Novels by Jokes Writes

Freya’s PovI don’t know how long I just sat there after Viktor walked out.Time didn’t exist anymore. There was only the cold biting into my butt through the stone, the cuffs that felt like they were fusing to my skin, and this huge, empty hole inside where I used to feel… anything.Across the way, Connor and Jessica were finally asleep, sort of. They’d curled up against each other like puppies trying to stay warm. Their wounds were bandaged, kind of. Enough to stop the bleeding, but they were gonna have some nasty scars. Inside and out.Same as me.I let my eyes close. Too tired to keep them open. Too broken to give a damn.This is what losing feels like, I thought, the idea floating somewhere far away. This is what being broken actually is.Then footsteps. Fast ones. More than one person.I didn’t even bother opening my eyes. Whatever fresh hell Viktor had lined up, I didn’t have the energy to care.“...gotta move now,” one of his wolves was saying, voice low and urgent. “Scouts ju

Freya’s PovI’ve completely lost track of time.No windows. No sunlight. Just this one stupid torch flickering by the entrance, throwing shaky shadows all over the walls. I don’t know if it’s morning, night, or what day it even is anymore. I just know my whole body hurts from sitting on this freezing stone floor, the cuffs keep getting heavier somehow, and the place inside me where my power used to live… it’s just this raw, empty ache now.Across from me, Jessica finally cried herself out and passed out, curled up against Connor. He’s still awake though, eyes glassy and too bright, that wound on his chest looking uglier by the minute. Definitely infected. If he doesn’t get help soon, he might not even make it to the full moon.Not that any of us are making it that far anyway.Footsteps. More than one set this time.I make myself sit up straighter, lift my chin. They’re not getting the satisfaction of seeing me crumpled. Not yet.Viktor strolls in first, calm as anything, followed by t

George's PovMorning came in cold and gray, which felt about right.I hadn’t slept. Not even close. Every time I shut my eyes, the twin bond lit up like a raw nerve, Freya scared, hurting, forcing herself not to break. I couldn’t tell where she was, not even close, but I could feel her pain like it was sitting in my chest.And it was wrecking me.“You should’ve rested,” Evie said quietly, stepping up beside me with a canteen. She’d insisted on joining the search party, no matter how much I argued. My mate had a real talent for ignoring common sense.“Couldn’t.” I took the water and drank without thinking. “The bond won’t let me. I can feel her, Evie. Her fear. Her pain. You don’t sleep through that.”“You won’t help her if you collapse.” She touched my arm, firm but gentle. “You matter too, George.”“I’ll rest when she’s safe.” I handed the canteen back. “How’s Dane?”Her jaw tightened. “Bad. He hasn’t shifted back since we found the decoy camp. Just pacing in wolf form, snapping at a

Freya's Pov I had no idea how long I’d been in that cage. Hours, maybe longer. Time didn’t work right without my power. Without that steady hum of goddess energy, everything felt off, like my internal clock had just… stopped.All that was left was emptiness.Across from me, Jessica and Connor were curled together in their own cell. Jessica wasn’t crying anymore, but her face was blotchy and pale, tears still drying on her cheeks. Connor’s chest wound had stopped bleeding, but it looked bad red, swollen, angry. He needed a doctor.We all did.None of us were getting one.“Freya?” Jessica whispered. Her voice shook. “What’s going to happen to us?”I wanted to lie. Tell her Dane would burst in any second. Tell her this was temporary. Tell her we’d all walk out of here.But I couldn’t do that.“I don’t know,” I said quietly. “But we’re not giving up. We survive this. All of us. Okay?”Connor nodded, weak but determined. Jessica just stared at me, terror wide in her eyes.Footsteps echoed

Dane's Pov“DANE! Stop!”George’s voice sliced through the red fog in my head. Hands clamped onto my shoulders, hard, keeping me from finishing the shift as my wolf tore at my skin, desperate to get out.“Let me go!” The words came out rough, half a snarl. My teeth were already down, vision burning gold. “She’s out there. She’s hurt. She’s scared. I need to...”“You need to think.” George shook me once, sharp and deliberate. “Losing your mind won’t save her. You charge in like this, you die. Is that what Freya needs?”The words barely landed. My wolf was roaring, demanding blood, demanding movement, demanding we hunt down whoever touched our mate and tear them apart.“Dane.”That voice calm, heavy, impossible to ignore.“Look at me. Now.”The Alpha command in it still worked, even if he no longer held the title. I locked eyes with my father. Marcus stood solid in front of me, jaw tight, gaze steady.“I know exactly what you’re feeling,” he said quietly. “When your mother was taken, I

Selene's PovTWO WEEKS AGOThe warehouse reeked of rust and rot. The kind of smell that clung to your clothes and never really left. It sat at the edge of nowhere, forgotten, collapsing in slow motion.Selene was curled up on a stained mattress shoved into one corner. That was it. The only furniture in the whole damn place.Home. For the past month, anyway. Ever since Dane threw her out.Exile.The word still burned. Still tasted bitter every time it crossed her mind.They’d caught her. Proof and all, meetings with Viktor, information passed along piece by piece. She could still see Dane’s face when he confronted her. The rage, sure. But worse than that was the hurt. That look almost killed her more than his claws ever could have.She’d expected death. Hell, she’d welcomed it.Instead, he spared her.Banished her.Big fucking mercy.She tugged the thin blanket tighter around herself. The warehouse was always cold. Holes in the roof. Shattered windows. No heat, no protection. She survi

