LOGINIRIS POV:I was pressed against the back seat of the black sedan with my hands tied behind my back. The rope was tight and rough against my wrists, and I could feel it dig into my skin with every bump in the road.Two men sat on either side of me. They didn't speak. They just stared straight ahead with cold, empty eyes.The car moved fast through the dark streets.I tried to look out the window, but the glass was tinted too dark to see anything clearly. I could only catch glimpses of trees and streetlights passing by in blurred streaks.I pulled against the rope, but it only tightened. I stopped and tried to breathe.Then I heard a sound next to me. I turned my head.Rowe was sitting on the other side of the back seat. His head was slumped forward, and his eyes were closed. Blood was still drying on his forehead from where he had hit the steering wheel. His body swayed with the movement of the car.He groaned again, and his eyes fluttered open. He blinked a few times and looked around
AURELIAN POV:I took a step closer to the scarred man. He was still holding the gun. His hand was shaking. He raised it again and pulled the trigger. The bullet left the barrel and I felt it hit my chest, but I didn't stop. I kept walking.He fired again. Another bullet hit me, this one struck my shoulder. But I kept walking. He fired a third time. A fourth. The shots came faster now, one after another, and the other men around him began firing too. The night filled with the sound of gunfire, loud and relentless. I could see the flashes from the muzzles, bright and quick, and I could smell the gunpowder.I raised my hands and shielded my face. The bullets tore through my clothes. Each one stung and burned, but I didn't fall.My eyes burned gold and I released my aura outward, a wave of invisible force that spread through the air around me. The men froze and slowly, their arms dropped to their sides and the guns hung loosely in their hands. Their eyes turned white. One of them raised h
AURELIAN POV:I held onto her hand as we walked out of the room. The hallway was dark. Our footsteps echoed in the silence as we made our way toward the front entrance.Rowe was standing near the car when we stepped outside. The night air was cool and the sky was dark. A few stars were visible above the treeline."We're going back to my father's," I said.Rowe nodded and opened the door for Iris. She climbed into the back seat and I followed her. Rowe closed the door and walked around to the driver's side. The engine started with a low hum and the car pulled away from the mansion.Iris leaned closer to me and rested her head against my shoulder."Your father," she said quietly. "Does he know about me?""I told him about you. About the baby."She looked up at me."What did he say?""That's the reason he offered to help me. He was angry at first. But he's always been slow to warm up to people."She smiled slightly."That sounds familiar."I laughed softly."I don't know what you're talk
AURELIAN POV:"I can explain," I said.But she dropped the papers and walked past me. She didn't look at me, she just walked out of the library and disappeared into the hallway. Her footsteps echoed for a few seconds, then faded into silence.I stood there for a long moment. The papers were scattered across the floor. The letters I had written to Rowe, the maps I had marked, the instructions I had left behind. I bent down slowly and picked them up one by one. I stacked them neatly and placed them back on the desk.I didn't follow her. She needed time, I knew that. If I went after her now, she would only get angrier. She would say things she didn't mean. So I waited.I gathered everything from the desk. The maps, the notes, the letters. I placed them all into a leather folder and tucked it under my arm. The house was quiet as I walked out of the library. The only sound was the soft creak of the floorboards beneath my feet.I walked up the stairs slowly and when I reached the hallway wh
AURELIAN POV:I followed my father down the wide staircase and through the entrance hall. He didn't speak. He led me past the main corridor and down a narrower hallway I hadn't noticed before. The walls here were older, the stone was darker. The chandeliers gave way to wall sconces that flickered with real flame. The air grew cooler. I could see cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling and the floor had a layer of fine dust that hadn't been disturbed in years.He stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. It was plain and unmarked, set into the stone like it had been there longer than the rest of the mansion. The wood was dark and weathered, and the iron hinges were rusted at the edges. He pulled a key from his pocket and inserted it into the lock. The mechanism turned with a heavy click that echoed down the hallway.He pushed the door open and stepped inside. I followed him into the room and it felt like it had been frozen in time. Shelves lined every wall, stretching from floor to ceilin
AURELIAN POV:My father stared at me without blinking."...Explain.""I killed them."His eyebrows pulled together."Impossible.""I did.""No." His voice became firmer. "If Morveth had died..." He tapped his own chest. "...I would've felt it.""You should have, but I killed him in another reality."The room became still."Vaelthor made me believe Morveth was a threat to the wolf race. Vaelthor gave me the power to kill Morveth, but after a long fight at your mansion, we both fell off the roof dead," I explained."I found myself in Vaelthor's palace and he showed me everything that had happened after my death and how the people I loved had emotionally detached themselves from me. And I was faced with an option, and I chose what he said was best. Little did I know he planned it all.""Vaelthor rewrote the universe and redesigned the whole reality. But I didn't know that he brought Zevaris, the only brother of his left, to me. Zevaris did some things and Vaelthor had me end him, and whe
IRIS POV:I hated the way my body responded to the voice of someone I had just met a few hours ago.“I don't know what you're saying,” I lied. I totally knew what he meant.I looked behind him. There was the door. I could simply run away from him and head out, but my feet and body just couldn't mov
IRIS POV:The car kept moving north for what felt like forever. The highway slowly turned into narrower roads, then into private lanes lined with tall pines. No more billboards. No more lights from other packs. Just the soft glow from the dashboard.Finally, the Rolls-Royce slowed. Tall iron gates
IRIS POV:The highway stretched out like an endless ride; the estate lights had disappeared completely behind us. The Rolls-Royce glided so smoothly I almost forgot we were moving, only the low hum of the engine and the occasional soft click of the tires over expansion joints reminded me this wasn
IRIS POV:I squeezed myself to the end of the car, leaving a huge space between me and him.His right hand suddenly moved toward me, making me flinch hard, my body still wired from everything that had just happened, but then he calmly clicked a discreet button on the center console.A hidden panel







