LOGINKAELI drove into the palace as night fell, the gates closing behind me with that familiar heavy clang. The day had been endless—meetings, reports, decisions that never seemed to end. I had been so busy I barely had time to check on my mate, except for the quiet humming of the bond inside me. It was there, steady and warm, like a promise that kept me going.As I stepped out of the car, Liam was already waiting, holding my phone out with that knowing look he always had. He didn't say a word, just handed it over.The first thing I did was text Elena.My fingers moved fast, a small smile tugging at my lips as I typed a simple hello, asking how her day was. I leaned against the car, waiting for the reply, heart lighter than it had been all day.We started talking. Light, easy words back and forth. Her messages made me grin like an idiot, imagining her face as she typed.Then all of a sudden, I felt an intense tug through the bond. Sharp. Painful. Like something had snapped or torn.Her re
ELENAI sat there on the dirty floor, legs sprawled out like dead weight, staring at nothing while Roundy's words looped in my head like a broken record.Was I permanently crippled?The question hit me hard, making my chest ache. I dragged myself across the rough concrete to lean against the wall, SCRAPING my palms as I went. Took a deep breath that didn't help at all."Roundy," I said, voice cracking a bit. "I want to ask just one question. And if you dare tell me you can't say because it's confidential, I'll... I'll do something you'll never imagine."What is black slin?The silence dragged on forever. My eyes started twitching from the mix of anger and frustration bubbling up, making me want to scream.Then Roundy's voice finally came, quiet and reluctant.{Original Elena created black slin for reasons I can't recall right now. But here's how it works: First day of contact, nothing happens to your wolf, but the human's lower body gets numb. Second day, all five senses start failing
ELENAWhen I woke up, my head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it. Throbbing. Heavy. Everything blurry at the edges.I tried to move and realized I couldn’t. My arms were tied behind me, wrists bound tight to a chair. Ankles too. The room was dim, only a weak bulb hanging somewhere behind me, throwing long shadows across cracked concrete walls.All I remembered was the car speeding up, that creepy driver’s smile in the mirror, my panic spiking… and then the sudden jolt. Metal crunching. Glass shattering. A truck coming out of nowhere.After that, nothing.Roundy? I thought, voice small even in my own head. What the hell is going on?{I’m as lost as you are. I couldn’t see or hear anything while you were out.}I tugged at the ropes, testing them. They didn’t budge. Great.Before I could say anything else, a voice echoed from the darkness, male, rough, coming from somewhere I couldn’t see.“Ice. Remember me?”My stomach twisted.No. I don’t even know you, I thought frantically.O
ELENAThe two days after that nightmare with Father dragged by in a weird blur. I didn’t see him once, not in the halls, not at meals, not even a shadow in the corner of my eye. Part of me was relieved. The other part kept waiting for him to pop up like a jump scare.I basically turned into a hermit. Stayed locked in my room, curtains half-drawn, phone in hand. The maids kept bringing food, fancy little plates of pastries, fruits cut into flowers, soups that smelled amazing. At least I was eating like a queen while hiding from my life.Silver linings, right?Until today.The door opened without a knock, and Mum swept in like she owned the air itself. She took one look at me buried under blankets on the chaise, phone glowing in my face, and planted her hands on her hips.“Do you want to turn into a mushroom that badly?”I blinked up at her, brain stalling. “What?”She sighed dramatically, crossed the room, and sat right next to me. Then she cupped my face in both hands, deadly serious.
ELENAI hovered near the bed, planning to sit as far from him as possible, but he didn’t even look up from the magazine.“No. Come sit next to me.”I cursed him in my head a million different ways, creative, colorful, vicious ones, before my legs moved on autopilot. I perched on the edge of the armchair beside him, close enough to smell that same heavy cologne that always made my skin crawl.He closed the magazine slowly, set it on the side table, and turned to face me.Then he just… looked.His eyes traveled over me like they had every right to, slow and deliberate, from my hair down to the red dress and back up again. I felt them everywhere, like ants marching across my skin.I wanted to shrink. To disappear.Instead I sat frozen, forcing my face to stay blank.Finally he spoke, voice soft, almost amused.“Going out with the person I ordered you to kill… are you trying to go against me, Ice?”My heart didn’t just drop. It plummeted. Crashed. Exploded somewhere around my feet.I star
KAELThe drive back was quiet, but the car still carried her scent, vanilla, soft and lingering, mixed with the faint sugar of candy floss. It wrapped around me like a blanket I didn’t want to shake off.The whole date kept replaying in my head, frame by frame. But the moment that changed everything wasn’t the song, or the way she sang with me, or even her hand in mine. It was earlier. In the car on the way there. When her thoughts had flooded in, loud and terrified.She wasn’t Ice.She wasn’t the assassin. Wasn’t my killer. Had never been trained, had none of the memories, none of the skills. Just a terrified girl who thought she was going to die because of a name she didn’t even choose.The second I heard it, something in me settled. Real peace. The kind I hadn’t felt in years. Even Leka, that dark, snarling part of me, had gone completely silent, retreating so deep I could barely sense him.El stirred, voice warm and smug.Our mate’s real name is Ariana.I let out a slow breath. “Y







