LOGINHow long will Xavier be able to hold on to his restrain and resist Alara?
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
Xavier’s POVSilence followed Rylan’s words. Not the kind that settled. Not the kind that passed. The kind that stayed — thick, heavy, pressing against the walls like something alive.“An Alpha.”The words didn’t just hang in the air. They carved through it.I didn’t move immediately. Neither did Ronan. But Marcus—Marcus surged beneath my skin. Not fully. Not enough to take control. But close.‘Find him.’The instinct wasn’t a thought. It was a command. Sharp. Violent. Absolute.My jaw tightened as I forced it down, forced him down.Rushing now would fracture everything we had built — and if Rylan was right, if the betrayal ran as deep as it seemed…Then one wrong move would warn them. And we would lose more than just a traitor.“We lock this down,” I said finally, my voice cutting clean through the tension.Rylan didn’t look surprised. Ronan did, but only slightly.“No announcements,” I continued. “No accusations. Nothing leaves this room.”Ronan exhaled sharply, dragging a hand dow
Alara’s POVThe entrance of Xavier, in that state of barely contained Lycan fury, was like a physical shockwave. I barely registered the destroyed iron door or the scattered guards outside; all my focus was on him. His Lycan’s growl rolled through the chamber like destructive thunder, promising viol
Alara’s POVThe morning sun beat down on the vast, scorched expanse of the training grounds, warm and utterly relentless. But the external heat was nothing compared to the focused, burning intensity simmering in my veins. After the chaos of the last twenty-four hours — Astrid awakening, Xavier retur
Alara’s POVThe palace felt different the morning Xavier informed me of the council’s latest demand — no, their ultimatum. The tension in the air clung to the walls like frost biting into stone, a warning of something unpleasant creeping its way into our lives.Aria.Xavier had already told me every
Alara’s POVMarcus didn’t move.Not even when the horizon softened into the faded pinks of dusk, illuminating the ruined steps where we sat. Not when Rylan cleared his throat for the dozenth time, clearly battling professional decorum and the need to tell his King to stop being a stubborn beast. Not







