Chapter: EpilogueThe fog had finally lifted, and the world felt impossibly still. The coast stretched beneath us, cliffs jagged and fierce, waves rolling in endless rhythm. The ocean smelled like salt and freedom, a promise that maybe — just maybe — we had survived.I leaned into Nico’s chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart beneath my ear. His arms wrapped around me, firm and unyielding, a shield I didn’t want to let go of. Every muscle in my body ached, but the soreness didn’t matter. I was alive. He was alive. And we were together.“I never thought we’d make it,” I whispered, my voice hoarse, barely audible over the ocean’s roar.Nico pressed a kiss to the top of my head, fingers threading into my hair with that familiar, possessive tenderness. “I never stopped thinking we would. You… you were the reason.”I lifted my head to look at him, tracing the line of his jaw with my eyes, noticing the cuts and dirt smeared across his skin. He looked like war and heartbreak and survival all wrapped into
Huling Na-update: 2025-10-24
Chapter: Through fire and fog NicoThe fog had thinned slightly, revealing twisted rock and jagged terrain, but danger was everywhere. Shadows moved in the distance — scouts, reinforcements, men who hadn’t given up yet. Every step we took was measured, deliberate, and soaked in blood and fear.Serena pressed against my side, her hand clinging to mine, trembling. Her face was pale, streaked with mud and dried blood, but alive. That was all that mattered. All that had ever mattered.“Stay close,” I whispered, scanning the ridge with the rifle I could barely hold steady. “They won’t give up until one of us is dead.”Luca and Matteo moved ahead, silent and deadly. Their eyes were sharp, scanning the fog. Weapons poised, every muscle ready. We had survived ambushes before, but nothing like this — nothing like what waited for us here.Then the first shot rang out, sharp, close. Pain tore through my chest as instinct surged — dive, move, return fire. The fight was on.SerenaThe first bullet tore through the mist, embedd
Huling Na-update: 2025-10-24
Chapter: Edge of the stormSerenaThe shelter was nothing more than a crumbling rock overhang, jagged and uneven, but it offered a momentary reprieve. I pressed myself against the cold stone, shivering, trying to steady my breathing. Every muscle ached, my side throbbed with each inhale, and every sound of the mountains — snapping branches, distant rocks tumbling — made my heart spike.Nico crouched beside me, eyes scanning the fog-shrouded peaks, hand resting lightly on my back. “You’re hurt more than you’re letting me see,” he murmured, voice low, taut with worry.“I’m fine,” I whispered, though the tremor in my hands betrayed me. “I can move.”He didn’t argue. Instead, he reached for my wrist, pressing it against my side, checking for bleeding, his thumb brushing over my skin. Every touch was electricity, every glance a lifeline. “We’re not safe yet,” he said, voice rough. “Stay close. Don’t move unless I say.”From the ridge above, I heard Luca’s voice, steady and precise. “We’ve got eyes on movement. Scout
Huling Na-update: 2025-10-24
Chapter: The breath between usSerenaMy legs burned with every step, my side a sharp, gnawing pain that refused to fade. The fog clung to me like a living thing, hiding the world and twisting every shape into something threatening. My breath came ragged, each inhale a knife in my chest.And then I heard it — a rustle, deliberate, familiar. My heart skipped, and my stomach tightened. He’s close.I stumbled forward, hand clutching the necklace like a lifeline, eyes straining through the thick gray. My boots slipped on wet rocks, mud spraying my legs. I fell hard, hands scraping against moss-covered stone, but a low, ragged voice cut through the fog.“Serena!”My chest nearly shattered. Relief, terror, and disbelief collided inside me. I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the pain, stumbling toward the sound. Every second felt like a lifetime. Every heartbeat screamed that he was near, that he was alive, that he hadn’t given up.And then — a shadow moved ahead, blurred but unmistakable—his silhouette.I gasped, calling h
Huling Na-update: 2025-10-24
Chapter: Shadows between usSerenaThe mountain narrowed, jagged rocks forcing me to crawl at times, my side screaming with every shift. Fog pressed against me, damp and suffocating, hiding everything — the cabin, the world I had known, and Nico. I stumbled over a root and fell hard against the wet earth, gasping. My hands were slick with blood and mud, slipping over stones.A sharp wind carried a faint sound: a footstep? A whisper? I froze, heart hammering. My ears strained, every branch snap a potential threat. I pressed my back against the rock face, barely daring to breathe. The fog moved like a living thing, curling around me, hiding predators and salvation alike.My fingers brushed something metallic. My necklace, half-buried in the mud from yesterday. I clutched it like a talisman, drawing a shallow, desperate breath. I couldn’t stop. Not now. Not ever.The mountain seemed endless, each ridge and dip hiding shadows, each sound magnified. I could hear the faint murmur of the river far below, a distant, con
Huling Na-update: 2025-10-24
Chapter: Echoes in the fogSerenaThe mountains were silent, except for the whisper of fog through the trees and the distant, cruel crash of waves far below. My legs screamed with every step, muscles trembling, blood searing through the side I hadn’t even realized had been cut. My breaths came shallow and fast, each inhale tasting of salt, smoke, and fear.I paused, pressed against a rock, forehead slick with sweat and rain. My hands were trembling so badly I could barely grasp the pistol I’d kept tucked at my waist. I couldn’t see more than a few feet in front of me; the fog was a living thing, curling around the trees, swallowing the world.I tried to tell myself it was only a moment — only a stretch of fog and wet rock separating me from safety. Nico was alive. Luca was alive. But the echoes of yesterday’s chaos reverberated in my head: the warehouse, the shattered glass, Matteo, the blood. And worst of all, the memory of Nico’s eyes as the cabin fell apart, realizing I was gone.I swallowed the lump in my t
Huling Na-update: 2025-10-24
