Bella’s POV

The dawn came quietly, too quietly for Moonshadow.

No howls. No patrol calls. Even the forest seemed to hold its breath, waiting for something it couldn’t name.

Bella stirred beneath the blankets, her hand resting over the faint curve of her stomach. The Oath ceremony had ended only hours ago, yet she felt as though days had passed. Every part of her body ached—not from battle or fever, but from something deeper. A slow, pulling fatigue that seemed to hum beneath her ...