Novels by Western.R

Cassian's POVI watched, as if a bomb with a time-delay fuse had gone off in that assembly, chaos unfolding as Grandmother Thea’s proposal detonated through the group. The stone circle turned into a boiling pot of passionate, fearful rivalries. Wolves howling over one another, growing in desperation. Disputes, breaking out like f besetting each other — fires that could flicker and spread out to incite everything.For some wolves this was liberation from cosmic manipulation they had never consented to. “We ought to pick our own partners!” a young Luna yelled from somewhere in the crowd. Her voice caught with feeling. “Not let the Goddess choose for us, according to bloodlines and purposes we never signed on for! "My mate bond has brought me nothing but pain, forced together by divine spirit instead of out of true desire!"Others were equally passionate and desperate in their defense of divine guidance. Without the blessing we are just animals! an older Alpha argued. His voice reflected

Lyra's POVI approached the chest slowly. Conscious of hundreds of eyes upon my every move. Every expression. Searching for evidence of fear or hesitance or anger.Grandmother Thea made her terms clear and publicly known. Review the evidence honestly. Return the answer in the presence of all witnesses. No hiding. No spinning. Just truth.“If you don’t,” Thea said with perfect clarity, “we will know that you are afraid of what the evidence shows. That you defend lies instead of facing ugly truth. Morgana dies and these witnesses realize the Guardian values her own certainty more than either honesty or loyalty.”The trap was elegant. Deny and show I was scared of the truth. Embrace and possibly obliterate all that the new order was erected upon.I made my choice. "I accept your terms. I will examine the evidence publicly and respond truthfully no matter what I discover. Now release Morgana as agreed."I gestured to the wolves that had her. They cut her bonds. Morgana stumbled forward. K

Draven's POVI organized security for Lyra’s public confrontation with military precision. It was the most dangerous operation we had ever undertaken. Not the fighting, which we could manage, but the visibility. All that went awry would take place before all. No controlling the narrative afterward. There is no spindling this into something not dire.Hundreds of wolves were converging upon the established rendezvous point. Not only backers of the new order. Curious skeptics. Traditionalists who wished to see the Guardian humbled. Reprobates who had been reformed but still questioned divine authority. Wolves from all territory and tribes coming into one spot.It was at once a brilliant and terrifying transparency strategy. Brilliant, because it stripped the old order of power to control information. Because any error would be witnessed and judged in real time.I positioned teams strategically. Visible peacekeepers to keep the crowd calm. Covert extraction teams on standby to pull Lyra o

*Lyra's POVI was staring at the message of the old order. I read it thrice looking for some angle I had missed. Some means of escape from the snare they had so carefully laid.Morgana had given herself up trying to help. Going behind enemy lines knowing to be discovered meant death. It just seemed like abandoning her now would be betraying everything the new order was meant to be about.But entering an obvious trap could upend everything we had worked for. The Guardian captured or killed. Gone, the symbolic heart of reform. The new order, whose leaders were lost at the worst possible moment.When we met to discuss options for a response, the Guardian Council was deeply divided.“Morgana understood the inherent risks when she volunteered,” one council member countered. "She went in with eyes open. We cannot risk the life of the Guardian to save one infiltrator, no matter how priceless her sacrifice.”“We not gonna abandon people who serve us,” another responded. "What message does tha

Cassian's POVWhen I reached Stoneclaw, Alpha Brennan lay dying. The pack house had a quiet, the particular kind of stillness that descends when all know death is imminent. Wolves glided down the hall speaking in whispers. The air was thick with looming loss.Brennan’s room was on the second floor. Simple furnishings. Traditional pack decorations. Nothing ostentatious. He had always been a wolf who cared more about function than display.He was lying in bed, barely conscious. He could barely breathe; his breaths were shallow and wheezy. It sounded as if each breath he took cost him effort he could scarcely spare. The body had been broken beyond its endurance by age and stress and guilt.But when he saw me walk in, clarity came to his eyes for a moment. As if he had been saving that one specifically for this talk. Waiting despite the pain.“Thank you for coming,” Brennan said, quietly. He sounded faint but firm. “I had to say something before I leave. Had to tell you that I am sorry.”

Draven's POVThat Marcus was a traitor had rocked the entire Guardian Council organization. Impeccable trust painstakingly developed over months disintegrated in an instant.I took it upon myself to lead the security overhaul right away. Every member would face a thorough investigation. Every protocol examined for vulnerabilities. Reviewed and restricted all access to information.It was painful work. Will destroy the collaborative atmosphere that we worked so hard to build. But necessary.I put in place things I hated myself. Surveillance on council members. Guilty until proven innocent verification systems. Limited access to information on a need-to-know basis rather than position. Background checks that spanned generations.“We are becoming the thing we fought against,” one council member objected at an oversight meeting. "Surveillance. Suspicion. Seeing one another as potential enemies. This is exactly what we did in the old Council.”My response was grim. "No. We are learning tha

