MasukElise Pov The palace may be fortified, but underneath it lies ancient tunnels that were carved long before the first crown was forged.In no time, I found the small notch in the stone and pressed my fingertip into it. The wall shifted with a soft groan, revealing a narrow staircase spiraling downward.The air grows colder with each step as the scent of earth fills my lungs.The darkness felt alive, humming with an energy that prickled like static along my skin.When I got to the cavern floor, the sight stole the breath from my chest.Old runes glowed faintly along the stone walls, their silver lines pulsing as if recognizing me. The cavern was vast, its ceiling lost in shadow, stalactites dripping in slow and rhythmic patterns.It feels sacred and forbidden.My footsteps echoed as I moved deeper inside, navigating past boulders and cracked pillars carved with symbols I don’t recognize.
Elise Pov The moonlight never feels gentle in the palace gardens.With my head bowed, I walked slowly along the winding path, my fingertips grazing the hedge as though the cool leaves could anchor me in a place where everything felt like it was slipping through my fingers.The night air was humming, not just with crickets or the rustle of the roses, this hum was different. It was filled with vibrating and electric tension.The pack’s unrest pressed on my skin like static, prickling along my arms and spine. I tried to inhale deeply, but even the night felt too heavy. After a while, I paused beside the reflecting pool, and in the glassy surface I saw my own reflection. My head was throbbing as the remnants of a fragmented mind-link rippled through me.Damon’s voice though it was distant crackled like lightning. “She’s the spark that ignited the fire.”I froze. The words were faint, but they sliced through cleanly. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to steady the shaking in m
Elise POV. Everyone knows pain doesn't make any special announcement before coming. It simply existed.Heavy. Constant. Everywhere.I drifted between awareness and nothingness, caught in a thick haze where time felt meaningless. Sometimes I thought I was awake. Sometimes I thought I was dying. My body felt distant, like it doesn’t belong to me but someone else, like I was only borrowing it for a moment before being pulled under again.Different voices came and went. I heard soft murmurs with broken pleas. Whispered prayers.“Elise… stay with me.”That voice always found me.Derek.It sounded strained, frayed at the edges, like he’d been holding it together for far too long. Every time he said my name, something inside me responded, tugging me closer to the surface.I tried to answer.My chest tightened. My throat burned.Nothing happened.Another voice joined him.Mira.She was crying. Not loudly. Quietly. Like she was afraid the sound itself might scare me away. Her prayers were clu
Drake POVI stood behind Derek as he carried her in.Elise didn’t move. Not a sound. Not a breath I could hear. Her body lay slack in his arms like she’d been emptied out and left behind. Blood matted her hair, dark against skin that looked too pale, too still.My wolf slammed against my ribs.Then Mira broke.She collapsed into me the second she saw me, sobbing so hard her knees gave out. I caught her by instinct, arms wrapping around her shaking body as she clutched my shirt like it was the only thing keeping her upright.“Drake,” she gasped. “They, they...”Her words fell apart. Her entire body trembled, violent, uncontrollable. I could feel her fear bleeding into me, soaking straight through bone and muscle.I held her tighter. Grounded her.My wolf surged at the distress, snarling, demanding blood, but I shoved it down with iron force. Not now. Not her. My priority was Elise.“She told me everything,” Mira choked. “Everything they did. Everything Damon planned to do to both of us
DEREK POVThe night was heavy, pressing down on me with the weight of a thousand storms. The Blood Trinity Pack had never felt so fragile, so stretched thin and on the brink of collapse before. And yet, it was me, the middle of the triplets, the one they called steady who bore the heaviest burden. I had held this pack together through battles, through feuds, through the manipulations and chaos of our father’s reign, and yet tonight, the threads that bound everything seemed ready to snap.Elise was missing. My mind kept returning to her face, the curve of her lips, the sharp glint of her eyes when she caught me staring and the way she laughed when she thought no one was watching. And now, with her gone, I felt hollow, like the very air had been siphoned from my lungs. Drake had lost control entirely and Damon’s betrayal cut deeper than any wound I had ever suffered in combat. And the Alphas at our borders were circling like vultures, waiting for the moment to tear us apart.I ha
DRAKE POVRage has always been my closest companion.It was not the kind that flares and burns out, but the kind that settles into your bones, heavy and patient, waiting for the right moment to tear something apart. I thought I had mastered it years ago, thought I had locked it behind discipline, duty, and the cold logic of survival.But I was wrong.The moment I learned Damon was behind Elise and Mira’s disappearance, something inside me cracked so violently that I felt it echo through my chest. It wasn’t a clean break, it was splintered, jagged, painful like a bone snapping under too much pressure.Elise was gone, not missing, not lost either. She was taken by my own brother.I didn’t remember crossing the room where my men had assembled and were feeding me with intel. One moment I was standing at the table with my hands braced against carved oak, the next my fist was buried in the stone wall beside one of my men's heads. The impact shattered rock and dust rained down like ash.







