LOGINCassian'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
Selena's POVFor the third time that week, I found myself thinking about Lucian. It wasn’t because he had done something particularly interesting or said something remarkably profound. It wasn't even because he was the future King and the entire kingdom revolved around him. No, the reality of the situation was much worse.I couldn't stop thinking about the look on his face by the lake two nights ago. Which was ridiculous. Lucian always looked exactly the same: calm, controlled, and annoyingly composed. Yet something had shifted that night. For a fleeting moment, when we were sitting together beneath the silver moonlight, all those formidable walls he’d spent his entire life building had seemed just a little thinner.Ever since then, my thoughts had become increasingly difficult to manage. Which was precisely why I currently found myself glaring at a leather training dummy as though it were personally responsible for my psychological crisis."You look disturbed."I groaned loudly with
Lucian's POVThe palace felt noticeably quieter after the Festival of Moon. The frantic energy had finally dissolved. The endless stream of visiting alphas, fierce warriors, pompous nobles, and allied pack leaders that had choked every grand hallway for weeks had finally begun to disappear.By sunrise, the grand delegations were already departing in droves. Carriages painted with foreign crests rolled through the iron gates, warriors mounted restless horses, and pack representatives exchanged their final formal farewells. The kingdom was slowly returning to its usual rigid rhythm.From my position atop the high stone battlements of the western wall, I watched the massive procession snake its way out of the valley. The crisp morning wind tugged at my hair and cooled my skin. It should have felt entirely normal.Instead, a strange sensation pricked at the back of my mind. Something felt fundamentally off, though I couldn't explain or identify what it was. It was the exact same feeling th
Artemis’s POVI was having a perfectly reasonable, thoroughly enjoyable evening. Until Cassian found me. Once again.At this point, I was beginning to suspect he possessed some sort of illegal, supernatural tracking ability to locate me regardless of where I hid in this massive palace. It was a highly disturbing possibility."You look absolutely lovely tonight, Artemis," he said, stepping into my line of sight with a devastatingly handsome smile.I groaned immediately, rolling my eyes. "No."Cassian appeared genuinely offended, pressing a hand to his chest. "No?""No."His grin only widened, flashing straight, white teeth. "That isn't how compliments are supposed to work.""It is when they're coming from you," I retorted.Several nearby guests overheard the exchange and laughed softly. I marked them all as traitors in my mind. Cassian placed his hand dramatically over his heart, tilting his head. "You wound me deeply, engineering such cruelty on a night like this.""Good. I aim to pl
Selena's POVThe Festival of Moons had always sounded like an ancient fairy tale whenever the pack elders described it in whispered, reverent tones. I just hadn’t expected the reality to be quite so overwhelming.The entire Lycan kingdom seemed utterly transformed, stripped of its usual severe, militaristic edge. Hundreds of silver lanterns floated seamlessly throughout the grand palace grounds, suspended by a delicate combination of ancient moon magic and meticulous Lycan craftsmanship. Their glowing, ethereal lights illuminated the evening sky, washing over the stone architecture and turning the night into something vividly dreamlike. Music drifted through every open courtyard, interwoven with the rare sound of laughter echoing across the manicured gardens. Warriors who normally looked terrifyingly intimidating were smiling, their broad shoulders relaxed. Children darted between decorated pathways, their hands sticky with moon-shaped honey sweets, while even the usually serious, s
Xavier's POVBeing the Lycan King taught you many things: patience, discipline, control, and the critical ability to read people long before they spoke. It was a necessary skill when leading a kingdom, a survival tactic when raising children, and an absolute requirement when one of those children happened to be Lucian.Most people looked at my son and saw raw, intimidating power. They saw the shadows, the unyielding calm exterior, the future Alpha, and the royal heir. I saw something else. I saw every minute change, every emotional shift, and every subtle crack in the walls he had spent years building around himself.Which was exactly how I knew something had fundamentally changed.The realization struck me one afternoon as I stood overlooking the training grounds from the palace balcony. Below us, warriors sparred in organized groups, commands echoing through the dust of the arena in their usual structured chaos. Lucian stood near the center of it all, observing, correcting, and teac
Alara’s POVThe morning should have been soft — warm sheets, tangled limbs, the quiet aftermath of a night neither of us would dare put into words just yet. But the moment I opened my eyes, the air felt wrong. Dense. Heavy. Like the world itself was holding its breath.Xavier felt it too.He was alr
Alara’s POVTwo days slipped by after our stolen moment of peace on the rooftop — two whole days where I managed to avoid Aria’s poisonous presence with the precision of someone dodging arrows. I kept to the quieter parts of the palace, trained alone whenever I could slip away unnoticed, and used th
Alara’s POVAstrid’s return wasn’t gentle.It didn’t feel like welcoming back a lost half — it felt like the palace floors cracked open beneath us, releasing something ancient, molten, and undeniably powerful. The moment her consciousness fused fully with mine, something inside me shifted forever. M
Alara’s POVThe moment Xavier’s Lycan aura exploded across the ballroom, the meticulously controlled atmosphere fractured. The air thickened instantly, growing heavy and charged, like a storm collapsing inward on itself. Conversations died mid-word, the string section of the orchestra tangled into a







