LOGINKillian didn’t move.For a long, breathless moment, he just stood there in front of me—massive, furious, trembling—not from anger, but from something far more dangerous: fear. The kind of fear that only comes when someone realizes they are about to lose the one person the moon fated for them.My chest rose and fell sharply. Everything about the room felt too small, too tight, too full of heat. The shadows on the walls trembled as if even they were afraid to touch the tension between us.His voice finally came out, low and rough.“Say it again.”I swallowed. “Say what?”“That you’re leaving.” His fists clenched at his sides. “I want to hear it. Clear. From your mouth.”I didn’t answer. Couldn’t answer. Not when his eyes were burning like wildfire, glowing that terrifying, beautiful Alpha gold that always meant his wolf was close to the surface.Killian took one step closer.Then another.And another.Until he was standing so close the heat from his body wrapped around me.“You think I’
“The Weight of the Truth”The hallways felt narrower than usual as Aria and I walked side by side. Not because the walls were closing in—but because everything I had been holding inside for years now hovered between us like a living, breathing shadow. A shadow I could no longer hide behind.Her fingers fit into mine so lightly, so naturally—yet every step tightened something in my chest. She didn’t pull away. She didn’t hesitate. She stayed close. But I could feel her trembling. Quiet, contained, but real.And I hated that I was part of the reason.When we reached the war room doors, I paused.Not because I doubted her. But because I feared what would happen when all the pieces finally came together. When she discovered how much of the world around her had been constructed by lies, threats, and choices neither of us had ever asked for.Aria looked up at me. Her eyes were calmer now, but still shining from the tears she hadn’t tried to hide. She’d never looked more breakable—or more t
The door closed behind Killian, the soft click echoing louder than thunder in my ears. I stood in the center of the room, my hands trembling, my heart pounding so violently that it felt like it would burst. Everything I had learned in the last hour battled inside me like two storms colliding.My father’s lies.My mother’s silence.Killian’s hidden pain.And the truth… the truth I had begged for yet felt unprepared to carry.I sank slowly onto the edge of the bed, rubbing my palms against my face. My lungs tightened. It felt as though the walls themselves were shrinking, caving in around me, pushing me into a corner I didn’t remember agreeing to step into. I tried breathing deeply, but every breath hitched halfway.Killian’s scent still lingered in the room—cedarwood, steel, and something warm that always calmed me. But right now, even that comfort tangled with the confusion knotted inside my chest.He had looked at me as if he was giving me his heart.Like he was terrified I would cru
Killian didn’t fall asleep.He drifted in and out—breathing, conscious enough to answer when I whispered his name, weak enough that every answer made my stomach twist with fear. But for the first time since we escaped the collapsing chamber, there was color in his face again. Warmth in his skin. Strength beneath the tremble of his pulse.He was alive.Barely—but alive.And yet the cavern’s silence felt like a blade against my throat.Riven stood guard near the entrance, eyes scanning the dark forest beyond. But I could feel it. The air outside wasn’t quiet.It was listening.Waiting.Hungry.Something had changed in the forest since the creature’s escape—like the shadows themselves were stretching, searching, aware of us.Aware of Killian.And aware of me.Killian’s hand tightened weakly around mine. “You’re shaking…”I hadn’t noticed.“I’m fine,” I lied.His brow creased faintly, the smallest expression of disbelief. Even sick, injured, half-conscious—he still saw through me.I brush
The moment Killian collapsed, breath shallow and trembling against my hands, the world around me stopped existing.I didn’t hear the wind.I didn’t hear the crackling torches.I didn’t hear Riven shouting my name from somewhere behind.All I heard—all I felt—was Killian’s heartbeat, too faint, too slow, fluttering like a candle fighting to survive a storm.“Killian… please…” My voice broke as I lowered myself beside him, cupping his face with trembling hands. His skin was hot—burning—with the fever that had been building ever since the darkness tore into him beneath the collapsing chamber.But now?It was worse.Devastating.Deadly.I slipped my arms around his shoulders, pulling him upright against my chest. His weight sagged into me as if every bone in his body had turned to water.“Stay with me… please stay with me,” I whispered into his hair.His fingers twitched weakly against my wrist.“Aria…” His voice was barely a rasp. “Don’t… cry…”But I was already crying.Tears blurred my
The storm had not stopped since the moment Aria and Killian left the council chamber. Winds slammed violently against the stone walls of the Nightfang fortress, rattling windows and sending loose branches flying across the courtyard. The pack grounds felt tense—too quiet, too alert—as if every wolf sensed something dark creeping closer.Aria walked beside Killian, her heartbeat still uneven from the heavy revelations of the last chapter. The truth about the rogue attacks, the stolen relics, and the Shadowborn’s return was hanging like a thick fog around them. But something else kept replaying in Aria’s mind: the way Killian had looked at her, that raw mixture of guilt and fierce protectiveness. Even after everything—after enemies resurfaced, after loyalties were questioned—his eyes softened only for her.They moved down the narrow corridor that led toward the old wing of the fortress, the one destroyed during the Great War years ago. Killian’s hand brushed hers as they reached the col







