LOGINAria is definitely not my hate radar... How should we make her suffer? Share your ideas with me in the comments below.
Alara’s POVThe Midnight Pack woke slowly each morning, not with the harsh, immediate clang of palace bells or the roar of military drills, but like a vast, ancient forest stretching its limbs. I learned this rhythm from the window of my new room — cedar-framed, soft-lit by the muted dawn. Here, life breathed. Wolves shifted lazily in the courtyard below, laughing easily, carrying baskets of fresh-cut wood or morning food. Their chatter rose like distant, comforting birdsong, a stark, necessary contrast to the dead silence of the Lycan palace.I pressed my forehead to the cool glass and fought — again — to push down the agonizing ache inside my chest.I missed him.Even after everything — after the betrayal my own eyes had witnessed, after the suffocating, soul-deep heartbreak that had driven me across territories, forests and borders — the Mate Bond still tugged at me mercilessly. It wasn't just desire; it was a physical, internal pull.Astrid whimpered softly in my mind, a ghost of
Alara’s POVThe Midnight Packhouse was an architecturally stark contrast to the cold, echoing white marble of the Lycan palace halls I’d fled. This place was warm, built entirely of dark cedar and heavy stone, humming with an undercurrent of contained, ancient life but quiet enough that the silence didn’t claw hysterically at my shattered nerves.Alpha Ronan, guided me through the shadowed entrance with a measured, polite distance. He never breached the fragile bubble of my personal space; he never pushed for more acknowledgment or conversation than I was willing to offer. He was a perfect, unsettling host.“Your room,” he said, his voice a low, resonant rumble as he opened a door near the western, most secluded wing, “faces the forest. It’s where the moonlight hits first every night. We find that wolves, particularly those connected to the lunar energy, sleep better with the sky on their side.”I managed a faint, strained smile, my fingers instinctively brushing the warm wooden door f
Alara’s POVI’d been driving all night. No radio. No stops. No thoughts I was willing to face. Just the endless road unraveling beneath the headlights and the knot in my throat growing tighter with every mile between me and the palace.Between me and… him.Astrid had gone silent for most of the drive — hurt, grieving, confused. ‘We should turn back.’ She whispered it once, maybe twice, but even she didn’t sound like she believed it.My hands ached around the steering wheel. My eyes burned. The bond burned too, a raw, blistering thread pulled too tight — but the farther I went, the more muffled it felt, like something inside me was shielding itself.I didn’t know if it was me. Or the pup.All I knew was that when the car finally crossed the outer border — past the last faint tendrils of Xavier’s territory — something inside my spine loosened.The pressure I hadn’t realized was crushing my lungs… eased.Only for the car to jolt violently.“Shit—!”The world pitched forward as the vehicle
Xavier’s POVThe incessant, violent banging dragged me out of sleep like a physical punch to the skull.“XAVIER!”Rylan’s voice, a raw thunderclap of fury and alarm, resonated from the other side of my chamber door. “Open the damned door, NOW!”I groaned, my head splitting in two, the pain blinding. My body felt impossibly heavy, sluggish, as if I’d been forcibly sedated. My tongue felt thick and useless. My vision was a heavy, persistent fog. It took a massive, agonizing effort just to lift my hand and rub the exhaustion from my face.‘What… happened?’I pushed myself upright, the silk sheets sliding languidly down my bare chest, and paused, my mind finally catching up to the sensory input.I was naked. Completely. In my own enormous bed.Alone—No.A soft, shallow breath beside me. A subtle shift of weight on the mattress. A cascade of long, dark, unfamiliar hair spilling across the pillow next to mine.My stomach dropped so violently I nearly retched, the bile burning the back of my
Alara’s POVI couldn't feel my legs.Not when they jolted backward from the half-open door. Not when the breath violently caved in my chest, leaving behind only suffocating emptiness. Not when the familiar, comforting world violently turned into a jarring, agonizing blur of ringing white noise.All I heard, above the roaring silence of my own shattered heart, was one single, devastating sound — Xavier’s voice, intimate and low, demanding satisfaction from Aria.Astrid let out a strangled, primal roar in my head, a sound of profound pain and desperate refusal.‘NO. NO, ALARA—DON’T RUN. WE NEED TO SEE. WE NEED TO KNOW. WE NEED TO—’But I was already moving. Not thinking. Not breathing. Not processing. Just running.The hallway spun past me in sickening streaks of shadow and moonlight. My feet stumbled, caught, slipped on the smooth flooring, but I didn’t stop. I couldn't. My lungs burned like raw fire, every ragged inhale tearing me apart from the inside.‘Mate. Betrayal. Mate. Betrayal.
Alara’s POVA full week had passed since the terrifying incident — seven long days of strained breaths, cautious touches, and an ever-present, unspoken fear lodged like a jagged needle beneath my skin. The diplomatic week had finally ended two days ago, the visiting Alphas and Lunas dispersing back to their respective territories… though not without leaving a toxic trail of whispers in their wake. I caught the glances, the quick, darting movements of eyes, and the low murmurs behind half-closed doors.“The Crescent Luna lost control again.”“The future queen nearly turned feral, threatening the stability of the entire Summit.” “The Lycan King looked shaken, barely holding his mate together…”Their words, sharp and venomous, clung to the ornate halls of the packhouse long after the guests themselves were gone.It had been a grueling stretch of meetings, formal dinners, endless diplomatic ceremonies, and forced formalities — and throughout every moment of it, Xavier had stayed rigidly







