Novel-novel oleh Isabelle Garcia

The moment their lips touched, the mate bond exploded to life. It wasn’t just a connection anymore—it was a flood. Aiden poured every memory he had of her through the bond. Their first night together in the forest. The morning after. Her telling him she was pregnant. The twins being born. Every laugh, every fight, every moment of joy and pain and love they’d shared.The memories hit Elaina like a tidal wave.She gasped against his mouth, her eyes going wide. Images flashed through her mind—Aiden’s face, the twins as babies, her pack, her friends, her life. Everything came rushing back in a chaotic mess, but it was THERE. Real. Hers.When the kiss ended, Elaina stared at Aiden with tears streaming down her face.“Aiden,” she breathed. “You came back. You actually came back.”“I’ll always come back to you,” he said, his voice rough with emotion. “Always.”Elaina looked down at the twins, and this time she SAW them. Her babies. Her children. She dropped to her knees and pulled them both

Aiden and Melissa collided in an explosion of light and darkness.White wolf energy slammed against shadow magic, the two forces screaming as they met. The sound was like thunder and breaking glass mixed together, so loud it made everyone’s ears ring. The floor cracked beneath them. The walls shook. Pieces of the ceiling started falling, crashing down around the warriors.Melissa threw bolts of pure darkness at Aiden. They looked like lightning made of smoke, crackling through the air. Aiden dodged and countered with blasts of white light that burned holes in the stone floor where they hit.“You should be DEAD!” Melissa screamed, her hair whipping around her face like she was standing in a windstorm. “I erased you! Removed you from existence!”“You can’t erase love,” Aiden growled back, his white eyes blazing. “You can’t erase family. I came back because my mate needed me. Because my children needed me.”“Those THINGS are not your children!” Melissa’s face twisted with hate. “They’re

The purple sky turned blood-red as the assault began.Troy ran at the front of the formation, his hybrid form tearing through shadow wolves like they were made of paper. His claws ripped through dark fur and bone, his teeth found throats, and his legs carried him forward, always forward, toward the East Tower where Elaina was dying.Around him, warriors from two different packs fought side by side. Stone’s werewolves and the Creekwood hybrids, enemies for years, now working together. It was strange and wrong and perfect all at the same time. A werewolf would slam a shadow creature to the ground, and a hybrid would finish it off. A hybrid would get surrounded, and werewolves would break through to save them.The tracking marks on their wrists burned and pulsed, showing them the way like a magical GPS. Every corridor, every turn, every hidden passage—all of it mapped on their skin in Elaina’s desperate handwriting.“East wing!” Troy shouted over the sounds of battle. “Push through!”Sha

VALDISThe crystal burned in my hands like holding a piece of the sun.I ran through the castle corridors, my footsteps echoing off the stone walls, clutching Aiden’s soul crystal against my chest. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might burst. Guards passed me, but I ducked my head and kept moving. Just Valdis. Just the dark prince going about his business. Nothing to see.But inside, I was screaming.Aiden was alive. Somehow, impossibly, my brother was alive. Trapped in a crystal, his soul imprisoned for who knows how long, but alive. And Mother had lied to me. For years, she’d told me he was dead, gone, erased. But she’d kept him. Locked him away in her vault with all her other failed experiments.Why? Why keep him if she wasn’t going to use him?I burst into my chambers and slammed the door behind me, locking it with shaking hands. The crystal was getting hotter by the second, like Aiden’s soul knew it was close to freedom and was fighting to break out.“Hold on,” I whispered

ELAINAThe ground shook with the sound of five hundred warriors marching.I stood at the edge of our temporary camp near the Dark Lands border, watching the horizon. The purple sky made everything look strange and wrong, but there was no mistaking what I was seeing. An army. A massive army of wolves approaching from the west, their footsteps making the earth tremble beneath my feet.Stone had come.“Everyone ready!” I shouted, and behind me, our twenty warriors scrambled into defensive positions. It wasn’t nearly enough. If Stone had changed his mind, if this was a trap, we’d be dead in minutes.Marcus appeared at my side, his hand on his sword. “That’s a lot of wolves.”“Five hundred, maybe more,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady. My heart was hammering against my ribs so hard it hurt. “Just like he promised.”“Promised doesn’t mean he’ll keep his word,” Marcus muttered. “Could be coming to kill us all.”I couldn’t argue with that. Trusting Stone was like trusting a snake not t

ELAINAThe guards yanked Darein backward so hard he stumbled.“Wait!” I said, reaching out, but they were already dragging him toward the door. His feet scraped against the stone floor, leaving marks.“Elaina, listen to me,” Darein gasped, trying to pull free. Blood dripped from his mouth. “Stone doesn’t care about—”One of the guards hit him across the face, and Darein’s head snapped to the side. He went quiet, his body going limp as they hauled him out of the room. The door slammed shut behind them with a sound that echoed in my chest.Raven and Ryker pressed close to my sides, their little hands gripping my dress. I could feel them shaking.“It’s okay,” I whispered to them, even though it wasn’t. Nothing was okay.The door opened again, and this time Melissa stood there. She’d changed clothes since this morning. Now she wore a simple black dress with no sparkles or decorations. Her long hair hung loose around her shoulders. She looked tired, with dark circles under her eyes that I

