LOGINEMILIA’S POV The words scraped out of my throat before I could stop them. “H–how is any of this my fault?” I whispered, my voice shaking from fear and confusion. “Why do you have me tied here? What do you want with me?” The woman didn’t answer right away. She just stood there, her presence pressing over me like a tidal wave of cold air. Then she leaned down, and once again her fingers glided across my cheek. Her touch made every nerve in my body flinch. “You don’t even know,” she murmured, almost disappointed. “You don’t even understand the type of power you possess.” Her hand lingered on my face, her nails trailing lightly across my skin as though she was examining me, studying me, savoring the tension trembling under my flesh. Then she leaned closer, her lips brushing the shell of my ear as she whispered: “My second biggest enemy lives inside you.” My breath froze. “What are you talking about?” I forced out, choking on the panic bubbling up in my throat. The woman chuckle
LUCIEN’S POV Rogues poured out of the tree line like a wave of shadows, wild and frothing at the mouth, snarling as if something had driven them past the point of sanity. The ground trembled under the weight of their charge. The air stank of blood and dirt and something…wrong. I didn’t have time to think. I shifted mid-stride, bones snapping and reshaping as my wolf burst forward. The moment my paws hit the earth, a rogue slammed into me. I caught it by the throat, flipped it, and tore into it before it could blink. Blood sprayed across the dirt. And the battle began. We fought hard—every warrior, every guard, every wolf willing to stand between the palace and death. They kept coming. Rogues were never organized. They never fought with strategy. But these… these were different. They were wild, yes—but united. Driven. Almost frantic. And that made them easier to kill—but more dangerous too. I ripped another rogue off one of my younger warriors, snapping its spine with a quic
MAXIMUS’S POV Chaos erupted around me the moment Lucien spoke the words ‘rogues are trying to break through the east border.’ My mind went into overdrive—every piece of the puzzle snapping together into something dark, something dangerous, something that tasted like betrayal. Soraya gone. Emilia missing. Rogues attacking. It wasn’t a coincidence. It couldn’t be. My pulse thundered so violently I could feel it echoing in my teeth. My chest was so tight it hurt to breathe, and a cold, sharp panic crawled down my spine. But I didn’t let it take over. Not when I still had a kingdom to protect. Not when Emilia was out there—alone, scared, taken. I forced myself to inhale. Once. Twice. Enough to keep from snapping completely. Then I straightened, turned to Lucien, and said the words that came out of me like a command carved from stone. “Gather every warrior we have, now.” I ordered. “Get them to the east border. I want the women and children protected—no one leaves the palace wa
EMILIA’S POV The first thing I felt was weight. A heavy, suffocating weight pinning my body down. When I opened my eyes, everything was blurry—shapes bleeding into darkness, shadows swimming like liquid. My lashes fluttered, slow and weak, and for a moment I didn’t understand where I was…or why my limbs felt so heavy. What happened? Why does everything feel…wrong? My last memory came back in pieces—the room, the cold chill, that strange sense of being watched. My breath hitching. The hair on my arms rising. Then— Nothing. Just a soft wave of warmth running through my veins, so warm it felt like it lulled me to sleep. My knees buckling. The ground rushing up. And then—darkness. I blinked harder, trying to force my vision to sharpen. Slowly, the blur began to pull itself together. A ceiling. Dark stone. The texture rough and cold-looking even from afar. My head throbbed as I tried to move. My body didn’t respond. Panic punched through my chest. I tried again—to lift my han
MAXIMUS’S POV “What the fuck do you mean she’s gone?!” My voice thundered through the office like a volcano about to erupt. I could feel my blood boiling under my skin, my pulse hammering against my temples. Lucien stood across from me, stiff and alert, but even he flinched at the roar in my voice. “We went to her cabin like you ordered,” he said carefully, “but there wasn’t any sign of her. The place was completely empty.” Empty. Vanished. Gone. I felt something snap inside me—like a thread stretched too tight finally breaking apart. My hands clenched on the edge of my desk until my knuckles ached. I forced myself to breathe, but every inhale felt like fire. This… this was it. This was the goddamn confirmation that Soraya had been lying to me for years. Playing me. Twisting me. Manipulating me. But why? Why the hell would she do this? I stared down at my desk but didn’t actually see it. My vision blurred around the edges, the anger too sharp, too deep. My parents
EMILIA’S POV Our lips were still tingling from the kiss — that desperate, shaking, soul-deep kiss that felt like it pulled the breath straight out of my lungs. My hands were still tangled in his hair, his fingers still gripping my waist like he couldn’t decide whether to keep me close or pull me fully into him. Then, slowly, Maximus pulled back. But he didn’t pull far. Just enough for our foreheads to touch. Enough that his warm breath brushed across my lips, soft and uneven. We both let out a shaky laugh at the same time. A small, quiet moment—but it felt huge. Like our bodies were finally remembering how to be light after being weighed down for so long. He lifted one hand and cupped my face gently. His thumb brushed my cheek, slow and warm, and a soft smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I’m so happy to see you smile like this,” he murmured. My chest tightened. His eyes softened further. “I felt like dying when you wouldn’t even look at me.” His thumb traced my cheekb







