Chapter: CHAPTER 126A New Dawn"Flora, trust me, what has happened?" Adrian's voice sliced through the celebratory noise as he pushed his way to stand by her at the side of the great hall."Adrian, I can still barely believe it," Flora replied, her voice a blend of cautious joy and ongoing incredulity. "The King's Edict. It's altered everything for us and for the pack.""Yes," Adrian took a breath. "I surrendered my Alpha status for you, for our future, and now it seems the impossible has become our reality."Flora's voice shook with hope and fear. "A future where we can love without betraying our duty, where our hearts are not sundered by ancient canons. But at what price, Adrian? Can our love really overcome the weight of centuries of tradition?"Adrian's eyes glimmered. "I know that the sacrifices were immense, and the wounds sliced deep. I recall every instant of regret, every tear you cried as I lusted after power. But in this moment, with you by my side, I feel the promise of a new dawn."Flora stu
Last Updated: 2025-04-07
Chapter: CHAPTER 125The Edict of the Lycan King " Adrian, to the throne room incontinently," growled a commanding voice in the corridor speakers. Adrian's strained, low voice replied," Yes, Captain Morales. I will be there in a moment." Moments later, in a hushed expectation room, the Lycan King stated" Adrian, you've submitted your repudiation letter, right? Adrian cleared his throat, the tone establishment yet laced with fear," Yes, Your Majesty. I've surrendered my Alpha status, for I realize that my path now must be mandated by nothing but the issues of the heart, not the suffocating weight of obligation." The King's deep voice thundered," Your adoption has not been given without consideration. Tell me, Adrian, what led you to make this most vainglorious decision? Adrian took a conscious breath before responding," Sire, for times I've carried the burden of my once — my miscalculations, my failure and it has brought me further than any crown ever could. I lost the love of my life, an
Last Updated: 2025-04-06
Chapter: CHAPTER 124A New Daw Flora's answer was conservative," I'll consider your offer, Adrian. But this I do know if our life together is to be but a deeper pain, I'm not willing to immolate the loss of myself, my responsibility, for a love that may yet be too weak to survive." Unshed gashes filled Adrian's eyes as he rumored," Flora, I understand your fear. I know that our history is full of pain, but I believe if we do this together, we can forge a new path. One where every immolation is not a loss, but an pledge — a pledge to make a future that honors who we are." Flora's voice shook," And what if our pledges break under the weight of our old injuries? What if our marriage, refashioned by love and duty, is n't enough to heal the ancient injuries of treason? Adrian's voice held a blend of despair and stopgap," also we will face that ineluctability together. I'm willing to risk all on the possibility of redemption, on a tomorrow when we might be free at last from the ghosts of our h
Last Updated: 2025-04-06
Chapter: CHAPTER 123A Bold Offer " Flora, we need to talk," Adrian said, his voice rough and pulsing with genuine determination. " Adrian, I am harkening," Flora replied, her voice cautious but with a touch of craving. " Every night I lie awake allowing about what we lost, and I can no longer tolerate this silence," Adrian continued. " Silence, yes, but remorse as well," Flora answered, her voice slightly above a tale." I still flash back the dreams we pictured, the moments when we believed nothing could pull us apart." " I know," Adrian said vocally." I flash back the nights beneath the stars when you laughed, when our dreams were unencumbered and simple. But also I let my duty, my ambition, get in the way." Flora's tone turned cold," You allowed ambition to take priority over our love, Adrian. I constructed my life upon the oath of a participated future — a future that now appears so far down. " I offered my title, my power, everything for the pledge of that future," Adrian contend
Last Updated: 2025-04-05
Chapter: CHAPTER 122 A Union Readdressed " Adrian, please?" Flora's tremulous but strong voice pierced the muted hum of the command center as they entered a quiet alcove out of sight of the inquiring eyes of their classmates. Adrian drew in near, his tone soft and counted with anguish." Flora, I know our lives have gone so far in contrary directions, but I've to ask — do you ever still dream of us? Of a life where our love is n't measured only by duty?" Flora's eyes flashed both wistful and guarded pain." I did, formerly, Adrian. I allowed once that there was going to be a future in which I just was Flora not a title, not any prospects just us. But whenever I try to flash back it, I get hit with all the offerings that we made and the scars that still shape us." Adrian's tone dropped to a husky tale." I will relinquish everything, Flora. I relinquished my title, my power, because I wish for a chance at that future with you. I want a normal, loving family life with you. I understand it'll be
Last Updated: 2025-04-05
Chapter: CHAPTER 121Sacrificial Promises " Flora, I must speak with you — now," Adrian prompted, his voice coarse and pulsing with resoluteness as he walked toward her in the vacated corner of the command center. Flora's tone was peaceful but miserable." Adrian, I know what you are going to tell me. You have one chance to make this right.". Adrian's reply was nippy," I have made my decision. I can no longer be Alpha, not when my heart is broken because of my miscalculations." Flora's face tensed as she asked," You relinquish your Alpha status? Do you have any idea the cost that comes with it, Adrian? " I get it, I know," he contended," and I would pay that price if it would allow me to be with you, if it would allow me to rebuild what we lost and make a future together as a family." Flora's voice shook with stopgap and sadness," Adrian, you understand that stepping down is not just a selfish act it will shake the roots of our pack. Your position was a source of strength and leadership.".
