ログインI spun, dropping immediately into the submissive posture every servant learned their first day—head down, shoulders curved, hands clasped. My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Cleaning, Alpha. I was assigned to your quarters."
Heavy footsteps crossed the threshold. I kept my eyes fixed on the floor, watching his boots approach.
"By whom?"
"Head Maid Margot, Alpha."
Calling my enemy Alpha gives me the ick. I'm fuming with anger, I want to kill this bastard and be gone from the place.
"I don't recognize you." His voice was deep, cold. The voice that had haunted my nightmares for four years.
"I'm new, Alpha. I arrived three weeks ago."
The footsteps came closer. Too close. I could feel the heat radiating from him, could smell leather and pine and something darker underneath. My wolf, silent for so long, stirred.
No. Not now. Not ever.
"What's your name?"
"Isora, Alpha."
A pause. Long enough that I wondered if I'd made a mistake, if somehow he knew—
"Look at me, Isora."
The command in his voice left no room for refusal. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but I couldn't. Not without blowing everything.
Slowly, I raised my eyes.
Sea blue met hazel.
And the world shattered.
It hit me like a physical blow….a snap so violent it drove the air from my lungs. Heat flooded my veins, every nerve ending igniting at once. The mate bond crashed into place with the force of a tidal wave, pulling me toward him with a need so primal.
It terrified me.
My wolf roared to life for the first time in four years, clawing desperately toward the surface, screaming MINE MINE MINE—
No. No, this couldn't be—
Kira shut up! I snapped inwardly but the damn wolf was acting on its own.
"Are you ill?"
His voice sounded distant, muffled by the roaring in my ears. I gripped the edge of the desk behind me, my knuckles white, fighting to stay upright. Fighting to keep my expression neutral even as everything inside me tore itself apart.
"I—" My voice came out strangled.
"Forgive me, Alpha. I haven't eaten yet today."
He studied me, those cold blue eyes missing nothing. This close, I could see the sharp planes of his face, the slight scar along his jaw, the way his black hair fell across his forehead. This close, I could imagine how easily those strong hands could snap my neck.
How easily they'd torn my father's throat.
The hatred steadied me. Gave me something to hold onto while the bond tried to drag me under.
"Margot starves her workers now?" There was no sympathy in his tone, just observation.
"No, Alpha. I simply haven't had time."
His gaze traveled over my face, and I fought not to flinch. "You don't look like a typical servant."
"I don't understand, Alpha."
"Your bearing. Your hands." Before I could react, he caught my wrist, turning my palm upward. His touch burned. The bond sang at the contact, begging for more.
Kira behave please!
"No calluses. You haven't done hard labor."
I pulled back carefully, respectfully. "I'm a quick healer, Alpha."
"Are you." It wasn't a question. He circled me slowly, and I felt like prey being stalked.
"What pack are you from?"
The lie came smoothly. I'd practiced it a thousand times. "I had no pack, Alpha. I'm a rogue. I was captured at your borders three weeks ago."
"Rogues don't carry themselves like warriors."
My blood ran cold, okay he's smart I'd give him that. "I'm not a warrior, Alpha."
"No?" He stopped in front of me again, close enough that I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. Close enough that the bond pulled so hard I wanted to scream.
"Then why do I feel like you're planning how to kill me right now?"
Time stopped.
Did he know? Had I given myself away already?
The door burst open, shattering the moment.
"Alpha, the council is waiting." A tall man with dark hair and a Beta's presence filled the doorway, his eyes immediately finding me.
"New servant?"
"Apparently." Adrian's gaze hadn't left my face.
The Beta frowned. "Margot's choice?"
"So she says."
"Interesting." The Beta's tone suggested he found it annoying.
"We really do need to go. The Forest River delegation won't wait much longer."
Adrian stepped back finally, and I could breathe again. "You're dismissed. Return this evening to prepare the room for the night."
"Yes, Alpha." I dropped into a bow, desperate to escape, but his voice stopped me at the door.
"Isora."
I turned, keeping my eyes down. "Alpha?"
"If you're planning to steal from me, I should inform you that the last servant who tried lost her hand." His tone was conversational, almost pleasant. "I'm far less forgiving with those who betray my trust."
