed them all.
Max dropped to his knees beside her, his hands steady as he gripped her shoulders. “Eva,” he whispered, his voice low but filled with understanding. “We can fix this. We will fix this.”
Her heart clenched at the tenderness in his voice, but the anger that burned in her chest wouldn’t let her relax. Not yet. “How? How can we fix this, Max? We’ve been betrayed by someone in our own pack. Someone who was supposed to be on our side. Georgina is gone, and so is Silas. We’ve lost everything.”