Last Updated: 2025-04-05
Chapter: Chapter 38Alex POV: Meeting Dana AgainI’m sitting in the temporary office I rented when my phone rings on the table. It is about eight in the morning and Stanton is calling. It is unusual. He is usually in court this early."Alex," he says, when I answer. "You alright, bro?"The question catches me off guard. Stanton doesn't do concern like this. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"He pauses. "Jodie called me this morning. Sounded . . . worried. She said you've been acting strange. Eating at some hole-in-the-wall diner last night, then handing your Patek Philippe to a guy sleeping on a grate near Dupont Circle. She thinks you're having some kind of episode."I laugh thinly, rubbing my eyes. "It's not an episode. I'm just . . . trying to live differently.""Differently how?" he asks, puzzled, not judgmental, but close. "You've worked your ass off to get where you are. That watch alone cost more than most people's yearly rent. You gave it away?""I saw the guy. He was shivering under a cardboard, his hands c
Last Updated: 2026-02-24
Chapter: Chapter 37Dana POV: Bert Loves The Painting Bert Friesen stares at the painting on the easel like he’s afraid the painting might vanish. He steps back and looks at me again, his eyes wide behind his round glasses.“You’re not messing with me,” he says. “You painted this?”I frown, my heart kicking up. “What’s wrong? You told me you liked it. You flew all the way here because of it.”He shakes his head, already pulling his phone from his coat pocket. “You don’t understand, Dana. It looks even better than in the photo you sent. You are something else.” “Oh.”Whew. He dials, puts the phone to his ear, and keeps staring at the canvas as he listens to the ringing. “Are you sure you’re not going to leave your dad’s business and move to France?” he asks me. I shake my head. “No way. Basquiat went out there and died.”“Basquiat died in his studio in Manhattan. He died here, not there.”“Okay,” I say, shrugging. “You get my point.” I grin and turn back to the painting. A text comes in on my phone
Last Updated: 2026-02-24
Chapter: Chapter 36Alex POV: Making Some Changes Around HereBy the time I walk into one of the offices in my company, my head is still heady with questions. In Watson Bruen’s office, I'm listening to the COO’s voice drone along with the air conditioning. He’s pacing now, gesturing at the projected slide on the wall, the red arrows pointing up for costs, red arrows pointing down for margins. Watson is angry about Trump’s latest sanctions on China which caused a rerouting of our supply chain for Lex Automobile. Parts that used to come from Shenzhen now have to come from Osaka or Nagoya. It's a logistics nightmares. The tariffs area a headache. I nod at the right moments, but my mind is elsewhere, back in that small office on Dutch Crescent. Colt Wuckert’s quiet stare in my head. His question that still echoes in my head: How do you know who you are if you haven’t been tested?Watson stops pacing when he notices I’m not really listening. “Alex? You with me?”I blink, refocusing on his square face a
Last Updated: 2026-02-23
Chapter: Chapter 35Alex POV: The Interview With Wuckert There is nothing striking about the Dutch Crescent address. It looks too small and ordinary. A narrow brick facade squeezed between a law office and a dry cleaner, the sign reading “Crescent Media Solutions – Cable Television Distribution” in plain block letters. Nothing about it screams power. Nothing about it matches the weight my father put behind the words “go see him” this morning.Dad’s call had come at dawn. He had sounded ominous when he said, “I need you to meet Colt Wuckert. He's a member of the Club of Eight. Dutch Crescent, West End. Be there at ten. Don’t be late.” He had offered no other explanation. He didn't prep me. All I had was the address and the expectation that I’d understand.I understand enough to know this is no casual meeting. After Orsini’s party, after seeing those six men at the table, I couldn’t stop thinking about the seat that had been empty. Who did it belong to? My father wants me there, I believe. Yesterday Jo