Dear Ink lovers🌸💞 If you're reading this, you made it through the fire. And I don't just mean the flames that burned Nightfall Pack. I mean the flames of betrayal, of heartbreak, of watching characters you loved fall apart and get back up again. I mean the flames of a story that never promised you a happy ending—only a truthful one. This book was never meant to be soft. It was never meant to be safe. It was meant to feel real—raw, broken, and achingly human, even in a world of wolves and curses and fated mates. When I started writing this story, I knew exactly how it would end. Not because I wanted it to end that way, but because that's what the characters deserved. Adrian's death was never a punishment—it was a completion. He spent twenty years running from his curse, hiding from himself, pushing everyone away because he was terrified of hurting them. In the end, he didn't die as a monster. He died as a man who had finally found something worth dying for. He died as a ma
🪷ISORA🪷 Six months had passed since the fire, and I was still standing. The pack had found its rhythm again. The warriors trained in the courtyard, their swords clashing and their voices calling out commands. The servants moved through the halls, their footsteps soft on the stone, their hands busy with their tasks. The children played in the gardens, their laughter echoing off the walls like a song that had been missing for too long. Life had not stopped. It had simply continued, the way it always did, the way it always would. Garrick had stepped into the role of acting Alpha with a steadiness that I admired, his presence filling the spaces that Adrian had left behind. He had not tried to replace him. He had simply held the pack together, the way Adrian would have wanted. Olivine had become his anchor, her green eyes always finding him across the room, her hand always reaching for his when she thought no one was looking. I watched them sometimes, the way they moved around ea
🪷ISORA🪷 The journal trembled in my hands as I stared at the third page. The tears were already falling, blurring my vision, but I could still see it clearly. A two year old baby girl sitting on the steps of a house, her dark hair a mess of curls, her hazel eyes wide and innocent. The baby who had smiled at the beast. The baby who had made him shift back for the first time. The baby who had been me. My fingers shook as I turned the page. Another drawing. A girl in a plain gray dress, standing in his study, her eyes burning with hatred. The first day I had walked into his pack. The first day he had seen me. The day I had tried to kill him. I remembered that day so clearly, the way he had looked at me, the way he had asked me to look at him, the way the bond had snapped into place before I even knew what was happening. I turned the page again. Me in the bathroom, water dripping from my hair, my body wrapped in a towel. He had been watching me, drawing me, memorizing me. I had n
🪷ISORA🪷 The fire was still burning. I was sitting on the cold ground, my knees pulled to my chest, my eyes fixed on the flames that were consuming him. The rain had stopped hours ago, but the sky was still dark, and the air was thick with the smell of smoke and ash and grief. I had been sitting here for hours, watching the fire burn, watching the flames lick at his body, watching the last traces of him disappear into the sky. My hands were numb from the cold, my face was raw from the tears, and my throat was raw from the screaming, but I could not move. I could not look away. I could not do anything except sit here and watch him burn. His face was still there, through the flames, through the smoke. I could see his eyes, his lips, the scar on his jaw. I could see the way he had looked at me when he said I love you. I could see the way his hand had fallen from my face. I could see the way the light had faded from his eyes. I reached for him, my hand stretching toward the fire, tow
🪷ISORA🪷 The healer's hands were still on Adrian's chest, his fingers pressed against the place where his heart should have been beating. I watched his face, watched the way his eyes darkened, watched the way his jaw tightened. "The wizard." The healer said, his voice low and urgent. "The tether was bound through him. Azrian used his magic. If the wizard dies, the bond might break." I did not wait to hear the rest. I was already on my feet, running toward the dungeon, my legs carrying me faster than I had ever moved. The rain was still falling, soaking through my clothes, mingling with the tears that were streaming down my face. I did not feel any of it. I could not feel anything except the hollow emptiness where the bond used to be. The absence of him was a physical weight, pressing down on my chest, making it hard to breathe. My lungs burned and my legs screamed and my heart was pounding so hard I could feel it in my throat, but I did not stop. I will not let him die. I b
🪷ISORA🪷 I watched Adrian fall to his knees, and something inside me snapped. Kira had been pacing beneath my skin since the moment Azrian appeared at the gates, her fury building with every taunt, every laugh, every time my mate's blood spilled onto the stone. But when I saw Adrian stumble, when I saw him struggle to rise, when I saw his hand pressed against his side and the blood seeping through his fingers, I could not hold her back any longer. "You promised me his death." Kira's voice was a snarl in my head, raw and ancient and filled with years of grief. "You swore on our parents' ashes. Now take it." I did not think. I did not hesitate. I shifted with the speed of light, my bones cracking and reforming, my body surging forward before my mind could catch up. My white wolf was faster than anything I had ever known, a streak of silver and fury that crossed the distance between us in the span of a heartbeat. The ground blurred beneath my paws, and the wind roared in my ears, an
🪷ISORA🪷I held onto Adrian for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes, my arms wrapped around his body and my face pressed between his shoulder blades and my heart pounding so hard that I was sure he could feel it through his shirt. The dungeon was cold and damp and the air smel
🪷ISORA🪷I lay in my room staring at the ceiling and my whole body was shaking.Not from the cold. Not from the kind of shaking that has a physical cause you can address by pulling the blanket higher or moving closer to a heat source. The kind of shaking that comes from the inside, from a conclusi
🪷ISORA🪷I did not feel complete without the bond. That was the strangest part of all of this, because I had been the one fighting it from the beginning. I had spent every waking moment since I stepped into this pack pushing it away, ignoring the pull, pretending that my heart did not skip every t
🐺ADRIAN🐺"This is going to be a disaster, do not take her with you." Killian growled angrily in my head.Killian had been at this since yesterday evening, since the moment I told Garrick we were moving out and the decision became concrete rather than planned, and he ha







