LOGINCassian's POVI had been stabbed before, thrown from horses, punched by warriors twice my size. Once, when I was ten, I'd fallen out of a tree trying to impress a girl and broken my arm. The girl hadn't been impressed. But the point was, I wasn't particularly fragile. Which was why being blasted across a room by Artemis should have bothered me less than it did. Not because it hurt, but because it had me scared on her behalf. The thought lingered as I stood outside her chambers long after midnight. The palace corridors were quiet; most of the kingdom had already retired for the night. After the disaster in the arena earlier, everyone had been tense. The Seer had spent hours speaking privately with King Xavier and Luna Alara. Lucian hadn't left Artemis's side until Luna practically forced him out. Even then, he'd looked guilty enough to challenge himself to a duel. The poor idiot. It wasn't his fault, not really.I stared at the closed door, sighed, and then stared some more. This was
Lucian's POVSomething felt wrong the moment Father sealed the arena. The royal training grounds were enormous, typically built to hold hundreds of warriors during intensive military drills. Today, they stood completely empty. Dozens of elite Lycan warriors occupied every single entrance. Ancient runes glowed intensely across the surrounding stone walls, and shimmering protective barriers vibrated overhead. No one was allowed inside.At least, that had been the original plan. Unfortunately, Cassian had never been particularly fond of rules, and neither had Selena.I wasn't surprised when I spotted two familiar figures trying to hide behind one of the eastern support pillars. They weren't succeeding, not even slightly. I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.Beside me, Artemis followed my gaze. "Oh, for the love of the Moon."Father mirrored my frustration, while Mother looked suspiciously amused. Uncle Rylan outright laughed. "Should we throw them out?""Good luck with that," Artem
Lucian's POVI did not get jealous. At least, that was the lie I repeated to myself for nearly an hour. Unfortunately, the evidence suggested otherwise.The training grounds were unusually crowded that afternoon. With many of the younger heirs remaining at the Lycan Palace for advanced training, the arena had become a constant battlefield of sparring matches, competitions, and bruised egos. In one corner, Cassian was currently making a fool of himself, while Artemis looked one sarcastic comment away from throwing him off a cliff.I should have been focused on my own training session. Instead, my attention kept drifting to Selena, and the person standing beside her.Alpha heir Adrian Blackthorne, future Alpha of the Western Ridge Pack, tall, confident, popular, and rather annoying. I didn’t particularly dislike him until today, but today I was reconsidering."What did Adrian ever do to you?"I nearly jumped. Turning, I found Artemis standing beside me, arms crossed, looking far too ob
Artemis’s POV"Sit down," I ordered.Cassian blinked. "That sounded suspiciously like a royal command.""It is. Sit."To my surprise, he actually obeyed, lowering himself onto the bench slowly, with just enough dramatic flair to suggest he considered himself nobility among the wounded. I crouched down in front of him, actively ignoring the fact that several nearby healers had paused their duties to watch us. I told myself to ignore them.One of the senior healers stepped forward in alarm. "Princess, you're not meant to use your—""I know," I interrupted smoothly."But the King specifically said—""I know.""The crescent power boundaries—""I said, I know."That successfully shut everyone up. Nobody needed to keep reminding me that my father had strictly forbidden me from using my unique crescent powers for casual healing unless it was an absolute emergency. He always claimed it dangerously blurred the boundaries between emotion and royal responsibility. He said I used the magic too
Artemis's POVI was beginning to suspect the universe thoroughly enjoyed embarrassing me. Not in a poetic, grandly dramatic way, but in a deeply personal, entirely malicious way.It all started during afternoon combat training, which already felt fundamentally unfair because mandatory military drilling should not be allowed to double as public entertainment. Yet somehow it did, mostly because half the palace staff and visiting nobility always seemed to mysteriously gather around the upper gallery whenever Cassian showed up. Or, maybe that was just my own hyper-fixated problem. He was ridiculous enough to attract a crowd without even trying. It was deeply, profoundly annoying.I stood with my arms tightly crossed over my chest on the upper stone gallery, trying very hard to pretend I was only there because I happened to enjoy analyzing advanced martial tactics. It was a lie, a very bad one.Cassian was below in the dusty arena, sparring against a massive eastern warrior while several
Cassian's POVMost people thought they knew me. That was the most amusing part of my existence.To the world, I was the future Alpha of the Southern Territories — charming, reckless. I was the rogue prince who flirted too much, laughed too loudly, and took absolutely nothing seriously. I had spent years carefully constructing that effortless reputation, and I knew the best lies were always the ones people desperately wanted to believe. So, they saw the easy confidence and the perpetual smile. They never bothered to look beneath the surface. They never asked why the mask existed, or what a person might be hiding behind it.And I preferred it that way.Well… most days, at least. Today wasn't one of those days.The letter arrived shortly after sunrise. I knew exactly who it was from before I even broke the wax. The sharp, rigid handwriting alone told me everything I needed to know.Alpha Darius, my beloved father.He was a man who had never once looked at me and simply seen his son. To
Ronan’s POVNeutrality is a myth wolves tell themselves when they still believe reason can outweigh ambition.I believed it once, not fully though.I was never naive enough to think the council’s appetite would quiet simply because Xavier stepped aside from their politics. But I believed there was s
Alara’s POVWar changes the air. It strips it of illusion.After Ronan’s message spread — No neutral ground remains — the estate did not fracture.It hardened. Messengers ran through corridors that no longer echoed with diplomacy but strategy. Scouts moved beyond our borders not to observe but to a
Alara’s POVThe days after Midnight fell did not feel real. They felt suspended.Ronan moved through the estate like a blade without sheath — silent, lethal, stripped of ornament. Kira remained at his side. The seers were given the eastern wing. Survivors slept in corridors that once held strategy
Alara’s POVI felt the blood before I saw it. Not physically. Not in the way scent carries iron through air. I felt it in the bond, like a tremor beneath the surface — subtle, controlled, deliberately restrained.Ronan, he returned at dusk, quieter than I had ever known him to be.The private estat