Last Updated: 2026-02-23
Chapter: Chapter 34Dana POVI pay the taxi driver and step out onto Dutch Crescent. I look around at the old structures that make up West End and shake my head. Why would dad's friends have their office here?The sign on the sidewalk reads “Crescent Media Solutions – Cable Television Distribution,” a name I’ve never heard before, plain enough to blend into the row of professional offices. It looks like any other mid-tier company building with glass doors, brass plaque, and no fanfare. I lick my dry lips and try to composw myself. Inside, the lobby is cool and understated with marble floors, a single reception desk, abstract art on the walls that I suspect costs more than it looks like. The woman behind the desk glances up as I approach.“I’m here to see Colt Wuckert,” I say, exactly as he instructed over the phone.She smiles politely and her eyes brighten when I add, “Dana Travis.”She lifts the intercom receiver. “Ms. Dana Travis is here to see you, sir.”She waits, listens, then nods toward the wi
Last Updated: 2026-02-22
Chapter: Chapter 33Dana POV: One Company To Birth Them AllDad’s old office will never cease to make me feel watched. I'm at the window, staring at the city skyline, trying to process the phone call that just ended. But I look back at the high backed chair and imagine my old man sitting there, looking at me. My phone rings and I pick it to hear mom's voice. “I'm at the hospital here, Dana,” she says. “How's it coming together in Washington?”“Its okay out here, mom. How's dad?” “He's doing his best, I guess,” she murmurs. “I'm happy about the sale of Wood and Ward,” she says and my eyes open a little wider. “Your dad loves that company. It is his favorite in his empire, did you know that?” No, I didn't. I start to giggle. “Dad never said anything like that?” “Men never tell you the one they love the most,” she says almost wistfully. “Your dad loves that company and would never let go if he wasn't in a hospital, dying.”My back stiffens and I catch my breath. I sit on the chair and lean back. “Mo
Last Updated: 2026-02-20
Chapter: Chapter 228Lexi’s POVWhen the vision finally released me, the air of my room felt sharper.Sadie’s presence lingered in the corner, faintly shimmering, as if part of her energy refused to leave entirely.I drew a slow, deliberate breath, letting the warmth of reality settle into my skin, grounding me after the ethereal intensity of what I had just experienced.“I’m staying,” I said quietly, more to myself than to her, but Sadie caught the words anyway. Her lips curved slightly, approval in the smallest of gestures.“Yes,” she replied. “Your choice was always yours. The celestial order honors it. You will remain here, with your children, your mate, your pack. But I will return, occasionally, to ensure that one of your own is not threatened or in need. You are their strength, Lexi, and I will remain their eyes when you cannot be.”I nodded, absorbing the weight of her words. The idea of being watched, guided, protected, even from the unseen, didn’t feel intrusive.It felt like a promise, a wire c
Last Updated: 2025-11-25
Chapter: Chapter 227Sadie POV / Spirit PlaneThe moment darkness settled over the packhouse, I found myself drawn to Lexi.Her energy pulsed through the walls of her room even before I was inside, a rhythmic tension that told me she had not slept, that the weight of her discoveries had pressed too heavily on her.I appeared silently, a presence she had grown to expect but still startled her each time I manifested.“Lexi,” I said softly, letting the words hang in the space between us.She jumped, her hands gripping the edge of the bed, eyes wide and filled with alarm. “Relax,” I told her gently. “It’s me. I’m your proxy. I’m here as a friend, not as a judge.”Her gaze narrowed, suspicion warring with relief. “A friend?” she repeated, voice trembling. “After everything… after everything I’ve seen, everything I’ve felt… how can I trust that?”I floated closer, letting my form shimmer in the moonlight filtering through the window.“Because I have walked this path before, and now I walk it with you. You carry
Last Updated: 2025-11-25