Fiona“No no no no!”The words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. My heart slammed against my ribs so hard it hurt. My arms tightened around my son like if I held him tight enough the world could not touch him.His eyes were glowing.Red.Not normal red. Not the color of crying or sickness. It was bright like hot coal inside a fire pit. I could see the light on his cheeks. It made my stomach twist.“My baby?” I whispered.His small fingers clutched my dress. I could feel his tiny nails through the fabric. He looked up at me like he was scared too.“Momma… it’s loud,” he said.The air around us shook again.Boom.The crystal pulsed like a giant heart. The sound went through my feet, through my bones, into my head. It felt like standing beside thunder.The smell of smoke filled my nose so much that breathing hurt.Lucian, or whatever was inside Lucian, watched us closely.“Oh,” the cold voice said slowly. “Interesting.”I hated that voice. It did not belong to my mate.“G

Fiona“No!”My scream ripped out of my throat before I even knew I was screaming.Lucian’s body jerked backward in the air like something invisible had grabbed him. One second he was flying toward the glowing red crystal. The next second he was dragged away from it like a toy thrown aside.He crashed into the ground hard.The sound made my stomach twist.“Lucian!” I shouted.Dust flew everywhere. I could taste it in my mouth, dry and bitter. The heat from the fires licked my face and made my eyes sting. My son began crying again in my arms, his small hands clutching my shirt.“It hurts,” he whimpered.My heart broke hearing that.“I know baby, I know,” I whispered, shaking.But I could not look away from Lucian.The dark shadow that came out of the crystal was still moving. It looked like thick smoke mixed with oil. Black and heavy and wrong. It twisted around Lucian’s body like a snake.Lucian growled.A deep angry wolf growl.His claws dug into the dirt as he tried to stand.“Get of

FionaI clutched my son so hard that he began to cry again.“No,” I screamed. “You will not take him. You will never take him.”My arms wrapped tighter around his small warm body. I could feel his tiny heartbeat against my chest. Fast. Scared. Alive. His hair smelled like smoke and milk and home. I buried my face into it for one second, like I was trying to hide him inside my heart.Lucian stepped forward, his claws sliding out with a sharp sound. His eyes glowed gold. His chest rose and fell like a storm.“Touch my son and I will tear you apart,” he growled.The fire creature laughed.It was not a normal laugh.It sounded like burning wood breaking. Like rocks cracking. Like screams trapped inside flames.“Alpha,” it said slowly. “You cannot fight what was born before you.”The heat grew stronger.My skin burned. Sweat rolled down my back. The air tasted bitter and sharp. Every breath hurt my lungs. Smoke filled my nose and made my eyes water.Behind us, wolves were running. Some wer

FionaI screamed.Not because I wanted to. Not because I chose to. But because my heart felt like it was being ripped into two pieces inside my chest.The ground beneath my knees was still warm. Smoke floated in the air and burned my nose. It smelled like ashes and metal and something dead. My ears were ringing from the last howl that had shaken the sky. My hands were shaking so badly that I could barely hold myself up.“The fire is back,” I whispered.Lucian tightened his arms around me. His body was hot and tense. His breath was fast against my hair. “No. It is not. It is gone. I will not let it come back.”But even as he said it, the earth trembled softly.Like something was waking up.My wolf curled up inside me and whimpered. “It is watching,” she cried. “It sees us.”I felt sick.Orion lay a few steps away, barely moving. His flames were almost gone now. Only small sparks flickered on his skin like dying stars. His chest rose and fell slowly. Every breath sounded painful.I push

FionaI could not move. I could not breathe. The fire was loud but everything inside my head went quiet.The small shape stood between Lucian and Orion. Made of flame and light and shadow. It was shaped like a child. Too small. Too fragile. My heart started beating so fast it hurt.“Mother,” the voice said again.My knees gave out and I fell to the ground. The heat did not touch me anymore. It was like the fire was bowing. Like it was waiting.Lucian stared at the child shape. His wolf whimpered in fear and confusion. “That is not real,” he said softly. “That is not real.”Orion took a slow step back. His flames flickered. For the first time he looked unsure.“It should not be possible,” Orion muttered. “He is not born yet.”I crawled forward without thinking. Tears blurred my vision. “Who are you,” I whispered.The child looked at me. The fire around him dimmed and his shape became clearer. He looked like a boy of maybe six years old. His hair was dark. His eyes were gray and red mix

FionaThe fire did not burn the way fire should.It moved like it was alive. Like it was thinking. It rushed past the warriors and curled around Lucian and Orion, leaving the rest of us standing in a circle of heat and fear. The air smelled sharp and bitter. My eyes burned and my throat hurt, but I could not look away.Lucian stood tall, his shoulders wide, his wolf pushing hard under his skin. Orion stood across from him, half man and half flame, his body flickering like he might disappear any second and then come back stronger.My son screamed behind me.That sound broke something in me.“Stop it,” I shouted. “Both of you stop it now!”Neither of them looked at me.Orion smiled. It was not the smile I remembered from childhood. This one was cruel and sad at the same time.“You see,” Orion said, his voice echoing like it came from deep underground. “Even now he chooses the pack over you.”Lucian growled low. “Do not twist this. I am doing this to end you.”“End me,” Orion laughed sof