LOGINI didn't come here to steal, I didn't train for four years to steal.
"I would never, Alpha."
"No," he said softly. "I don't think you would."
The Beta cleared his throat. "Alpha—"
"I'm coming." But Adrian's eyes stayed on me for one more heartbeat. "This evening, then."
I fled.
I made it to the servants' wing before my legs gave out. Collapsing against the rough stone wall, I pressed both hands over my mouth to muffle the sound threatening to tear free.
No. No, no, no—
The mate bond was a living thing inside my chest, a golden thread pulling me back toward his quarters, toward him. My wolf paced frantically, whining, desperate to return to our mate.
Our mate who had murdered our entire pack.
"Isora?"
I looked up to find Asher striding toward me, his warrior's training clothes dusty from the morning drills. The concern on his face nearly broke me.
"What happened? Did he hurt you?"
I shook my head, not trusting my voice.
"Then what—" He stopped, eyes widening.
"Your wolf. I can feel her. Kira’s—"
"We need to talk," I managed. "Now. Somewhere private."
Understanding and dread crossed his features in equal measure. "The old storage building. Five minutes."
He left first, and I followed after counting to sixty, my hands shaking so badly I had to clasp them together.
The storage building was abandoned, used only for broken furniture waiting to be repaired. Asher was already there, pacing like a caged animal.
"Tell me," he said the moment I closed the door.
"The bond." My voice cracked. "It snapped."
He froze mid-step. "What?"
"The mate bond. When I looked at him, when our eyes met—" I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to hold the pieces together. "He's my mate, Asher."
"No." The word came out flat, disbelieving.
"Not him. It can't be him."
"You think I wanted this?" The words erupted from me, four years of control shattering. "You think I chose to be bound to the monster who killed my parents? Who slaughtered my entire pack?"
Asher crossed to me in two strides, gripping my shoulders. "We leave. Right now. We pack what we can carry and we run—"
"No."
"Isora—"
"I said no." I pulled away from him, my voice dropping to something cold and hard. "I didn't survive four years in the wilderness, didn't train until my fingers bled, didn't walk into the enemy's fortress just to run away now."
"You can't fight a mate bond." Desperation bled into his voice. "You know what it does to wolves who reject it. The pain, the madness…"
"Then I'll be the first to survive it."
"And what happens when his bond snaps?" Asher demanded. "When he feels the pull toward you? What then?"
"Then I'll be ready." I'll kill him.
"Will you?" He gestured at my shaking hands. "Because from where I'm standing, you can barely keep yourself together."
The truth of it burned. I was coming apart at the seams, my wolf screaming for a mate I could never have, my body aching for a man I needed to kill.
"I'll handle it," I said.
"How? How do you handle being bound to someone you hate?"
"The same way I've handled everything else." I met his eyes, let him see the ice that had kept me alive. "I'll bury it. I'll use it. And when the moment comes, I'll put an arrow through his heart and watch him bleed." Just like my parents bled that night.
Asher stared at me for a long moment, and I saw the exact moment he realized I meant it. That I would rather die than accept this bond.
"I can't lose you too," he said quietly.
"You won't."
"Promise me." His hands found mine, squeezing gently. "Promise me you won't do anything reckless. That you'll be careful."
I wanted to promise. I wanted to give him that comfort. But lies between us had never worked.
"I'll try."
It wasn't enough. We both knew it. But it was all I had.
A knock on the storage building door made us spring apart. A young servant boy poked his head in, eyes wide.
"Sorry to interrupt, but there's a message for Isora. You're wanted back in the Alpha's quarters. He's asking for you specifically."
The bottom dropped out of my stomach. "Now?"
"Right now, miss. He sent me to find you."
Asher's jaw clenched. "I'm coming with you."
"You can't. Warriors don't accompany servants."
"I don't care—"
"Asher, please." I touched his arm briefly. "I need you to trust me."
"That's not the problem." His voice was raw. "I trust you. It's him I don't trust."
"One hour," I promised. "If I'm not back in one hour—"
"I'm coming for you. Pack rules be damned."
I nodded, turned to follow the servant boy, but Asher caught my hand.
"Isora." His eyes searched mine. "Whatever he is to fate, you remember what he is to us. What he took from us."
"I remember," I whispered. "I remember everything."