Raiden’s Pov Day 14, dawn. Thirteen days left. I set up camp right at the lip of the crater. Close enough that I can see her, really see her. Far enough that the leftover silver energy doesn’t start peeling my skin off in strips. The wolves think I’ve lost it. Honestly? They’re probably not wrong. “Alpha, you need to sleep,” Senna says. Again. Third time in an hour. “You’ve been up for a full day straight, you’re bleeding in like six places, and the pack...” “The pack’s got you.” I don’t take my eyes off the glowing silver shape floating in the middle of all that ruin. “Deal with it.” “Raiden...” “Order, Beta.” She flinches. I never snap rank at her like that. Feels like kicking a puppy. She walks away without another word. I can’t move. Can’t think about anything except Nyssa burning alive in there by herself. Kael said three days. Three days of this… whatever this is. Either she comes out immortal or she comes out dead. And all I can do is watch. Again. Helpless. Ho

Nyssa’s PovDay 14, midnight. 13 days left.The second I step inside that ring of chained-up skeletons, the altar wakes up.These old symbols carved into the black stone start glowing bright, cold silver. Same exact shade as the fire licking across my palms right now.Kael’s pacing around me, slow and deliberate, knife in one hand, the other dragging along the edge of the altar like he’s caressing it.“Last chance, Silver Blade,” he says, voice almost gentle. “Give me the blood willingly. Let me tweak the curse. Raiden gets to keep breathing, you go quick and easy. Everybody wins.”“Except me, obviously.”“You’re dying anyway.” He stops walking. Looks me dead in the eye. “I can see it eating you alive. Hands shaking. Silver creeping up your neck, streaking into your hair. Few more hours and there won’t be anything human left in you.”I let the fire flare brighter. “Good.”He actually laughs. “Good?”“I was never trying to stay human.” My voice comes out steadier than I feel. “Humans d

Nyssa's POVDay 14, Evening. 13 days left. Four hours until midnight.We find a room on the second floor that hasn’t completely fallen apart.A bedroom. King-sized bed. Mattress probably rotted through, but the frame’s still holding. Windows looking out over the courtyard where our pack is camped.I can see Garrett holding Lily. Senna pacing. Wolves on edge, waiting for us to come back, or die trying.“They think we’re not coming back,” I mutter.Raiden steps up behind me, wraps his arms around my waist.“They might be right.”“Always so optimistic.”“One of my best qualities.”I lean back, let his warmth ground me. The silver on my skin burns hotter now, spreading fast. Up my neck, into my hairline. Soon it’ll be everywhere.“I need to tell you the plan,” I whisper.“I’m listening.”“The curse… it needs willing sacrifice. Blood for blood. Life for life.”“Nyssa...”“Let me finish.” I turn in his arms, face him. “Kael thinks he can use my blood to rewrite the curse. Make it serve him.

Nyssa's POVDay 14, Early Afternoon. 13 days left.The mansion feels alive, in the worst way. Like it remembers everything.Every room we pass is a story I don’t want to read. Portrait halls with faces ripped out. Bedrooms draped in sheets thick with dust. A nursery where the crib is shattered, splintered like something clawed its way free.“This is where my father grew up,” Raiden says quietly. “Where his father died. And his father before that.”“Cheerful place,” I mutter.“The curse didn’t just kill mates. It poisoned everything. This estate, it’s sick,” he says, running a hand along the wall. The wallpaper peels at his touch. “After my grandfather died, my father swore he’d never come back. Said the place is haunted by every Shadowfang who died screaming.”“Is it?”“I don’t know. But… it feels like something’s watching.”And he’s not wrong.I can feel it too. Eyes in the walls, breath in the shadows, the heavy press of old death.The silver on my face tingles. Responding to… somet

Nyssa’s PovDay 14. Noon. Thirteen days left.The estate is a corpse.No other word fits. Three stories of rotting grandeur. Windows like empty eye sockets. Vines creeping up the walls, twisting like veins, not plants. Everything smells of decay, of old death.The silver gate slams shut behind us with a clang like a coffin lid. I grab the bars, yank. Nothing.“It’s locked,” Kael calls from the mansion steps. “Blood lock. Only opens for Shadowfang blood. Mine.”Raiden shifts back to human, furious, naked fury.“Open it.”“Nope,” Kael says, sitting like he’s got all the time in the world. “See, this estate was built on the exact spot the curse was anchored. That clearing? Just a stage. The real power—it’s here. In these bones. Every Alpha for six generations died here. It’s soaked in curse magic.”“What’s your point?” I ask, jaw tight.“You can’t leave,” he says. “Not until I let you. And here’s the deal. Give me what I want—or I kill everyone you care about. Starting with you, Silver B

Nyssa’s PovDay 14. Mid-morning. Thirteen days left.The forest changes as we head north.Not the normal kind of dark you expect under thick trees. This is wrong-dark. Like something rotted underneath and the treesigger trees are trying to lean away from it. Branches twist. Trunks curve. Even the air feels off, heavy in my lungs.We’ve been walking for two hours.No one talks.Just boots crunching over dead leaves. A branch snapping now and then. Too loud every time.The wolves keep their distance from me.They’re subtle about it, but I notice. Always just out of reach. No one walking directly behind me. No accidental brushes. And when I look at them, their eyes slide away like they’ve been caught doing something they shouldn’t.They’re scared of me.Fair.The power under my skin won’t sit still. It coils and presses against my bones, like it’s trying to tear its way out. Keeping it contained takes focus. Constant, exhausting focus.Like holding your breath forever.Raiden falls into