FAZER LOGINThe attack came without warning. One moment, the clearing held its breath. The next— Everything broke.The tracker didn’t move first. The figures behind him did. They surged forward in perfect, silent. coordination, their movements sharp and unnatural, like shadows given solid form. The air fractured with their speed, the ground barely reacting beneath their feet.Raymond moved instantly. He stepped forward, placing himself between Amber and the oncoming threat, his entire presence shifting in a heartbeat from steady to lethal. “Stay behind me!” he snapped. Amber didn’t listen. She couldn’t. Because her mother was still lying there, barely conscious, barely breathing.Amber’s body reacted before her mind could catch up. She shifted, positioning herself closer to her mother, one hand gripping hers tightly while the other lifted instinctively, that familiar energy already rising beneath her skin. “I’m not leaving her,” she said. Raymond didn’t argue. He didn’t have time.The first attac
For a few seconds after the tracker disappeared, the world seemed to hold its breath. Amber didn’t move.The energy she had released still hummed faintly beneath her skin, like a quiet echo of something that had only just begun to awaken. Her chest rose and fell slowly, her pulse gradually settling, but her mind refused to calm.He hadn’t come to kill her. Not yet. He had come to see her. To measure her. And somehow… that felt worse.“You felt that, didn’t you?” Selene said from behind them, her voice lower than usual, stripped of its usual sarcasm. Amber didn’t turn. “Yes.”Raymond stepped closer, his presence steady, solid—something she could anchor herself to without even trying. “He’ll be back,” he said. Amber nodded once. “I know.”There was no fear in her voice. Only certainty.The guide approached them at last, his steps quiet but deliberate. “You’ve crossed into something you can’t step away from now,” he said.Amber turned to face him, her eyes sharper than before. “I wasn’t
They didn’t wait. The moment the words left the man’s mouth—she was wounded—something inside Amber shifted sharply into focus. The urgency was no longer distant or abstract. It was immediate. Personal. Alive.“Which way?” she asked, her voice steady but tight.The man studied her for a brief moment, then nodded toward the deeper stretch of forest ahead. “She moved east.”Amber didn’t hesitate. “Then we go east.”Raymond fell into step beside her instantly, his presence close, alert, his attention split between the path ahead and the space around them. Selene followed just behind, her movements quieter now, sharper, every sense clearly on edge. The man trailed slightly behind them this time. Watching. Always watching.They moved quickly, faster than before, the unstable ground beneath them no longer slowing Amber down. If anything, it felt like her body was adjusting to it, adapting in ways she didn’t fully understand yet. The strange shifts in the environment didn’t disorient her as m
The silence after the silver-eyed beings disappeared did not feel empty. It felt full.Heavy with everything that had just happened—everything that had been said, and more importantly, everything that hadn’t.Amber stood still for a moment longer, her breathing steadying as the last traces of energy faded from the air. The clearing no longer pulsed with tension, but something lingered beneath it, like the echo of a storm that had only just passed.She became aware of Raymond’s hands still on her arms. Firm. Warm. Real.Her gaze lifted slowly to meet his for a second, neither of them spoke.And in that space, something shifted again—quieter than before, but deeper.“You shouldn’t have stepped forward like that,” Raymond said finally, his voice low, controlled, but carrying an edge she hadn’t heard in a while. Amber tilted her head slightly, studying him. “You didn’t stop me.” “I wanted to.” “Then why didn’t you?” The question lingered between them.Raymond’s jaw tightened slightly, his
Amber didn’t realize she had stepped forward until she was already ahead of the others.The movement wasn’t forced. It wasn’t reckless. It felt… inevitable.Behind her, she sensed Raymond shift sharply, his instinct pulling him to close the distance, to pull her back—but he stopped himself. She felt it in the air between them. That moment of restraint. That decision. Trust. Or at least— The attempt at it.The silver-eyed figures did not advance further, but the energy between them thickened, pressing inward from every direction. They stood at the edge of the clearing like shadows given shape, their forms almost human, yet not entirely. Their stillness was unnatural, too precise, too deliberate.Watching. Waiting. Always watching her.Amber’s pulse steadied as she lifted her chin slightly, her grip still tight around the piece of fabric she had found. The pendant rested warm against her skin beneath her jacket, its presence grounding her in a way she hadn’t fully understood until now.“
For a while, no one spoke. The forest had settled—at least on the surface—but the air still carried the lingering weight of what had just happened. Amber could feel it in her chest, in her pulse, in the quiet steadiness of something inside her that had not been there before. Control. Not perfect. Not complete. But real.She walked beside Raymond now, her hand still in his, their fingers naturally intertwined as though neither of them had thought to let go. The contact felt different than before—not just grounding, but intentional. Chosen.And for once, Amber didn’t question it.“You handled that better than most would,” the man ahead of them said without turning.Amber’s gaze stayed forward. “It didn’t feel like I handled anything.”“You did,” he replied. “You faced what was holding you back… and you let it go.”Amber exhaled quietly, her grip on Raymond’s hand tightening just slightly. “It’s not that simple.”“No,” the man agreed. “It never is. But it’s a beginning.”Selene walked a
The war room had never felt this heavy. It wasn’t just the number of people inside.It was who they were. Alphas. Commanders. Trusted lieutenants. Every one of them seated around the long table carried power and none of them looked comfortable.Because for the first time in years— They weren’t in c
The night did not end. It stretched. Heavy. Unforgiving. After Selene was taken back to the infirmary, the mansion did not return to rest. Lights remained on. Voices moved in hushed urgency. Guards doubled at every entrance. Something had changed. Everyone could feel it.Amber stood alone again.But
Selene should not have been standing. Not after the amount of blood she had lost. Not after the poison.Not after everything. And yet,there she was.At the entrance of the training ground. Pale. Unsteady. But standing.Amber’s body reacted before her mind did. She stepped forward instantly.“You sho
Sleep did not come easily that night. Not for Amber. Not for anyone.The mansion had quieted, but it was not the kind of quiet that brought peace. It was the kind that came after chaos—the kind that waited, tense and watchful, for whatever would come next.Amber stood by the window in her room, arm







