I kept hearing Kiran’s muffled cries echoing through the darkness. I didn’t know where I was or what direction to take, but I couldn’t stop moving I had to find his soul and save him.The vastness around me was endless, a surreal void of black mist and silence. I stumbled forward, the ground vanishing beneath my feet without warning. I fell screaming into a pit of shadows and landed hard.And there he was.Kiran’s soul was bound at the center of the pit, shackled in thick, black chains pulsing with dark magic. One side of him was his true self his handsome, tormented face. The other... a savage beast, barely restrained. His golden eyes were split by rage, one glowing red, the other flickering gold.The moment he sensed my presence, the beast inside him roared. It thrashed violently, trying to break free, lunging toward me. But the chains held just barely.“Kiran, this isn’t you,” I called out, heart pounding. “Please, fight it. Whatever this is, don’t give in. I can’t lose you.”For a
Kiran didn’t look like himself anymore.His wolf was unrecognizable—twisted, corrupted by rage. Hollow eyes glowed with a feral emptiness. I shouted his name until my throat burned, but he didn’t hear me. He wasn’t there.He lunged forward, sinking his sharp fangs into my arm before I could fully dodge. I gritted my teeth as the pain exploded through me, hot and deep. My other hand reacted on instinct—I struck him hard, sending his massive body flying several meters back.I looked down. The wound throbbed, healing slowly.Too slowly.Age wasn’t on my side anymore. My body, though still powerful, didn’t recover like it used to.“Lena!” I yelled, turning to the woman who wore my mate’s face like a costume. She stood there, arms folded, lips curled in amusement as if watching a thrilling show.“Please, just stop this.”She tilted her head mockingly. “You want me to stop? Why?”“I don’t want to hurt him. If it’s me you want dead, then do it yourself. Don’t use him.”She laughed softly. “N
Lucien’s POVNo matter what I saw, a part of me refused to believe it. I needed to believe that my Emily was still in there somewhere.When Kiran confronted me that day—told me how Emily had changed—I’d noticed it too. But I didn’t want to hear it. My heart wouldn’t let me. I lashed out at him, furious he would even suggest such a thing. That argument eventually shattered the fragile truce we shared.I’ve lived for centuries. I’ve seen deceit take many forms. But never did I imagine I’d fall for it myself.Still, I told myself it was infatuation. A passing doubt. A whisper of paranoia. Surely not the truth.Even Sabine—my most trusted warrior—came to me, hesitant but firm. “She feels... wrong,” she said. “It’s like someone’s wearing her skin.”I dismissed it. I dismissed everything. Until the day Kiran left the kingdom. That same evening, driven by unease, I went to Emily’s chambers.I knocked gently.“Come in,” came her voice—soft, melodic, almost... rehearsed.I stepped inside. She
Kiran’s POVThe sky had changed.What once shimmered with moonlight now boiled with thick shadows, casting an eerie pall across the battlefield. More of my kind—my warriors, my brothers—were being turned. Hollowed out, controlled, twisted into monsters that no longer recognized friend from foe. They turned on one another with blind savagery.And at the center of the storm stood her.Emily. Or at least, the person who wore her face.She looked almost serene amid the carnage, her eyes glowing with that same sickly magic that pulsed through the corrupted Lycans. She moved like a conductor of chaos, feeding on the destruction, reveling in it.While our frontline fought desperately, I’d sent another regiment to escort the survivors to the mountain sanctuary—our hidden refuge, built in secret ever since the great betrayal. I’d always feared this day would come. That we’d need a way out. That our people would need a place to run.I turned my gaze back to Emily, if I could still call her that
