Carter Blair is the glue. They've known that for a while. And he holds a lot of titles. Best Friend. Honorary brother. Unanimously elected pack mom. But that last one he'd wave off and say he ran unopposed, so it doesn't count. Humble, kind, and a bunch of other 'good person' adjectives. Yeah, he's the glue. And it makes sense. But it's not exactly a shock when he falls in bed with the Alpha and everything just feels... right. But happiness never lasts long for them. Especially Carter. Definitely not Oliver. And when he's dragged into the woods by a coven hellbent on their destruction, he dies, leaving them all behind to pick up the thousand tiny shards. Because those woods so close to their town are dark and dangerous and deep and all that poetic stuff. It seems like a hill too large, too monumental for any of them to climb. Because losing him means more than falling apart. Losing Carter Blair, the glue, means having no one to talk to, no one to push them forward, no one to remind them what they're fighting for every single day. Losing him means the end of their family, their pack. Losing him means their Alpha, Oliver McCall, cannot find it in himself to function. But his mate is gone and they all get it. And yet, if the Alpha can't move on, they're all doomed. Oliver and his pack are the last line, the
only
line, of defense for the literal beacon of mystical forces that threatens everything they hold dear. So, Daniel Markham, their supernatural ambassador and guide, keeps fighting. He keeps pushing. He stands up, packs his bag to the brim, and he makes the long trek out to that wretched, demon-infested forest with the one shining soul still in it, determined to help guide him back to the land of the living. Because the world, their world, needs its glue.
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