In the Whisper Forest, the orb’s glow faded like a dying star, pulling Mia and Jackson back into the dim chamber of the grey witches’ sanctuary. Mia’s knees buckled first, her body collapsing onto the cold stone floor as sobs wracked her frame. Tears streamed down her cheeks, hot and unrelenting, carving paths through the dust that had settled on her skin during the vision. “Mom’s… alive? She betrayed Olivia?” Her voice was a broken whisper, laced with disbelief and raw pain. The images replayed in her mind: Alyssa, her own mother, slipping secrets to the vampires, granting them access to the beta estate where young Olivia had been snatched away in the dead of night. The betrayal had shattered Marcus, her father, leaving him a hollow shell of the man who had once loved fiercely.
Jackson c
