LOGINRylan’s POVNight stripped things down to their truth.No noise. No distractions. No pretense.Just movement—And intent.I stayed in the shadows of the western corridor, exactly where the stone narrowed and the torchlight failed to reach. It wasn’t a blind spot. Not completely.But it was close enough.Close enough for someone careful.Close enough for someone hiding.My breathing remained steady, controlled, as I leaned into the darkness, attention fixed on the far end of the passage.I didn’t need to guess.I knew he would come.Because men like Kael didn’t stop when they were watched.They adjusted.And adjustment required contact.Time passed.Measured.Deliberate.Then—Movement.A figure stepped into the corridor, quiet but not cautious enough to escape notice.Kael.He didn’t hesitate.Didn’t check his surroundings the way a guilty man would.He walked like he belonged there.Like nothing had changed.That alone would have been convincing—If I hadn’t already seen through it.
Ronan’s POVThere were two ways to break a man.You could either use force. Or you could let him break himself.I preferred the first. But today… I didn’t have that luxury.The corridor outside the western wing was quieter than the rest of the palace. Fewer guards. Fewer witnesses. Just enough isolation to make a conversation feel… private.Just enough to make it dangerous.Kael stood near the open archway at the far end, looking out over the training grounds below. Calm. Still. Like nothing in the world had shifted beneath his feet.Like he wasn’t standing in the middle of a fracture he helped create.I didn’t announce my approach.“Alpha Ronan,” he said without turning. “You’re either very quiet today… or very deliberate.”I stopped a few steps behind him. “Does it matter?”A faint smile touched his mouth. “It usually does.”I stepped forward, closing the distance until I stood beside him, my gaze following his out toward the grounds.Warriors moved below. Training. Like everything
Xavier’s POVControl wasn’t about dominance. It was about precision. And right now—Precision was the only thing standing between us and complete collapse.I stood at the head of the strategy table, the map of the territory spread out before me. Marked. Adjusted. Rewritten more times in the past hour than it had been in months.Seven routes.Seven variations.Seven carefully constructed lies.Each one believable.Each one subtle.Each one different.Ronan leaned over the table to my left, arms braced against the wood, gaze fixed on the markings. “If this works, we’ll have our answer by nightfall.”“If it works,” I said.Rylan stood across from me, quieter as always. His attention moved between the routes, the timing intervals, the guard placements. He wasn’t looking for flaws. He was anticipating reactions.“It will,” he said with certainty.I didn’t question it. Because at this point, doubt was a liability.“We don’t repeat anything,” I continued. “Each Alpha receives a different di
Alara’s POVThey stopped underestimating me the moment things started slipping out of their control.Not openly. But I felt it, in the way conversations lowered when I entered, in the way decisions were made around me instead of with me.Careful. Measured. Protective.I hated it.The moment I stepped into Xavier’s chambers, I knew something had shifted.The air felt heavier. Not tense in the usual way, this was quieter. Sharper. Like something had already been decided.Xavier stood near the center of the room, shoulders squared, expression unreadable.Ronan leaned against the far wall, arms crossed, jaw tight.Rylan was by the window, half-turned away, but not distant. Just… observing, as always.They all looked at me when I entered as if they were expecting me. That was my first warning.I closed the door behind me slowly. “You were going to tell me,” I said.Xavier didn’t answer immediately. That was my second warning.My gaze shifted between them. “Or were you planning to decide ev
Rylan’s POVPatterns didn’t lie. People did.Records could be altered. Reports could be softened. Words could be twisted into something almost believable. But patterns—Patterns slipped through.And once you saw them, you couldn’t unsee them.I stood alone in the archive chamber, the last of the torches burning low, casting uneven light across the spread of documents in front of me.Logs. Routes. Timings. Movements.Individually, they meant nothing.Together, they told a story no one had intended to write.My fingers moved steadily across the table, shifting one record over another, aligning dates, cross-checking intervals.I already knew where to look.The western wall. That was the starting point.A place too easily overlooked. Too easily dismissed as structurally irrelevant. Exactly the kind of place someone would use.I picked up a patrol log from three days before the ambush.Alpha Kael’s unit was assigned for outer ridge coverage.Delayed. Reason listed: unexpected resistance.I
Ronan’s POVThere was a difference between a room full of allies and a room full of predators pretending to be allies.I felt it the moment I stepped inside.It wasn’t obvious. Nothing ever was, not at this level. No one was foolish enough to show their hand outright. But tension had a scent. Subtle. Metallic. Just beneath the surface.And tonight—It was everywhere.The council chamber stood illuminated in low amber light, shadows stretching long across the stone walls. Every Alpha had been summoned under the guise of strategy — post-ambush coordination, reinforcement discussions, routine alignment.A necessary lie.My gaze swept across the room slowly, deliberately.Seven Alphas who had pledged loyalty to this alliance. Seven men who had bled beside us, fought beside us. And one of them was feeding us to the enemy.I leaned back slightly against the stone pillar near the edge of the room, arms crossed loosely, posture relaxed. Xavier stood at the head of the table, composed as ever
Alara's POVThe house felt different in the daylight. Not quieter — if anything, it was louder now, filled with the soft chaos of the twins — but warmer. Like it had been holding its breath for years and had finally decided to exhale.I noticed it most when Xavier was near.I told myself it was ridi
Alara’s POVI didn’t ask Ronan right away.I carried the knowledge of what I had to do like a jagged shard tucked beneath my skin, one that was utterly impossible to ignore. Every time Artemis stirred restlessly in her sleep, her tiny frame shivering as if she were lost in a blizzard only she could
Alara’s POVThe room was quiet in a way that felt sacred.Moonlight spilled through the tall windows, silvering the stone walls and pooling softly over the bed where I sat, back supported by pillows, my children cradled against me. One at each breast. Their tiny fingers curled instinctively into th
Xavier’s POVThe summons made no sense.Ronan did not call meetings lightly, certainly not on neutral land, and never without reason grave enough to justify offending every Al







