MasukASHER
I knew something was wrong the moment I entered the palace.
Too quiet. The usual bustle of staff and guards replaced by an oppressive silence that made my wolf snarl. I had left the eastern wall in Ethan's hands to check on Maya. To make sure she was still breathing after the chaos of the last hour.
Through the bond I felt her. Alive. Exhausted. Fighting somewhere in the southern quarter. But alive.
Then
MAYAI felt it the moment the bond went silent.Not broken. Not severed like it had been with Damien. This was different. Muffled. Suppressed. Like someone had thrown a blanket over the connection and was slowly suffocating it.Wolfsbane.My hands tightened on my blade. Around me the fighting continued. Rogues scaling the southern wall. My unit holding them back. Blood and screams and the chaos of war.But all I could focus on was the bond. Trying to push through. Trying to reach Asher. Trying to feel him.Nothing. Just fading warmth. Like watching a candle die."Your Majesty."I turned. A young soldier. Palace guard. Maybe seventeen. His face was white. Blood running from a cut above his eye. He was breathing hard. Had run from somewhere."What?""The palace. Lord Kael. He ha
ASHERI knew something was wrong the moment I entered the palace.Too quiet. The usual bustle of staff and guards replaced by an oppressive silence that made my wolf snarl. I had left the eastern wall in Ethan's hands to check on Maya. To make sure she was still breathing after the chaos of the last hour.Through the bond I felt her. Alive. Exhausted. Fighting somewhere in the southern quarter. But alive.Then the bond flickered. Not severed. Suppressed. Like something was blocking the connection.Wolfsbane.I reached for my blade. Too late.They came from both sides. Ten men. Not palace guards. Mercenaries wearing neutral colors. Kael's colors."Seize him" a voice commanded from the shadows. Kael's voice. Calm. Controlled. Like he was ordering dinner instead of treason.The mercenaries moved with
DAMIENI woke to darkness and pain.Not dead. Should have been dead. Gabriel's blade had found something vital. I felt it. The cold spreading from the wound. The weakness in my limbs. The way my heartbeat stuttered.But my wolf would not let me go. Stubborn bastard. Even betrayed. Even broken. Still fighting to keep this pathetic body alive."Alpha. Stay still. We are getting you out."Hands under my arms. Dragging me. Rough. Urgent. Voices I recognized. My personal guard. The few who stayed loyal when Gabriel turned."Leave me" I tried to say. It came out as a wheeze. Blood in my mouth. Copper taste."Not happening Alpha. We did not follow you this far to let you die in the dirt."They pulled me through mud and bodies. Away from the battlefield. Away from the smoke and screams. Into the treeline wher
DAMIENGabriel stood five feet away with my blood on his blade.Not much blood. A shallow cut across my ribs. He could have gone deeper. Could have finished it. But he wanted me conscious. Wanted me to understand."You were always the muscle" he said. Voice calm. Clinical. Like he was explaining basic strategy to a slow student. "Never the brain. Father knew it. I knew it. Everyone knew it except you."Around us the battlefield churned. My army collapsing. Loyalists fighting Gabriel's faction. Lycans pressing from the walls. Chaos I no longer controlled."How long?" I asked. My voice was steady despite the rage building in my chest. "How long have you been planning this?""Since you told me about Maya. Since you became obsessed. Since I realized your emotions made you controllable." He circled me. Predator assessing wounded prey. "Every suggestion I made.
GABRIELThe moment had come.I stood on the ridge overlooking the battlefield. Chaos below. Damien's forces pressed against the Lycan walls. Blood and smoke and the sounds of thousands dying for a cause only one man truly believed in.My brother. Fighting for a woman who would never love him back. Leading an army into a meat grinder because he could not accept that some things could not be taken by force.Pathetic. Predictable. Perfect.I raised my hand. The signal my loyalists had been waiting for.On the left flank three hundred fighters stopped advancing. Turned. Drew weapons. And attacked the command unit from behind.Damien's officers never saw it coming. They were focused on the wall. On the Lycans. On coordinating the assault.They did not notice their own men turning until steel found their backs. 
DAMIENI saw her through the smoke and chaos.Fighting on the southern wall. Blade flashing. Moving with a precision I had never seen in her before. She dropped a rogue fighter with a strike so clean it could have come from a trained warrior.I stopped. Mid-swing. My opponent forgotten. Every cell in my body oriented toward her like she was magnetic north and I was the needle that would always point her direction.She was covered in blood. Dirt smeared across her face. Her armor was dented. Her hair had come loose from its braid. She looked like she had been fighting for hours.She looked magnificent.This was not the girl who used to flinch at raised voices. Not the broken thing I kept on my bedroom floor. Not the fragile creature who needed me to protect her from the world.This was a warrior. A queen. Someone who had learned to protect herself.Someone I barely recognized.My chest ached. Pride and rage and something that felt dangerously close to grief tangled together until I cou
DAMIENThe merchant arrived at midnight.He was not really a merchant. His name was Silas and he had been one of my best scouts long before I became Alpha. He was small and forgettable. The kind of man your eyes passed over without registering. That was what made him perfect for this job.I receive
MAYAThe arena was bigger than I expected.It sat at the heart of the kingdom. A massive circular pit carved from dark stone with tiered seating rising up on all sides like the jaws of a beast waiting to swallow me whole. Hundreds of Lycans filled the seats. Nobles. Soldiers. Servants. All of them
MAYAI was still thinking about what Rhea said when the knock came.She trained my father. The woman who had been beating me into the dirt every morning for weeks had trained the man who raised me. The questions were piling up faster than I could process them. How did she know him? When did she tra
MAYAThe emergency session Kael called turned out to be a false alarm.He claimed to have evidence of a wolf spy inside the palace but when pressed for specifics all he produced was a vague report about "unusual scent patterns" in the servants quarters. Asher shut it down before it gained traction







