Se connecterELI'S POVThe hall erupted into excited whispers. A duel between two dominant alphas was not mere spectacle—it was a declaration of power.Cody’s fingers traced the curve of my lower back as he continued, voice dripping with deliberate provocation. “If you lose, you will remain here. You will stand and watch while I mark him.” My breath hitched. “If you win,” Cody added casually, “you may take him back.”Take him back. As if I were an object misplaced.Lucen did not hesitate. “I accept.” His confidence was immediate. Absolute.My heart pounded painfully. Do I want him to win? The question tore through me with vicious clarity. Both of them treated me as a prize. Lucen kept me as Elion’s shadow. Cody uses me as bait. So what difference does victory make?The crowd parted as Cody signaled toward the northern corridor. “Then let’s give our guests something worthy of their travel,” he announced. The ballroom dissolved into motion. Servants rushed ahead; guards cleared paths.The grand spec
ELI'S POVLucen's dark coat swirls behind him like a storm cloud. Eyes glacial. His jaw clenched so tightly I could see the tension from across the room. His pheromones flooded the space with ruthless authority.Several lesser alphas staggered back under the pressure. My knees nearly gave out. Relief and terror collided inside me. He came. He really came.Lucen’s voice cut through the chaos... cold, lethal. “Don’t you fucking dare to mark my mate, Cody.”The hall fell into stunned silence. The word echoed in my mind. Mate.He had never said it like that before. Not in public. Not with that finality.The word rang through my chest louder than the crashing pheromones now choking the ballroom. My pulse pounded in my ears, drowning out the murmurs of guests scrambling back from the invisible collision of two dominant alphas staking claim over the same space.Cody released his own pheromones in response... heat against ice. The clash between them crackled through the air like lightning bef
ELI'S POVEverything was prepared in a single day. That realization unsettled me more than anything Cody had whispered in my ear the night before.By morning, the estate no longer felt like a guarded residence...it felt like a royal court awaiting coronation. Workers moved in perfect synchronization across the grounds. Crimson and black banners bearing Asterhaven’s crest were draped from the balconies. Lanterns were hung in symmetrical rows along the courtyard. A raised ceremonial dais had been constructed at the center of the great hall, elevated higher than before, as if designed specifically for spectacle.For claiming.For marking.For war disguised as tradition.Cody’s staff was terrifyingly efficient. Florists arranged white roses and deep indigo night-blooming flowers around the dais. Long banquet tables were set with polished silver and crystal glasses. Even the stone floors were scrubbed until they reflected light like water.Every detail screamed intention. Every detail scre
ELI'S POV The banquet hall shimmered with gold.Light from a hundred suspended lanterns spilled across polished stone floors, catching on goblets of wine and plates of roasted meat glazed in honey and herbs. Laughter rose in measured waves... too loud, too deliberate. The scent of celebration hung thick in the air: spiced fish, aged oak from the wine barrels, and beneath it all, the layered pheromones of a powerful pack secure in its territory.And threaded through everything... inescapable... was Alpha Cody.I stood half a step behind him, precisely where he had positioned me before the doors opened.“Remember,” he had murmured earlier while adjusting the cuffs of his dark coat, “you smile when I smile. You stand when I stand. You speak only if I allow it.”His fingers had brushed my chin as if I were porcelain he had purchased and wished to inspect. “And you will not embarrass me.”Not embarrass him. As though I had ever had the power to do so. Now I kept my posture straight, shoul
LUCEN'S POV I looked back at Marin. “You’re going to tell me everything you know about Asterhaven’s estate layout. Guard rotations. Cody’s habits.” Marin exhaled shakily. “I will.” The words seemed to settle a storm inside him, but the tremor remained. My gaze drifted toward the dark window overlooking the estate. Four weeks. He had been there four weeks, trapped behind gilded doors while the world pretended the tide would wash him away. The image of his beautiful face, eyes hollow, stitched into the memory of the storm that had brought him to me, surged through my mind. I felt something cold and precise set inside my chest, a blade of purpose sharpening with each breath. The pack members shifted, their murmurs a low tide beneath the surface. I knew the politics of Asterhaven well enough to read the ripple on each face: fear, curiosity, the thin veneer of loyalty that could crack at any moment. I could feel Vulk’s twin‑headed roar in my veins, a promise of violence I could unleash
LUCEN'S POVEverything StoppedThe iron taste on my tongue never left. It lingered, I could still feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end, as if some invisible wind were still howling against the stone walls of the council hall.“Eli,” I said, my voice lower than intended, dangerous. A single syllable that seemed to echo off the granite and bounce back at me, thick with accusations. “How do you know that name?”Marin didn’t look away. His eyes were the colour of the sea at dusk...gray, restless, unwilling to surrender. “I found him,” he said.My fists clenched automatically, knuckles whitening. “Where?”“In the sea,” he answered. “About four weeks ago.”Four weeks. The words hit my chest like a weight of stone. My breath caught, shallow and frantic. “He was weak,” Marin continued, “barely breathing. I pulled him out near my nets.”My mind raced violently. Alive. He was alive.“Did he drift to Asterhaven’s coast?” Drew asked sharply, his voice a blade sliding across the







