LOGINNaya’s POVThe moment my body hit the hard wooden chair again, the impact shot through my spine, snapping me violently out of whatever trance I had been dragged through.Air rushed back into my lungs like I had been drowning.I blinked rapidly, my vision struggling to adjust as I looked around… the same cracked walls, the same suffocating silence, the same cold room that had held me captive.I was back.Back in the present.For a second, I just sat there… frozen, disoriented, like my mind hadn’t caught up with my body yet.Then it hit me.Everything.The blood.The screams.My parents.A sharp, broken sound tore out of my chest as I threw my head back and yelled into the empty space, the grief ripping through me with a force I couldn’t contain.“Ahhh…!”My voice echoed against the walls, raw and uneven, carrying everything I didn’t know how to process.Frustration.Pain.Confusion.It all collided at once.But just as quickly as the scream came, it died.My head dropped forward, my br
Naya’s POV“No…”The word slipped out of me like something fragile breaking.My knees gave way beneath me as I dropped beside them, my vision blurring through tears that refused to stop falling. My parents lay there, unmoving, their hands still intertwined like even death hadn’t been strong enough to pull them apart.For a moment… I couldn’t breathe.I had seen it happen.Every second of it.The struggle… the blood… the way their bodies gave in.And now I was here, kneeling beside them, staring at what was left of the only people who had ever been mine.My hands hovered over them, unsure, trembling like touching them would make it all more real than it already was.“Mum…” My voice cracked softly, my throat tightening. “Dad…”But silence answered me.A broken sound escaped my lips as I bent forward, my shoulders shaking, grief clawing its way out of me in waves I couldn’t hold back. It felt like something inside my chest was being ripped apart all over again, like I was losing them twi
Naya’s POVThe door opened.Slowly.Painfully slow.As though time itself had decided to stretch this moment… to make me feel every second of it.My heart pounded violently against my chest, each beat louder than the last, echoing in my ears as I stood frozen, my eyes locked on that door.Any moment now…Any moment…My mother would be standing there.Exposed and defenseless. Standing at the mercy of monsters.Tears blurred my vision as they pooled in my eyes, my breath coming out in uneven gasps as dread coiled tighter and tighter around my chest.I knew how this ended.I knew.But knowing didn’t make it easier.If anything… It made it worse.Because now..I had to watch it happen.The door creaked open further.Light from the hallway spilled into the room.And then…It fully opened.And what I saw…Made my breath hitch.Standing there…Wasn’t my mother.Not in the way I remembered.Not in the way I expected.No…Standing before those men…Was a wolf.A white wolf.Her fur glistened l
Naya’s POVThe wind sliced past me so suddenly it felt real.Too real.A sharp whoosh cut through the air, and before I could even process what was happening, I saw it…A silver bullet.Flying straight at me.My heart lurched violently into my throat, my body reacting before my mind could catch up as I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut, instinctively bracing for the impact.Waiting patiently for the pain, death or the darkness that came after death..But..Seconds later and nothing came.The yell and panic in the air still filled my senses..That’s when I remembered!I wasn’t real.. I was just inside a memory..So I finally opened my eyes…Just in time to see the masked man who had fired the bullet… walking through me.My breath hitched.I spun around sharply, my heart still racing, watching as he continued forward like I didn’t even exist, like I wasn’t standing right there in front of him just seconds ago.And then…It hit me hard..My parents.My eyes widened.“They’re not here…” I
Naya’s POV“In the flesh.”The hooded woman’s voice was calm… almost amused.But I wasn’t.Not even close.My eyes were still fixed on the man standing across the room…on the way he carried himself, on the authority in his voice, on the unmistakable presence that screamed power even without him trying.I had never met him.Never stood this close to him.But I knew him.I had seen his face before.Countless times.On the walls of Mystic Falls… carved into stone, painted into history, spoken about like he was some untouchable legend.“…Elias Thornton,” I whispered, the name tasting strange on my tongue.Louise’s father.The Alpha of Mystic Falls.But then…How?How did he know my father?How was he standing here… arguing like they were anything more than strangers?My head turned sharply, my eyes landing on the only person who seemed to have answers to this twisted reality.The hooded woman.“How…?” I asked, my voice tight with confusion.She didn’t respond.Didn’t even move.Frustratio
Naya’s POV“What?!”The word tore out of my lips before I could stop it.And at the exact same moment…“What?!”My mother’s voice echoed through the room with the same confusion, the same disbelief, the same sharp edge of fear.It pulled my attention back to her instantly.She stood there, her body still weak from childbirth, yet somehow trembling with a strength that came only from a mother protecting her child. Her brows were drawn together, her lips parted slightly as if she couldn’t quite process what she had just heard.And for a second… it felt like I was looking at myself.The same confusion.The same denial.The same desperate need for it all to make sense.She let out a small, nervous chuckle one that didn’t reach her eyes as she looked at the High Priestess.“No… High Priestess,” she said, shaking her head slowly, like if she denied it enough times it would become true. “My daughter is just a newborn… she cannot be…”Her voice cracked at the end, fragile and uncertain.But t
Naya’s POV The moment the words left my mouth, regret hit me like a physical blow. “I, Naya Rowenfall… accept your challenge.” What the fuck had I just done? My heart slammed so hard against my ribs I thought it might burst. My hands began to shake, even though I kept them clenched at my sides
Zane’s POV Katherine’s retreating back burned into my vision. I stood rooted where I was, my fists clenched so tight my knuckles ached, watching her storm out of the council chamber like she had just won instead of lost. She was guilty. I knew it. Every damn Elder in this room knew it but then
Zane’s POVMy study felt too small for the storm raging inside my head.I paced from one end of the room to the other, fists clenching and unclenching, my jaw locked so tight it hurt. Naya’s words from earlier still echoed in my skull.You don’t deserve to be Alpha.My wolf hadn’t defended me this
Katherine’s POV The moment Celia pointed at me, the world tilted. For half a second, I couldn’t even breathe. Then rage exploded through me. “You lying bitch!” I screamed, jumping to my feet so hard my chair screeched across the floor. “Who paid you to say that? Who put you up to this?!” Gasps







