LOGINSerena’s POV"My little girl."I had heard those words before.Not in person. Not from a man standing in front of me.I had heard them through an old recording, distorted by years of silence and broken equipment. I had listened to that voice in the darkness of the ruined laboratory, holding a photograph of two people I barely remembered.My parents.For months, I had imagined what it would feel like to hear my father's voice again.I had imagined running toward him. I had imagined asking why he had left. I had imagined crying in his arms and finally feeling that some part of my life had returned to me.But I had never imagined hearing him from beneath a machine that was draining the life out of my body."Papa?"My voice barely came out.The darkness beneath the circular structure shifted."Serena, listen to me."I struggled to lift my head."Where are you?""Don't come closer."My eyes filled with tears."Papa, is that really you?"A pause.Then the voice softened."Yes, sweetheart. I
Dominic’s POV I looked at Mira's photograph. She appeared younger, perhaps twenty-five, standing beside the same circular structure. A date was written beneath it. Thirty years earlier. I turned toward Alaric. "What happened?" He didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked to a console and pressed a button. The screen changed. A second photograph appeared. Mira was lying on a metal table. Her wrists were restrained. Blood covered the floor beneath her. Evelyne gasped. "No." Alaric's voice was quiet. "The first activation failed. The First Blood survived, but the covenant was damaged. The Alliance learned that the three bloodlines could be forced together, but they could not control the result." I stared at him. "Why was Mira restrained?" "Because the Alliance wanted to repeat the experiment." "And you helped them?" "I helped them until I understood what they intended to do." I stepped closer. "How many people died?" Alaric looked awa
Dominic’s POV The Blackwood memorial stood on a hill overlooking the old estate. It was a place I had avoided for years. Not because I feared remembering my father. Because I remembered him too well. The stone archway was covered in ivy. The family names had been carved into the walls, and a narrow path led to the central memorial. My father's name was at the centre. ALARIC BLACKWOOD. Beneath it was the date of his supposed death. I stopped. For sixteen years, I had believed that was where his story ended. Now I was standing in front of his name, wondering whether I had ever buried him at all. Marcus moved ahead, checking the surrounding trees. "Nothing so far." "Keep looking." He glanced at the memorial. "Do you want me to check the rear entrance?" "Yes. Take one guard with you. Stay within sight." Marcus nodded. Evelyne came up beside me. She looked at the inscription. "Dominic." I didn't answer. Her fingers touched my arm. "Whatever
Serena’s POV I had never seen Dominic look so lost. He was always controlled. Even when he was angry, he seemed to know exactly what he wanted to do. But now he stood in the middle of the hall, staring at the dead speaker as if a ghost had reached through it and taken something from him. I understood that feeling. My father was alive. Or someone wanted me to believe he was. Every time I thought about seeing him, fear and hope collided inside me. I wanted to ask him why he had left me. Why my mother had died. Why I had grown up believing I was alone. But I was also afraid that when I finally found him, I would discover that the man in the recording was only another person hiding the truth. Dominic looked at the speaker again. "Sixteen years," he murmured. I moved closer. "What?" "Sixteen years of visiting that grave. Sixteen years of believing I knew how he died." His voice sounded distant. "And now someone expects me to walk into a memorial because they p
Dominic’s POV "My son." I had imagined hearing that voice a thousand times after his death. In dreams, he had stood in the old library, correcting my decisions. In nightmares, he had accused me of failing the family. Sometimes, I remembered him laughing, his large hand resting on my shoulder as he told me that one day the entire territory would belong to me. But I had never imagined hearing him again. Not like this. Not through the security speakers of my own home. "Come home." The words echoed through the dark lodge. For a moment, I couldn't breathe. My wolf stirred violently beneath my skin, pacing inside my chest as though it had recognized something my mind refused to accept. That is him. I stared at the speaker above the doorway. Sixteen years. Sixteen years since I had stood beside a closed coffin and watched the earth swallow the only father I had ever known. Sixteen years since I had taken responsibility for the Blackwood territory, buried my grief
Dominic’s POV I read the message three times. **YOUR FATHER DID NOT DIE THE WAY YOU WERE TOLD.** **AND SERENA'S FATHER IS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO SURVIVED.** The words remained on my screen, but my mind had already travelled somewhere else. To the night my father died. I remembered the storm. The smell of burning wood. The guards running through the estate. The explosion that had destroyed the western wing. I remembered standing beside his coffin, staring at a closed lid because the damage had been too severe for anyone to identify the body. I had been twenty-three. Young enough to believe that grief was something a person could survive by becoming harder. Old enough to know that I had inherited a territory full of enemies. My father's death had been declared an accident. A gas explosion in the old estate's underground storage rooms. There had been an investigation. Witness statements. A funeral. And a body. At least, that was what I had been told. I looked at Evelyne