Chapter: Epilogue: Dawn After the StormWeeks had passed since the battle. The courtyard, once scarred by chaos and blood, now gleamed in the morning light, polished and orderly as though the world itself had been reset. The warriors went about their routines with a new steadiness, a confidence born from surviving the storm, but the memory of that dawn—the clash of silver and shadow, the roar of the pack, and Dane’s vanquished threat—still lingered in every corner of the castle.I stood on the balcony of our chamber, Lucian at my side, fingers entwined with mine. The valley below stretched in quiet splendor, fields frosted with the lingering chill of early spring and rivers glinting silver beneath the rising sun. Birds sang in cautious notes, as if testing whether the world had truly healed.“You’re quiet,” Lucian said, voice low, teasing, though I could hear the softness behind it.“I’m… happy,” I admitted, leaning into him. The warmth of his body against mine was steady, grounding, a constant I hadn’t realized I’d been cr
Huling Na-update: 2025-09-12
Chapter: The last fightArielleThe first light of dawn bled across the horizon, cold and sharp, painting the courtyard in gray and silver. Shadows clung to the walls like dark memories, reluctant to let go, but the chill didn’t touch the fire coiling in my veins.I flexed my hands, feeling the silver hum beneath my skin, no longer a restless, raging tide but a sharpened blade waiting for a strike. Lucian’s presence at my side was a tether, steadying and familiar, and yet… my pulse thrummed for him and against him all at once. He didn’t need to speak. I could feel the promise in the set of his shoulders, the weight of his calm readiness pressing into mine.From the trees, movement stirred. A ripple of shapes, low and predatory. Dane’s pack. Their growls and snarls rolled across the courtyard, testing, probing, hungry.I closed my eyes, letting the sound settle like a stone in my chest. Not yet. Not until the right moment.Lucian leaned closer, his breath brushing the side of my neck. “Remember,” he murmured,
Huling Na-update: 2025-09-12
Chapter: And then whatArielleThe howl tore through the night like a blade.It wasn’t just sound—it was a claim. A reminder. A promise of ruin.Every muscle in my body went rigid. The silver inside me flared in recognition, writhing as though it had heard the voice of a master it refused to obey. I pressed a hand to my chest, breath short, fighting to hold it down. Not now. Not like this.Lucian’s hand dropped from my cheek to my shoulder, anchoring me. His presence steadied me the way stone steadies a crumbling wall. But even stone cracks under enough weight.Another howl followed, closer this time, joined by a chorus of answering voices. The pack. They filled the night with their hunger, a sound that slithered through the trees and over the walls, seeding doubt in every heart within earshot.The courtyard stirred again. Warriors rushed to the battlements, blades flashing, faces hard with terror they didn’t want to admit. The silence that had held us fractured into whispers.“He’s calling them.”“They’ll
Huling Na-update: 2025-09-11
Chapter: The silence beforeArielleThe horn stopped after the third call.It left the courtyard in a silence more suffocating than noise, every warrior’s breath visible in the frost, every hand tight on a weapon. The firelight flickered against armor and steel, painting shadows that looked too much like shapes moving in the night.But no attack came. Not yet.Lucian’s orders shifted from battle-readiness to waiting. Scouts slipped beyond the walls, fading into the darkness with only the crunch of snow to mark their passage. Those left behind held their breath as if the sound alone might summon Dane.I hated waiting.The silver stirred restlessly in my veins, a low pulse against my skin, whispering to be used. It felt him, too—I was sure of it. Like a storm scenting the air before the first strike of lightning.Lucian stayed near, his presence steady even as his eyes tracked every shadow. When he finally spoke, it was in a voice low enough only I could hear.“He’s testing us. Waiting to see if we’ll break before
Huling Na-update: 2025-09-08
Chapter: FirelightLucianThe night was sharp with cold, the kind that crept under armor and whispered against bone. I had circled the stronghold twice, my boots crunching over frost, my eyes on every torch and every shadow. It should have eased me, knowing the wards were set, the scouts posted, the walls strong. But nothing could still the unease.War was coming. We had chosen it. But Dane—Dane would welcome it.When I returned, I didn’t find Arielle in her chamber. I found her in the training hall, alone.Torches burned low, their light restless as she moved through the stances I’d taught her. Each strike of her blade was deliberate, sharper than the last, though her ribs were still bound and her body bore the bruises of our last battle. She was breaking herself against silence.And the storm inside her simmered, straining for release.“You should be resting,” I said, leaning against the doorway.Her blade halted mid-arc, then lowered slowly. Her eyes didn’t waver from me. “Resting won’t make me ready
Huling Na-update: 2025-09-08
Chapter: The what comes next??ArielleThe fire in the hearth burned low, the smoke stinging my lungs in ways the storm had not. I stood in the center of the council chamber, shoulders squared though my body still ached, every bruise and torn muscle screaming at me to sit. But I wouldn’t—not here, not in front of them.They had gathered in silence. Elders with silver in their hair, warriors with bandaged arms and split brows, scouts who smelled of dirt and blood. They didn’t look at me the way they looked at Lucian. Their gazes lingered longer, wary, edged with something sharp.Fear.The word cut through me like glass.I had expected gratitude. Respect, maybe. Not this. Not the silence that wrapped tighter with every second I stood there.Lucian shifted at my side, a quiet presence, his eyes scanning the room, daring anyone to speak first.It was one of the elders who finally did. His voice was rough, like gravel. “We saw what you unleashed.”The words were not accusation—not yet—but they weren’t trust, either.My
Huling Na-update: 2025-09-07
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