🪷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
🐺ADRIAN🐺 "Hello, brother." He said, his voice echoing in the silence. "Did I disturb your sleep?" The words hit me like a physical blow, and I felt my hands clench into fists at my sides. My body was screaming with every movement, the moon weakening me with every passing second. I could feel the cold sweat on my skin, could feel the way my hands were shaking, could feel the way my vision was blurring at the edges. Every breath was a struggle, and I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs like a trapped animal. The ground beneath my feet felt unsteady, and I could feel the fatigue settling into my bones like a heavy weight. I walked forward, my footsteps slow and deliberate, my eyes locked on Azrian's face. He was standing in the middle of the path, his arms spread wide, his body swaying slightly as if the effort of standing was almost too much for him. "You look weak, brother." Azrian said, his voice dripping with mockery. "The blood moon suits you. It makes you look almost
🪷ISORA🪷The moment Adrian said Azrian's name, I was fully awake. There was no grogginess, no slow transition from sleep to consciousness. My eyes snapped open and I was sitting up in the bed before I even realized I had moved, my heart pounding against my ribs, my body already responding to the danger I could feel in the air. The sheets were tangled around my legs, and I could feel the cold sweat on my skin from the nightmare that had woken him, the nightmare that had made him scream, the nightmare that had left him shaking and pale beside me.Adrian was standing at the window, his back to me, his shoulders rigid, his hand still holding the curtain aside. The blood red light from the moon spilled into the room, casting everything in shades of crimson and shadow. I could see the tension in his spine, the way his muscles were coiled like he was ready to spring into action, and I could feel the fear radiating off him like heat from a fire. He was terrified, and that terrified me. His h
🐺ADRIAN🐺I was ten years old again.The blood was warm on my hands, dripping from my fingers and pooling on the stone floor beneath me. It was thick and sticky, and I could feel it drying on my skin, cracking as I curled my fingers into fists. The smell of it filled my nostrils, metallic and sweet, and I could taste it on my tongue, copper and salt. Dead wolves surrounded me, their bodies twisted and broken, their eyes open and staring at nothing. The silence was the worst part. After the screams, after the chaos, there was nothing but the sound of my own ragged breathing and the slow drip of blood falling from my hands onto the stone.I recognized some of them. There was Marcus, who had taught me to hold a sword when I was five, his kind eyes now empty, his mouth frozen open in a silent scream. There was Lena, who had braided my mother's hair and always saved me an extra piece of bread at dinner, her body crumpled against the wall, her apron soaked red. There was old Thomas, who ha
👿AZRIAN👿The night I ran from my castle, I had nothing left.My army was scattered across the forest floor, their bodies cold and still, their blood soaking into the earth like a dark offering to a goddess who had never loved me. My allies were captured or dead. My mate was in my brother's arms, marked and claimed and gone forever. And my body was broken, the white wolf's light still burning through my chest like a brand that would never fade. The wound had not healed in the days since I escaped. It wept and burned and pulsed with a pain that made every breath a battle, every movement a fresh agony.Pain had never meant much to me. This one carved itself into my bones.I had been running for days, maybe weeks, I had lost count. The forest was a blur of trees and shadows, of cold nights and hungrier mornings. I moved from one cave to another, never staying long enough for Adrian's patrols to find me. They were out there. I could hear them in the distance, their boots pounding against
🪷ISORA🪷The morning light was soft and golden, filtering through the curtains and casting warm shadows across the bed. I was lying on my stomach, my face pressed into the pillow, my body heavy and sore and completely spent. Every muscle ached, and there was a deep, pleasant throb between my thighs that reminded me of exactly why I could not move. The sheets were tangled around my legs, and I could feel the marks on my skin where his hands had gripped me, where his mouth had claimed me.Adrian's arm was draped across my waist, his chest pressed against my back, his breath warm on my neck. I could feel his heartbeat against my skin, slow and steady, and I smiled into the pillow. His fingers were tracing lazy patterns on my hip."I cannot feel my legs." I mumbled into the fabric.His arm tightened around me, and I felt his lips press against the back of my shoulder. "You asked for HARDER." His voice was low and rough with sleep, a lazy growl that sent a shiver down my spine. I could fe
🥀ESMERALDA🥀The door to the meeting room closed behind me and I stood in the hallway with my hands shaking and my heart pounding and my face burning with the kind of humiliation that I had never felt before in my life. The elders had filed out past me without looking at me, without offering me a
🪷ISORA🪷"It is important and you should go." I said when I saw the restraint in his eyes because he was standing between my legs with his hands on my waist and his chest still heaving from the kiss and the look on his face was the same look he had last night when he walked out of the room, the sa
🪷ISORA🪷He did not just send men old enough to be his father out of the room like they were nothing but a disturbance.The elders filed out one by one with their faces pale and their mouths shut and their eyes avoiding mine. Elder Voss looked like he had swallowed something sour and could not get
🐺ADRIAN🐺The door to the meeting room opened and Isora walked in looking like she had just been dragged out of bed by her hair. Her nightwear was thin and white and barely reached her knees, and the fabric was so sheer that I could see the outline of her body through it, the curve of her hips and







