Where Soft Light Shines Darkness Fades From Tired Hearts by Evan Holt Crane 133

Third Person’s POV

Finished

Cassian stood among the crowd of parents in his black business suit, his tall frame and stoic, controlled aura making him impossible to miss.

He was down on one knee, tying Algernon’s shoelaces with a focus that was unusually patient.

Once finished, he ruffled the boy’s hair and scooped him up into his arms, his voice dropping into a natural, low rumble. “Mom’s tied up with work today and couldn’t make it.”

He paused. “Tell me what you want for dinner tonight.”

Algernon leaned against his shoulder, his eyes suddenly lighting up. He pointed a small hand across the

street.

“Trista!”

F SP

Cassian’s gaze followed the boy’s finger.

Trista was standing there in the fading twilight.

Her tall figure was wrapped in an off–white coat, her long hair cascading over her shoulders like polished silk, the ends curling slightly.

Across the short distance, their eyes locked.

For a heartbeat, the air shifted.

Trista’s expression didn’t flicker.

She raised her phone with a steady, clinical precision–focused, and hit the shutter.

On her screen, Cassian was captured holding Algernon at the gates of the development center. The shot was clear and complete–a cold, undeniable piece of evidence.

She tucked her phone away without giving him a second look.

Cassian’s eyes darkened.

In that instant, his Alpha aura flared like a struck match, surging from within.

He handed the boy off to the driver and started toward Trista, his stride steady but carrying a frantic edge he couldn’t quite suppress.

But before he could take more than a few steps, Trista had already climbed into a taxi.

The door slammed, the taillights flashed, and she vanished into the stream of traffic.

Cassian stopped dead. He watched the direction she disappeared in, his knuckles whitening as he balled his

hands into fists.

15:14 Fri, Jan 2 KIRA

Finished

The lingering trace of her familiar scent was quickly swallowed by the city’s grime, leaving only his own pheromones to sink into the cold wind–sharp and hollow, like a night in the Ironthorn territory.

Three years of a mating bond, and six months of being worlds apart.

Now that they were face to face, silence laid over them like a thin sheet of ice, covering every emotion that should have exploded.

Perhaps neither of them expected to reunite like this: at the gates of a kindergarten, surrounded by noisy parents, while he was holding another woman’s child.

“Uncle Cassian, I want a burger!”

Algernon shouted, tugging on Cassian’s leg several times.

Only then did Cassian tear his gaze away from where Trista had left, feeling as though a leash had been violently snapped.

His Alpha aura surged briefly before he crushed it back down, reverting to that calm, impenetrable Ironthorn composure.

He put Algernon in the car, his voice devoid of emotion. “Let’s go to KFC.”

Over an hour later, Fred found Cassian parked outside Samantha’s apartment.

He pulled up haphazardly, walked over to Cassian’s window, and didn’t even bother with a greeting. He just pointed toward the community gates. “Trista’s back in town. Instead of finding her, what the hell are you doing here?”

Cassian looked up at Fred.

His eyes were like bottomless water, hiding a restless wolf and a mess of irritation he refused to admit.

He didn’t explain; he just sat there in silence.

Fred’s voice turned even sharper. “Trista is back. Is she still wearing that priceless pink diamond ring you bought her? Or has it already been ground into scrap metal by this rotting bond of yours?”

Cassian’s Adam’s apple bobbed, as if he were swallowing something bitter.

He avoided the question, his voice clinical. “We crossed paths at the kindergarten today.”

Fred let out a scoffing laugh, the kind born of pure frustration. “Trista is abroad for six months and you don’t even send a ‘hello,’ because you’re too busy playing daddy to someone else’s kid. If I were Trista, I’d be barfing my guts out right now.”

Cassian’s expression didn’t change much.

But the air inside the car grew noticeably heavier, his pheromones dropping like cold iron against the skin.

“Samantha couldn’t get off work,” he said slowly. “She had no other choice but to call me.”

He paused. “Trista’s staying for good this time. We have plenty of time.”

15:14 Fri, Jan 2 G

Finished

Fred stared at him like he was seeing a stranger. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You think time is some kind of werewolf medicine? You think if you just drag this out, a fractured bond is just going to heal itself?”

Cassian didn’t answer.

He just stared ahead, his grip tightening on the steering wheel and then slowly letting go, fighting the primal urge to hunt her down and mark her right then and there.

Fred finally gave up on the lecture. “I’m throwing a welcome dinner for Trista tomorrow night. Be there.”

The window rolled up, cutting off his voice.

Cassian sat in the car, staring silently at the apartment gates.

Behind those gates were Samantha and Algernon–his so–called “responsibility.” Outside those gates was his true mate, and the bond he had personally shattered.

He didn’t start the engine.

Like an Alpha standing at a crossroads, he knew exactly which path led to his territory, yet his feet remained bound by chains of his own making.

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Sara Lili

Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.