No one had the words to say. Not yet.
We had witnessed strange things before-bursts of power, visions, even uncontrollable healing. But this? Paige had touched the creek and purified it. The water shimmered with a glow that seemed to blend sunlight and moonlight into one ethereal radiance. And when that light faded, the world felt… lighter. Cleaner.
I’d seen a lot in my life, but nothing like that.
I reached out through the mind-link, brushing against Ronnie’s thoughts.
“Can you explain what that was?” I asked him quietly.
There was a pause before his voice returned, tight with uncertainty. “I wish I could.”
“You usually have all the answers.”
“Not this time.” I could feel his breath through the link, heavy with frustration. “What she did… it’s beyond anything I’ve ever come across. I can’t fit it into what I know about Moon Children.”
“So what exactly are you saying?”
He hesitated again, the weight of his words pressing down before they came. “I’m saying she’s something else.”
The statement hit me harder than I expected. I instinctively looked toward Paige. She walked silently beside Parker, her head tilted just slightly, as if listening to a voice only she could hear.
“Other how?”
“Her abilities have always matched Moon Child traits-empathy, healing, intuitive sight. But this… this dual light, I’ve never heard of it. Yesterday, I saw a flicker of it and dismissed it as a gap in the texts I’ve read. But what she did today? That wasn’t lunar. It’s older. Brighter. Maybe she carries a dual heritage, but I don’t know what kind.”
Dual heritage. The phrase rolled over in my mind. It made some sense-Paige had always been more than one thing, more than she even realized. Fierce and gentle. Light and solid. Human and something else, something even she couldn’t name.
But the idea of her being ‘other’ didn’t frighten me. It didn’t change a thing.
“Does Ryder know what you’re thinking?”
“Not yet. I’ll tell him when I have proof. Right now, it’s just theory, and theories won’t keep her safe.”
“Nothing ever stops us from protecting her,” I said, letting conviction seep into my voice.
His reply was quiet. “I know.”
The link went silent as he withdrew, but the unease he carried lingered in my mind like static.
I moved to her other side, closing the circle around her. Paige turned her face toward me and stumbled slightly on a hidden root. I was there in an instant, my hand steadying her elbow before she could fall.
“Careful,” I murmured.
She offered me a small, distracted smile. “Thanks.”
Her fingers brushed mine and lingered for a heartbeat longer than necessary. They were warm-not just the usual warmth, but alive with something else, pulsing with that same energy she had drawn from the creek. I could feel it thrumming through her like a second heartbeat.
“Are you okay?” I asked softly.
She nodded, though her voice was quieter than usual. “Yeah. Just… tired, I think.”
–
**Taporis**
Ryder glanced back once more, but I shook my head slightly, silently telling him she was fine. Still, I didn’t release my grip on her arm.
We pressed on. The path curved, the dense trees parted, and the cabin came back into view. The sight should have brought relief, but instead, a low hum of worry settled in my chest, refusing to fade.
Paige didn’t look back once.
When we reached the clearing, Ryder called to the enforcers, instructing them to set up a new post. Remy joined them to speak quietly, while Parker headed toward the cabin to brew fresh coffee. Ronnie followed, already rifling through his satchel for sample vials. Paige stood rooted in the center of the garden, staring down at her hands as though expecting them to glow again.
Ryder approached her first. I hung back, giving them space, but my attention never left her. His hand cupped the back of her neck, his voice low and private. I didn’t listen to the words-not because I couldn’t, but because the tone was intimate, and I respected that. Still, I could feel the bond between them settle.
I exhaled slowly and ran a hand through my hair. My wolf finally stopped pacing, though his sharp gaze remained fixed on her through my eyes.
She was different. Whatever had happened at that creek had shifted something inside her. Maybe it wasn’t visible, but it was there. I could feel it. And yet… I didn’t care.
If she was half Moon Child, half something else-even if she were half Godzilla-it wouldn’t matter. She was still Paige. The woman who laughed nervously, who made the entire pack feel steadier just by being near. The woman who stepped into our chaos and somehow made it feel like home.
Looking at her now, bathed in the morning light, her warm auburn hair loose around her shoulders, that faint shimmer still clinging to her skin-I swear she was the most extraordinary thing I’d ever seen. Lucky didn’t even begin to describe it.
“Callen,” Ryder called, pulling me from my thoughts. “Take the east side. Make sure patrols rotate every twenty minutes.”
“On it,” I replied, though my gaze drifted back to Paige one last time before I turned away. She was still with Ryder, speaking softly, her brow furrowed in deep thought. I wished I could ease her worry, carry some of it for her. But maybe that’s what loving her meant-knowing I couldn’t shield her from everything, only walk beside her as she faced it.
As I moved toward the tree line, the bond between us pulsed faintly in my chest-a soft, steady rhythm stronger than it had been that morning. Whatever power had stirred inside her, it hadn’t pushed me away. If anything, it had drawn me closer.
And I would take that. Every bit of her light and shadow, every secret and scar. Because she was ours. Mine. And I’d follow her into any darkness-even one that shimmered gold and silver beneath the water.
I was halfway across the clearing, preparing to shift the moment I reached the trees, when my wolf suddenly tensed.
It started faintly-a flicker, a tremor that didn’t belong to the wind or the forest. My steps slowed. The air smelled different here, sharper, like the scent just before rain, but the sky above remained clear.
I scanned the tree line, stretching my senses outward. No movement. No sound beyond the usual rustle of leaves and distant birdcalls. But beneath it all, I felt a pulse-deep and rhythmic-echoing faintly the same beat I’d sensed through Paige earlier.
“Do you feel that?” I sent to Ryder through the mind-link.
A second later, his voice came back-steady but alert. “Feel what?”
“The ground. It’s… humming.”
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