Logan's povOne blink, she was there at the ledge, chin lifted, eyes locked with mine. The next, gone, swallowed by the pit.My body moved before thought. I charged, blood soaking my chest, legs screaming, hand outstretched. But I grasped nothing—only stone, only dust, only empty space where she had stood.The roar that tore out of me was not human.Kael’s laugh cut across it. “So easy. So weak. Your mate chooses death, and you choose grief. What Alpha leads with grief?”The words sliced deeper than his blade ever had. I turned to him, the world narrowing until it was only his sneer, his swagger, his hands dripping with the blood of my people.Around us, Whiteclaw reeled. Warriors faltered, eyes darting to me, waiting, desperate for a command that never came. They staggered against Kael’s soldiers, falling, failing, because their Alpha_me, was on his knees.“Stand, Logan,” Serena’s voice rang, sharp as steel. Not mercy or support but command. She wanted me to rise only to fight her wa
Fiona's povI screamed as Kael’s men yanked me forward, my boots dragging lines into the ground. They hauled me toward the wide fissure that split the courtyard, their voices jeering, their laughter scraping my ears raw. The gap stretched deep, endless, swallowing sound, threatening to take me whole if they pushed even an inch farther.But I never looked down. My gaze locked on him.Logan.He stood in the center of the ruined court, body torn and blood running across his shoulders, but alive, unbroken. The sword at his feet glinted with Kael’s own blood, and the fire in his eyes burned hotter than anything I’d ever known.And still too far.Kael circled him, lips curled, his voice booming. “Strike me, Alpha. Or save your mate. You can’t do both.”The words knifed through me. My heart strained against my ribs, desperate to tell Logan not to falter, not to bend. He couldn’t waste his strength on me. He had to win.I tugged at the chain, the skin at my wrists already split and raw. Benea
Logan's povWhen I tore through the stone and the dungeon broke open, I expected freedom. Instead, the courtyard was chaos. Whiteclaw wasn’t mine anymore.My people scattered like prey, blood marking the stones. The Ironfang warriors pressed them hard, their chants drumming against the walls. In the center stood Kael, his soldiers circling him like vultures. And before him was Fiona. My Luna, my strength, her arms bound, dragged forward like spoils of war.A sound left me before I could stop it, raw and guttural. Every head turned. Eyes widened. Whispers cracked like sparks. The Alpha lives.Kael’s gaze cut into me, sharp, hateful. “So you crawl out at last,” he sneered, lifting his blade toward Fiona’s throat. “Perfect. I’ll take your crown while she watches.”I stepped forward. Stone ground beneath my boots, the weight of every life in this pack on my shoulders. Yet as much as I wanted to crush Kael, my gaze would not leave Fiona. Her lips trembled, but her eyes still burned steady.
Logan's povThe first sensation that tore through me was fire.Flames cracking open something I never knew lived inside me. My chest had been stone for days, breath shallow, my body a corpse waiting to be buried. Yet now every nerve screamed awake, clawing, demanding release.Then I heard her.Fiona.Her voice had been a faint echo at first, words pressed against the edge of a dream. But then her scent cut through dust and blood, sharp and familiar, dragging me upward. She had dragged me from death’s teeth, pressed life into me with her trembling hands, forced me to fight again. Her desperation became my anchor.I rose through rubble, stone exploding outward, my fists carving through walls meant to cage me. When I emerged, light struck me like a blade, and the battlefield roared around me. Ironfang banners flew high, Kael’s soldiers chanting, their victory already tasted on their tongues. My own people staggered, broken, their gazes hollow as if hope itself had bled out of them.And t
Fiona's povKael’s blade gleamed inches from my throat, its sharpness catching the faint light that filtered through smoke above the courtyard. The chants of Ironfang soldiers pounded around me, their roars feeding Kael’s ego.At first, I thought I imagined it. A wish made desperate, a hope clawing at shadows. But then it came again. A pulse surging upward through the stone, steady, commanding, alive.Kael faltered. His arm hesitated mid-air, his dark gaze flicking downward as if the very earth mocked him. Around us, murmurs swept the enemy ranks, uncertainty sliding like oil through their triumph.I bit down a smile. They couldn’t see it, but I felt it. Beneath our feet, he stirred.Logan.Kael snarled, recovering his poise. “Tricks. A dying pack’s wishful delusion.” He swung the blade higher, ready to sever my life, ready to seal Whiteclaw’s doom with my blood.But the ground bucked. A violent tremor cracked through the courtyard, splitting the stones beneath me. Shouts erupted, sol
Fiona's povKael’s men had dragged me out of Logan’s chamber, hauled me into the courtyard where Whiteclaw’s heart once pulsed with unity. Now it lay desecrated, overrun with Ironfang banners and soldiers laughing over broken bodies.The pack I had once admired for its strength stumbled in confusion, leaderless. Some still swung blades, others were herded into corners, beaten down by the sheer force of Kael’s army. Children cried against walls, mothers pressed themselves in front of them, while warriors groaned under boots pressing them to the ground.And there I was, shoved onto my knees among the captured. A chain linked me to Serena on one side and Rowan on the other, Amaiya and my uncle Magnus bound not far off. My wound from Rowan’s blade throbbed viciously with each heartbeat, but I forced myself upright, unwilling to show weakness before the man who now stood above us.Kael.The Alpha of Ironfang radiated menace without effort. His frame was broad, scar-laced, his expression ca