Emily’s POVMy heart skipped a beat.The silence between Sabine and me was deafening—no words, just a shared, wide-eyed exchange of disbelief. This creature… it was supposed to attack us. We should be fighting for our lives. Or already dead.Instead, it bowed its head and spoke, its voice rumbling like thunder through the cavern.“Fear not, for I do not come to harm you. My mission is to save you… oh, Child of Destiny.”I blinked, unsure if I was dreaming or if the suffocating magic of this place was finally making me hallucinate. Still, my feet moved on their own, carrying me slowly toward the creature. My heart hammered in my chest.“How do you know who I am?” I asked cautiously as I reached out a trembling hand.“Emily, be careful,” Sabine warned, voice tight with fear. She kept a firm grip on her sword, her body angled protectively toward me.“I mean no harm, my lady,” the creature said again. Its voice was deep, laced with a language I’d never heard—yet somehow understood perfect
Kieran’s POVEver since that night I found myself unconsciously drawn to the dungeon where Lena was held, nothing had felt right. Something inside me shifted—and not just mentally. My instincts, my wolf, the very core of my being had begun to turn cold toward Emily. She had changed. Dramatically.I tried to ignore it at first. Blamed it on stress. The Veil. The war.But I couldn’t shake the truth. Emily wasn’t the same woman who once felt like the other half of my soul. The more time passed, the more I saw it—how she moved, how others responded to her. Rhaegos and Azara had practically started treating her like royalty. Not just with respect… but with submission. And the strangest thing was, she seemed to expect it.I took my concerns to Lucien, hoping we could look into it together—like real allies, maybe even like brothers. But he didn’t want to hear it. He blew up at me, accused me of being ungrateful, said I never truly trusted our mate. He even claimed I didn’t deserve her.It hur
EMILY – POVIt all happened in a blur.One moment, I was floating—suspended in that strange soul realm—and the next, I was violently pulled back into Lena’s body. My eyes snapped open just as the executioner gripped the switch that would release the massive blade hanging above my neck.He pulled it.I held my breath, bracing for death.But just as the blade began to fall, a loud explosion rocked the arena. The crowd screamed. The blade stopped—hovering mid-air, as if frozen by some unseen force.I blinked. I was still alive.Sabine’s figure burst through the chaos. She was locked in a brutal fight with the executioner, sword flashing in the chaos. Blood sprayed, and after one final strike, she killed him.Without a word, she cut through my bindings and pulled me to my feet.“Come on!” she shouted, yanking me into motion.“Where are we going?” I gasped, stumbling after her. I wasn’t sure I could trust her—she hadn’t exactly treated me kindly since I got here. Why was she helping me now
EMILY – POVAfter being left alone to tend to my wounds, I curled into myself, shivering in the cold, damp cell. As the blood dried on my skin, I found my thoughts drifting back to a time when life was simple—when I was just a regular girl from Seattle. I hated the ache gnawing at my chest, this sense of longing that never went away. But there was nothing I could do.A guard returned, carrying a metal plate with something that barely resembled food. One whiff, and my stomach turned. I couldn’t hold it in. I vomited—right on his boots."You bitch! How dare you!" he shouted, enraged. Without warning, he kicked me hard in the stomach, the impact sending me crashing several feet across the floor.Pain bloomed in every inch of my body. I lay there, breathless and trembling, the agony consuming me. I was done. If this was the destiny the Moon Goddess had written for me, then I didn’t want it. I couldn’t keep going like this. My body ached, but the pain in my heart was far worse.Why, Goddess
Emily's POV — inside Lena’s bodyI caught a glimpse of my reflection in the shop window — and a part of me shattered.The face staring back wasn’t mine.Was this some cruel trick of the Veil?Panic clawed at my chest. How would I ever prove to anyone that the girl they were seeing wasn’t me? That somewhere behind this familiar face, I was trapped, screaming?One thing was clear: I needed Kieran and Lucien. Desperately.But how could I reach them? Would they even notice the difference?As I was dragged through the streets by the guards, people recoiled at the sight of me.Hatred burned in their eyes.Rotten vegetables, eggs, even animal filth rained down around me.I flinched under the assault, humiliated and confused.What had Lena done to deserve this much hatred? How had she turned the people against her so completely?We finally reached a dark, crumbling building.The guards shoved me inside a pitch-black room, and a childhood fear of the dark gripped me tight."Please! Don’t lock