Fiona's povThe air trembled as Serenya’s laughter slide through the clearing. Silver fire licked up her arms, spilling from her fingertips, scorching the earth beneath her feet. Across from her, the white-haired woman stood calm, her storm rising again, her hair streaming like a banner of war.The ground quaked between them, light and shadow clashing, fire and wind spiraling into one another. The power in the air was suffocating, pressing into my lungs, weighing me down until I thought my chest might shatter. Wolves whimpered, warriors crawled away on their bellies, but no one could truly escape. We were trapped inside the storm they were weaving.“Your vengeance ends here,” the white-haired woman said, her voice steady even as the gale ripped trees from their roots.“Then you will die with her,” Serenya spat. Her hands flared, silver fire surging forward in a wall of blazing fury.The pale woman lifted her arms. Wind screamed into existence, colliding with the fire midair. The explo
Fiona's pov The wind pressed me to the earth, my cheek grinding against dirt and blood-soaked grass. It was not just air that weighed me down, it was power, ancient and suffocating, flooding through the clearing in waves. Every breath I dragged into my lungs felt stolen, scraped from the storm that howled around us.The white-haired woman stood like the eye of that storm, unmoving, untouchable. Her hair whipped wild in the gale, her pale skin glowing as though it drank moonlight. She was not merely beautiful—she was terrible, the kind of beauty that stripped the soul bare.Even Serenya stared, her silver eyes wide. For the first time since she arrived, her cruel smile faltered.The wind settled, though it did not release us. Every guard, every wolf, every creature remained pressed to the ground. Only Serenya stood, her jaw tight, shoulders squared as she glared at the pale woman.“You,” Serenya hissed, voice vibrating with something I had never heard from her before. Not rage. Not co
Logan's pov My shadows thrashed, desperate to answer me, but Serenya’s magic bound them just as tightly as it bound me. The smell of my own scorched skin filled the clearing, acrid, choking. Every time I pulled, the links hissed hotter, searing me down to the bone.Fiona’s scream cracked through the night.“Stop it! Please, stop!” She stumbled forward, placing herself between Serenya and me. Her eyes were wide with terror, but her voice—gods, her voice was steady, trembling but unbroken. “I’ll go with you. Just… just let him go. If it’s me you want, then take me. But release him.”My throat closed around her words. No. Not like this.Serenya’s lips curled into something resembling a smile. Cold, cruel. “So quick to trade yourself for your Alpha. For your mate.” Her silver eyes glowed brighter, reflecting the moonlight like polished blades. She leaned close, whispering as though confiding a secret. “Fine. I accept.”Relief crashed through me, too sharp, too fleeting. The chains hissed
Logan's pov Amaiya’s voice cut through me sharper than any blade.“You can’t save her, Logan. Not from this. Not from Serenya.”Her words hit harder because she wasn’t screaming. She was calm, steady—like she’d already accepted the outcome. And it burned.“Shut your mouth,” I growled, shadows coiling tighter around my fists. “You don’t get to decide what I can save.”The ground trembled under Serenya’s steps as she moved closer. Her eyes glowed like molten silver, her presence making even the fiercest warriors in my pack scatter like leaves in a storm. Wolves shifted back into human form, their instincts screaming that they were prey in her presence.She stopped in front of Fiona. My mate. My Luna. My reason for surviving every damn war thrown at me.Her lips curved in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “So this is the daughter of the man who ruined my mother. I can see it. The same fire in her eyes. The same blood in her veins.”Fiona’s voice trembled but didn’t break. “If it’s me
Logan's pov The sound outside wasn’t a wolf’s howl. It was sharper, deeper, threaded with a power that made the walls of the pack house tremble. My blood iced over.Amaiya froze where she stood, her hand still on my chest, her smirk faltering. Even she felt it.I stormed toward the door, my instincts raging, shadows whipping around me like live snakes. “Stay here,” I barked, though I already knew no one would listen. Fiona’s muffled sobs from upstairs clawed at me, but this sound, it wasn’t for her. It was a call to all of us.I flung the door wide open.Rowan was already in the clearing, but not the Rowan I knew. His wolf form flickered half-shifted, muscles trembling, hackles raised, and gods, help me, fear in his eyes. Rowan never feared.And then she stepped into the moonlight.A tall woman, draped in dark leathers that glimmered faintly as though they were stitched from shadows themselves. Her long silver hair rippled like liquid metal, her eyes burning with an unnatural golden
Logan's pov The sound of Fiona’s footsteps haunted me long after she vanished up the stairs. I could still hear them, the sharp slap of her bare feet against the wood, the way her breathing quickened when she ran. That silence broke me worse than any war wound ever had.Through the bond, I felt her pain radiating like a wound I couldn’t close. She was sobbing. I knew it. I didn’t need to hear it; it rattled through me, cold and sharp, leaving me restless, leaving me ashamed. My mate, the one I swore to protect was shattering, and I was standing here, paralyzed by the ghost of a past I should have buried long ago.Then Amaiya’s hand wrapped around my arm.She had the audacity to pull me back, like I belonged to her.Rage flared, snapping the chain I’d been holding onto. I shoved her off, harder than I should have. She stumbled, nearly hitting the table, but caught herself with a catlike grace. And instead of fury, her face showed satisfaction.She enjoyed this. She enjoyed seeing me t