Ocean's Breath Plateau Black

Somehow, she’d managed to sleep through Samani’s pain-ridden howls. It was only after Rodyn started hollering that Ariadne woke up. The pain in his voice was alarming, causing her nerves to fray as she tried to get her bearings and figure out what was happening. She was unsure of what had happened, but she could only speculate that something had gone terribly wrong. Quickly, she thought of her sister and the unborn children she carried—but she didn’t entertain those thoughts too long. She couldn’t.

She stumbled out of her den and into the night, the salt air slapping her in the face as she whipped her head around. She had no idea where she was or where she was doing; all she could do was follow the sound of the alpha’s cries. When she found out where she was headed, she took off and ran faster than she had in recent memory.

The smell of blood and excretion was overwhelming, and it took everything in her to avoid throwing up. But there was something intertwined in the death and decay—life and birth. There was hope hidden in the details. She lingered on their doorstep, intuition cautioning her to not barge in.

“Rodyn, Samani,” she called, her mouth drying. As she searched, her stomach twisted and she realized that her worst fears were taking hold. This was bad—even worse than she’d initially anticipated.

“S-Samani,” she repeated, voice hitching and eyes wetting with tears. “Tell me what is going on.”