After one full day of plotting , the next day started with Valentina casually walking into Lucas's room, dressed in a sweatshirt that didn’t belong to her and holding a cup of coffee. She leaned against the doorway like she had all the time in the world.“I want to take you out,” she said.Lucas looked up from what he was doing, amused. “Take me out?”“Yes. On a proper date. I should be the man for once.”He leaned back in his chair. “Should I be worried?”“Maybe,” she said, teasing. “But I’ll need to borrow your jet. Since, you know, I don’t have one yet.”He blinked, then chuckled. “You want to fly somewhere for this date?”She raised her brows. “Unless you want to drive for eleven hours or you're busy which you're not. I checked in with slutty Nancy and she said you've got a few meetings but they are not that important. So schedule cleared for a while”He looked at her for a moment longer. Then shrugged. “Alright. Where are we going?”“Just pack light. You’ll find out.”~They both

The office had good emptied out slowly. Val had stayed behind with Lucas for a while longer, finishing a few paperwork notes Nancy handed off, before finally closing up and walking out with him. The sun was already dipping low over the horizon, casting warm gold tones across the building's glass as they rode home in silence with Rue curled on the backseat, asleep.But Val wasn’t in the mood to go straight home. Something had been simmering quietly inside her lately, a weird craving she couldn’t shake. She'd been thinking about it all week—the buttered crab from the luxury hotel restaurant downtown. Ever since she tasted it at one of those formal events Lucas had dragged her to months ago, she hadn’t stopped thinking about it.So after changing into something more casual and pulling her hair into a high, effortless bun, she grabbed Lucas' card, slipped on a pair of loafers, and told Lucas she'd be back. Before he'd say a think, she added she was going to take the guards, and would get

Olive had been up since dawn, scrolling through old photos, digging through archives, comparing blurry party shots and tagged group pictures—names she couldn't trace, faces that weren’t in any employment system, guests whose identities seemed too clean to be real.She was this close to going crazy.She never knew it was going to be this hard. It's excruciating.She hadn’t made much headway. Most leads had led nowhere. But today she hoped everything would fall into their places for fucking once. She can't handle another disappointed look from Lucas. He wanted her to go back to driving until he found something different for her to work on again, but she got itchy butt sitting in the car for too long thinking of ways to make him proud of her, to wipe the disappointment off his face, and only came to one conclusion. She had to dig up something spicy to shake the earth.Okay, maybe that was a little far.But as long as he doesn't look disappointed, she was okay and good to go.Olive parked

Lucas hadn’t planned to let her tag along, obviously he'd love that but look at the down side, there's no fucking way he'd be able to concentrate at work.She was a fucking distraction.Valentina rarely asked for things from him, monetarily, emotitionally and physically. His world outside their home had always felt like something she only half belonged to—something she kept a cautious distance from. But that morning, while he buttoned his shirt and checked his phone for the fourth time, she asked quietly, "Can I come with you today?" She was hesitant, he could hear it in her voice.He looked up from his screen to meet her gaze. She wasn’t dressed yet, just standing by the side of the bed in one of his shirts, her hair still damp from the shower.Did she think he would say no? Hell would freeze before he would. He'd gladly let her distract him from work over and over. He was that whipped.So smiled so adorably he felt his heart swell he could barely breathe.This woman would be the dea

Olive returned to Bellavista Hills just pastsix in the morning. Her boots were muddy, her hoodie stuck slightly to her back with sweat, and there was a dull ache behind her eyes from a lack of sleep. She let herself into the staff quarters through the side entrance and made a beeline for the kitchen.The house was already half-awake. A cleaner vacuumed upstairs before making her way out to the main mansion and someone had opened the drapes in the hallway. The sun early spilled across the tile floors in pale stripes.She opened the general fridge, grabbed the orange juice, and drank straight from the bottle. Her back leaned against the cold marble counter, and she exhaled like someone who had narrowly survived something she hadn’t even fully processed yet.It had been a long night.And she needed a power nap.~Valentina had the day off, a rare one, and she didn't plan to waste it inside. She tied Rue’s leash and stepped outside, sunglasses pushed up her nose, her hoodie oversized and

It had rained again earlier, and the pavement outside the studio still glistened from the aftermath, reflecting streaks of dull gold from the late afternoon sun. Val walked toward her car slowly, fingers still adjusting the edge of her sunglasses where they rested in her hair. The shoot had dragged longer than she’d hoped. The new makeup artist couldn’t seem to match her tone, and her feet ached from standing in heels since morning.She wasn’t alone, though. Aisha walked a few feet ahead, chatting idly with Justin, who carried two large tote bags full of product samples they had collected to test before the release. Laina was trailing behind Val, texting someone with her head low and her bag slung over her shoulder oblivious of her sorrounding or her job, but val cared less, she just wanted to get home.The line of black cars was parked along the curb. Val had just reached for the handle of hers when a man’s voice cut through the distant sounds of traffic.“Valentina?”She turned slow