Novels by IMEX EVAN

The plan was simple. Too simple. Which meant it might actually work.I outlined the plan quickly. "We camp at the old watchtower ruins. The one we passed two miles back. It's three miles from your border, close enough that your scouts can reach us if we need backup, far enough that the hunters will think we're still running scared.""And then what?""Then we let them come.""At least this way, we choose when they find us. Where they find us,” I said. "It's insane," Kael said."It might work," Darius countered.Kael looked between us like we'd both lost our minds."If even one of them gets past us?""They won't." I stepped closer to him. "You won't let them. And if they do…" I took a breath. "I can protect myself now. You've seen what I can do.""You can barely control it.""Then I'll learn.""By putting yourself in danger?""By making my own choices." The words came out harder than I intended. "I'm tired of running, Kael. I'm tired of being protected like I'm helpless.Kael stared a

Dawn came, and the neutral territory checkpoint emerged from the mist like a ghost, a watchtower used to mark the border between territories.“We rest here, two hours, then we continue moving."Kael said.I agreed without hesitation.Two hours wouldn't be enough, I could see it in the way Kael's shoulders dropped. His jaw was clenched too tightly, his breathing low. He was hurting, though he would never admit it.Darius rested his back against the tower wall with a grunt. "Your father will hear you escaped within the hour.""I do know that."Darius’s eyes stayed sharp, even though exhaustion weighed on him. “You do not understand. King Aldric doesn’t just react, he is backed with actions. And when a White Wolf Princess vanishes with a Black Wolf Alpha… he won’t let it pass quietly. He is going to make a display everyone in the empire will remember.”The words hung in the air like smoke."We'll be in Black Wolf territory by dusk, if there are no interruptions” said Kael.Darius said qui

Sierralya Keholts raised one hand. His wolves stopped advancing. “I just want to talk to my sister,” he said. His voice was the same. The same voice that had read me bedtime stories when I was small. That had taught me to climb the old oak in the palace gardens. Three nights. It felt like three years. “Let her speak,” Keholts said, looking at Kael. “Please.” I stepped towards him. Keholts' face, I'd never seen him look like that. Tired, desperate, scared. “Sierralya.” My name came out rough. “Come home. Please.” “Home?" The word tasted bitter. "You mean the dungeon?” “That was one suggestion, and Father didn't refuse it." Keholts looked away. “I'll protect you.” “The way you protected me when they threw me in chains?" The words came out sharper than I meant. “When they locked me in the darkest cell they had and left me to rot?” “What was I supposed to do?” Keholts's voice broke. “He's the king. My father. Our father. I can't just.” “You're his heir,” I said. “His favori

SierralyaKael hit the top of the dungeon stairs with me close behind him, Darius dragging up the rear. No one looked good. Everyone looked like they’d pushed past whatever limit they were supposed to have.Torin was waiting by the door. There was blood on him somewhere—his cheek, maybe his arm. It was hard to tell. He grinned anyway.“Took you long enough.”“Status?” Kael asked.“Brenner and Ren are holding the corridor,” Torin said. “For now. But the palace is waking up. Fast.”Kael glanced back at me. Pale. Too pale. I was on my feet, but just barely.“Can you run?”I didn’t hesitate. “I can do whatever I have to.”That wasn't just confidence, it was determination. Kael nodded once.“Path?” he asked.“Servant passages. East wing. There’s a window. Drops into the gardens. After that, straight for the forest.”“They’ll have archers.”Torin shrugged. “Then we move fast.”Kael turned back to me. “Stay close. Don’t stop. If I move, you move.”I nodded.“Darius?”The old wolf bared his t

King Aldric“The prophecy.”King Aldric Ainsworth was at the head of the table. He said it plainly. No shouting. Still, no one spoke after.“Your Majesty, we don’t actually know what it means” — Lord Caspian started.Aldric cut him off. “A power surge on a blood moon. From inside my palace. From a White Wolf.” His fingers pressed into the wood. “Strong enough to shake the empire.”Caspian swallowed. “She’s only eighteen. Your daughter. Your blood…”“That’s exactly the problem.”The words came from High Councilor Theron. Flat. Certain.The room went quiet.“The prophecy says the one who unites the wolves will come from our bloodline,” Theron continued. “If it’s her, then every Black Wolf pack, every fringe clan, every discontented mutt in the empire will follow her.” He pushed back from the table and stood. “She becomes a banner. A rallying cry.”No one spoke for a moment.Finally, someone asked, very carefully, “What do we do?”“We could send her away,” Caspian said. “Far. Somewhere

SierralyaI didn't speak for the rest of the night.I just laid there, staring, my thoughts going in tight, ugly circles around everything Darius had said.My family were murderers. Not just cruel. Not just ruthless. Murderers. They planned it. Hundreds of lives erased, then buried under lies and lessons and pretty words. Every story I was taught about honor, about the White Wolves keeping order, doing what was necessary, all of it soaked in blood.I'd always known something was wrong. I'd seen it. The way my family treated people they didn’t respect. The ease with which they hurt others.But this?This was worse. This wasn't cruelty.This was evil.And it ran in my veins.My thoughts kept running, but the rest of my body didn't. I ended up on the floor. Stone under my side. Chains cold against my skin. Sleep came anyway. I didn't fight it.I dreamt of fire.Of screams.Of wolves burning. Guards standing there and doing nothing.When I woke, moving was hard. My body shook when I tried