Chapter: Chapter 226Lexi’s POVI opened my eyes slowly, blinking against the cold silver of the hilltop moonlight.The vision had ended, but Sadie hadn’t returned with me. Her words lingered in my mind like a chant:“Your people need you. You have to come back.”The hill was silent around me, the wind shifting through the trees as if holding its breath, and for a moment I wasn’t sure whether I was awake or still trapped between the threads of that shimmering memory.I sat there for a long while, the truth pressing against me from every angle, a weight I hadn’t anticipated.I had known my life carried its share of burdens, but nothing like this, nothing that tied me to a world I had never walked in, a family I never met, and a duty I had never chosen.I thought of Lunara, my mother, the woman who had given up everything to protect me, to give me a chance at a life she could not have.And I thought of Clara, that twisted shadow, consumed by jealousy, by obsession, by a hatred that had echoed across nearly
Last Updated: 2025-11-25
Chapter: Chapter 225Sadie’s POV (Vision Sequence)Lunara’s StoryLexi didn’t speak after I revealed the truth. She simply stared at me, breathing unevenly, unsure, resisting the pull of everything her life had been leading toward.I saw the questions forming, the panic rising behind her eyes, the disbelief sitting raw on her face.“I know it’s a lot,” I murmured. “And I know you don’t trust me yet. You don’t have to. Just… let me show you.”She hesitated, torn between stepping back and stepping toward something she didn’t understand. Finally, she nodded once, small, stiff, but definite.I lifted my hand slowly, letting silver light gather between my fingers. The air trembled, as if responding to a language only I could speak. “This won’t hurt,” I said softly. “But it will reveal everything.”The world around us blurred. The hill, the moon, the forest, they dissolved into silver threads drifting upward like smoke.Lexi tensed as the ground vanished beneath her feet, replaced by weightless space that shimm
Last Updated: 2025-11-25
Chapter: Chapter 224Lexi’s POVThe date on that damned paper came faster than I expected. Every day leading up to it, I told myself I wouldn’t go, that it was stupid, reckless and completely unnecessary… but every night, when the house went quiet and everybody fell asleep, I felt a pull to go.A promise of truth.I didn’t breathe a word to anyone.Peace had just returned after so long, and I refused to be the one to snap them out of it by worrying about me.Whatever this was, whatever this person wanted with me, it needed to stay contained.When I looked up at the clock, it was exactly 11:30pm, I slipped into black jeans, a fitted top, and a thick jacket that hid the pocket gun and knife tucked inside.The weight of both weapons grounded me, though it didn't calm me.As I crept through the quiet hallways of the packhouse, I paused for a heartbeat at the boys’ door.I didn’t open it, just pressed my palm softly against the wood. Dexter talked too much for someone who forgot to mention he’d received a lett
Last Updated: 2025-11-24
Chapter: Chapter 223Tristan’s POVI had imagined this day a thousand different ways, but standing here now, with the sun spilling gold across the courtyard and the kingdom gathered in quiet anticipation, it felt entirely new. The council members were lined up in their ceremonial robes, deep green trimmed with silver, the colors chosen to represent renewal and clarity. My people whispered among themselves, a soft buzz of hope threading through the air, and for the first time in a very long time, I felt as though the ground beneath us was steady.“Your Majesty, everyone is ready,” one of the palace attendants murmured beside me.I nodded, my eyes scanning the crowd again. Almost everyone was present, elders, warriors, healers, the new council members… except one face. Lexi’s. She was nowhere in sight.Of course she’s late, I thought, not with irritation but with something almost like fond amusement. She had a talent for arriving exactly when she intended to, even if that wasn’t when everyone expected her
Last Updated: 2025-11-24
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