MasukPOV: AvelineThe forest was quiet except for the sound of our footsteps and the occasional groan from the wounded. Three warriors hadn't survived the battle with Kha'zor. Their bodies were wrapped in cloaks, carried by their packmates who refused to leave them behind. We would give them proper burials when we reached home.If we still had a home to return to. I walked near the middle of the group, surrounded by guards who watched the treeline nervously. After everything that had happened, they were jumpy. Every rustling leaf, every snapping twig made hands go to weapons.Kira walked ahead of me, carrying Mira in her arms despite how her muscles must be screaming. The girl hadn't woken since Lucien expelled the demon. Her chest rose and fell steadily, her face peaceful in sleep, but there was something wrong. I could feel it through my Luna magic, a darkness clinging to her that shouldn't be there.Demon possession left scars. Even when the demon was gone,
POV: LucienI had lived for three centuries. Long enough to see empires rise and fall. Long enough to watch countless humans and wolves live their brief, burning lives and fade to dust. Long enough to know that some moments, some decisions, define everything that comes after. This was one of those moments.I stood at the edge of the courtyard, partially hidden in shadow, watching the battle unfold with the detachment of someone who'd seen too many wars. The Blackthorne brothers fought with desperate courage. Their warriors threw themselves at Kha'zor knowing they would die. And Aveline, beautiful foolish Aveline, was preparing to sacrifice herself to save them all. Predictable. All of it.Kha'zor held Beta Silas by the throat, the burning sword pressed against his neck. The smell of searing flesh filled the air, mixing with blood and smoke. The Beta's screams cut through the sounds of battle like knives."Stop!" Aveline's voice cracked with desperation. "Please, I'll go with you! Just
Damon's P.O.VI had faced death before. Every Alpha did. It came with the territory, with the responsibility of protecting a pack. But this was different. This wasn't death. This was annihilation.Kha'zor stood in the center of the courtyard like a monument to destruction, its bone armor gleaming in the firelight, its burning sword radiating heat I could feel from fifty feet away. The demon general didn't move with the urgency of a warrior. It didn't need to. Every motion was deliberate, efficient, inevitable."Attack formation!" I roared, my voice carrying across the battlefield through Alpha command. "Flank positions, NOW!"Twenty of our best warriors responded immediately, shifting into wolf form mid-run. They were fast, coordinated, and lethal. We'd trained for years to fight as one unit, one weapon with many teeth. It didn't matter.Kha'zor moved faster than anything that size should be able to move. Its sword swept in a wide arc, and the black flames trailing from the blade cut
Dominic's P.O.VThe possessed child moved like nothing human should. Elara's small body twisted at unnatural angles, her strikes hitting with the force of a full-grown warrior. Her eyes, completely black like Cornelius's, held nothing of the terrified girl Kira had described. Only hunger. Only malice."Stop!" I shouted, dodging another attack that would have taken my head off if I'd been a second slower. "Elara, I know you're in there! Fight it!"The demon wearing her face laughed, the sound wrong coming from a child's throat. "Elara is sleeping, wolf. Deep, deep down where mommy can't reach her. This body belongs to the Legion now."Behind me, Kira sobbed. "Baby, please! It's me, it's Mom! Come back to me!"The demon turned its attention to her, and I saw the intent in those black eyes a split second before it moved. It lunged at Kira with claws extended, aiming for her throat.I threw myself between them, catching the small body mid-air and crashing to the ground. We rolled across a
Aveline's P.O.VThe robed figure descended the stairs with impossible grace, his feet barely touching the stone. Dark magic swirled around him like living smoke, and the temperature in the dungeon dropped twenty degrees in seconds.He reached the bottom of the stairs and pulled back his hood. I'd expected a monster. Scars, deformities, something that matched the evil I felt radiating from him. Instead, I saw a surprisingly young face, maybe thirty years old, with sharp features and pale skin. Handsome, even. Except for the eyes.They were completely black. No whites, no pupils, no iris. Just pure, endless black that seemed to swallow light."I am High Priest Cornelius," he said, his voice smooth and cultured. "Voice of Lord Malachar on this plane. We're honored by your presence, True Luna.""The honor's all yours," I said, my hands already glowing with silver magic. "Because I'm about to send you straight to hell."He laughed, the sound echoing unnaturally in the confined space. "Such
POV: DariusThe mountain air was thin and cold, biting through even my Alpha-enhanced constitution. We'd been riding hard for two days straight, stopping only when the horses absolutely needed rest. Now we crouched in a rocky outcrop overlooking our target. The cult stronghold.It had been a fortress once, maybe centuries ago. Stone walls thirty feet high, watchtowers at each corner, a single main gate reinforced with iron. But now it was corrupted. Even from this distance, I could see the wrongness of it. Dark magic clung to the walls like oil, making the stone look slick and diseased."That's a lot of wards," Aveline whispered beside me. I felt her discomfort through the soul-bond, a physical revulsion at the dark magic saturating the place. Lucien examined the fortress through his own enhanced vision, his ancient eyes seeing things we couldn't. He whistled appreciatively."Sophisticated," he said. "They're using blood magic as the foundation. Layered defenses, probably tied to sacr







