LOGINAlejandro Asterion lowered his gaze. Eamon looked at me, understanding what had just happened. The gathered supernatural beings were no longer staring at Alejandro the young Alpha. They were looking at something far older. Something that had been here before their histories began.I allowed my own voice to return. “The Hollow cannot simply be destroyed.”Eamon stepped forward. “But it can be contained.” The witch swallowed.“We found one of six anchors,” I said.The vampire's expression changed. “Six?”“Yes.”“What happens when the others awaken?”Asterion answered carefully. “The system changes.”“Into what?”“A pathway.”The vampire looked toward the mountain. “To The Hollow Arc?”“Yes.” Fear moved through the gathering.“And Malachai knows that,” I said. The elderly wolf's face hardened. “Then why isn't he here?”“He was.”Every eye turned toward me. “In the chamber beneath the first anchor.”“What happened?”“He expected the Heartstone to open a path.”“And did it?”“No.”I looked
Alejandro’s POVThe message disappeared before the aircraft touched the ground. I kept staring at the empty screen, remembering the final words that had appeared across it.NOW CHOOSE YOUR KING.Malachai wanted a spectacle. That much was obvious. What I didn't understand was why the supernatural beings gathered around Haven had not attacked. “Don't land yet,” I told Koa. He glanced over his shoulder. “We're already committed.”“Circle once.”Koa banked the aircraft.From above, the situation became clearer. The gathering wasn't an army. It was a congregation. Wolves occupied one section of the valley. Vampires stood farther back, surrounded by their own guards. Witches and warlocks formed several circles around the perimeter, while rogues remained scattered beyond them.Nobody was approaching the mountain. Nobody was crossing the invisible boundary of Haven's wards. That was the first thing that caught my attention. The second was something only supernatural eyes could perceive. A fai
Alejandro’s POVWe barely reached the staircase before the chamber erupted behind us. There was no fire. No explosion. Just force.It struck my back hard enough to drive me forward. I caught Zenith around the waist before she lost her footing, while Lucien seized the railing and Koa hauled Asterion up the remaining steps. The entire mountain seemed to groan. Stone cracked beneath our feet.“Alejandro!” Eamon's voice tore through the communicator. “The energy signature is spreading!”“How far?”“Beyond the chamber. I'm still calculating the radius.” A section of the staircase collapsed behind us. That answered the question. “Move!”We reached the surface as another shockwave rolled through the ground. The landscape rippled. A pale circle of light expanded from beneath our feet, racing across the surrounding earth. Trees bent away from it. Loose stones lifted several inches before dropping again.Koa stared. “That is going to be visible from orbit.”“Then we'll deal with that later.” My
Alejandro’s POVFor several seconds, nobody moved. Malachai stood at the foot of the ancient staircase, perfectly composed, while the Heartstone continued its slow pulse behind me.He had crossed a threshold that should have been impossible to cross, yet he looked less like an intruder and more like a man who had finally reached the end of a journey. That unsettled me more than any display of power could have.“You came alone,” I said.His gaze settled on me. “I expected you to notice.”“You walked into a chamber protected by an ancient seal.”“No.” His eyes moved toward the Heartstone. “You opened it.”I followed his gaze. The stone pulsed once. My chest answered. Asterion stepped forward. “You've been searching for this place.” Malachai looked at him. For the first time, something resembling recognition passed through his expression. “You remember.”“I remember enough.”“That is more than I expected.”Asterion's face hardened. “You were never supposed to find it.”“And yet you broug
Alejandro's POVThe first thing I did after ordering the shutdown was cancel it. Koa had already begun cutting ArdentWolf's external networks when I raised a hand. "Stop."His fingers froze above the console. "You told me to shut everything down.""I changed my mind."Lucien gave me a knowing look. "You want Malachai to believe we panicked.""I want him to believe his plan worked."Koa leaned back. "And what are we actually doing?""Nothing visible." I walked toward the central display. "Keep the corporate systems running. Keep the subsidiaries communicating. Let the public networks operate normally.""And underneath?""We build a second network."Koa's expression sharpened. "Completely isolated?""Completely.""Supernatural communications only?""Yes."He nodded. "I can have it running in twenty minutes.""You have fifteen."He turned back to the console.Lucien approached me. "And the anchor?""We investigate it."Asterion shook his head. "No."I looked at him. "No?""We don't inves
Alejandro's POVThe screen went black. Not the ordinary black of a system shutting down. Every display in the command chamber died at precisely the same moment, leaving only the emergency lights along the walls. For several seconds, nobody moved. Then Aegis screamed.The sound tore through the chamber with enough force to make the glass panels vibrate. Crimson symbols raced across the armor's surface, appearing and disappearing faster than the eye could follow.Koa was already at the control station. "Aegis isn't responding.""Because you're trying to communicate with it as a machine," Eldric said.Koa looked at him. "What else is it?" Before Eldric could answer, the symbols changed. Six circles appeared across Aegis's chest. Five surrounded a sixth at the center.Asterion stepped closer. His expression changed immediately. "That isn't the seal."I looked at him. "You recognize it.""I recognize part of it." He stared at the armor. "The mark we saw earlier belonged to something much l
Koa’s POV Nevada air tastes different. It is drier than the woods back east, but somehow cleaner and crisper. The scent of pine rides every breeze, drifting through the ridgelines and canyons like an old lullaby I barely remember humming as a boy.I adjust the hood of my ash-gray jacket and lean b
Zenith's POVThe morning light spills through the tall windows in soft slants, brushing across the wooden floor with a golden warmth that feels nothing short of sacred. I blink against the glow and stretch beneath the thick, fluffy covers. For a moment, I forget where I am.Then I hear it, the wind
Inferno’s POVThe moment the wards tremble, I know. The threads of ancient magic I spun around the villa shiver, not break, no, nothing so crude, but they shift, like the faint rattle of a door not fully locked. It is enough. My eyes, though spirit-bound, narrow. Someone has found the seam.I peer
Zenith’s POVAt first, there is nothing. Only the hush of sleep.But then the air shifts. I feel it before I see it, warmth brushing against my skin, like the whisper of a summer wind passing through an open door. The darkness fades around me, slow and tender, and I realize I am standing in the mid







