LOGINAURELIAN POV:Suddenly, cold water splashed across my face.I jerked awake, gasping for air.My eyes opened, but I felt pain exploding through my wrists.My arms were chained high above my head, pulled tight so my feet didn’t touch the ground. The chains were dripping with wolfbane water. It burned into my wrists and forearms like acid, eating slowly into my skin.I was hanging in the middle of a dark stone room.Cassian stood in front of me with his arms folded, watching with a cold smile.Beside him was Nicholas, his face covered in bandages from the slap I had given him earlier.Cassian stepped closer.“Where is Fiona?” he asked calmly.I didn’t answer. I just stared at him.He waited a few seconds, then shrugged.“Fine.”He picked up a silver whip, dipped it into a large drum of wolfbane liquid, and swung it hard across my back.The pain was brutal. The silver and wolfbane mixture burned deep into my flesh. I clenched my teeth and didn’t scream.He did it again.And again.Each la
AURELIAN POV:“It actually does make sense. I mean, you knew your wolf was no match for mine, so you wanted him out of the equation.” I smiled, shaking my head.“Well played, brother,” I said. “Well played.”“But keep in mind that I will still whoop your wolf’s ass.”His face changed. He shifted fully into his massive brown wolf, pawing the ground slowly, saliva dripping from his jaws.I stood facing him fully.His wolf growled.I turned to Rowe. “Have the men secure the area.”“That won’t be necessary,” someone whispered.Then Nicholas slowly walked out from the shadows behind Cassian.And behind Nicholas were my own men.Their eyes were completely white. They were fully compelled.Rowe’s face hardened. He quickly pulled Lyra back inside the mansion and shouted at the guards with him.“Take them down, but don’t kill anyone.”Chaos exploded.The men with him charged forward, clashing violently with the compelled ones.Fists flew. Growls and shouts filled the air. The courtyard turned
IRIS POV:“Em… Aurelian, there’s something I think you should know,” I said.He turned to me fully.I took a deep breath.“We retrieved the deleted footage from yesterday and last night.”He frowned slightly, waiting.I continued. “Your wolf… after you broke the front door and ran out, it didn’t go after anyone. It didn't go to Nicholas’s residence. It ran straight into the woods. It hid behind a thick fallen tree trunk and stayed there the entire night. It looked like it was running from something, like it was protecting itself. It never left that spot. Not once.”Aurelian’s expression changed. He stared at me, eyes narrowing.“Then in the morning,” I said, “it shifted back. You walked out of the woods, took someone’s clothes from a line, and came back to the mansion.”He was completely silent for a long moment.His shoulders slowly dropped.“So my wolf…” he said, his voice low and rough, “wasn’t the one who attacked those men on the road. And it wasn’t the one that went after Nichol
IRIS POV:I sat outside on the balcony, staring at the long driveway.The sun was setting, but I felt cold inside. I couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had happened. My mind was literally a mess.We had just discovered where Aurelian was at the time of the two attacks. He wasn't after anyone, so who was behind the torn bodies and the attack on Nicholas's residence? My mind was racing. What if there was something else?Serah had tried to stay with me, but I told her I needed some time alone. I just sat there with my knees pulled to my chest, waiting.Then I saw it. His car.The black vehicle appeared at the end of the driveway, moving slowly toward the mansion. My heart jumped into my throat.I stood up so fast the chair scraped against the floor. The guards gathered quickly, standing at attention.The car stopped in front of the mansion.Aurelian stepped out.He looked exhausted. His clothes were wrinkled and dirty, and there were faint bruises on his face and arms.I didn’t
AURELIAN POV:The mountain was silent again.My wolf whispered inside me.‘Aurelian, we can talk and reason this out. This place doesn’t feel safe.’“It doesn't feel safe to you because we both know what I am here for.”‘You literally saw an old woman, and now she has vanished, and you think it's about me?’I ignored him and kept moving higher up the path.She must be the one I am looking for.I saw a small hut ahead, hidden in the fog. It was old, made of dark stone and wood, almost part of the mountain itself.I moved towards it, but before I reached it, my wolf spoke.‘Stop, don’t go closer. Do you perceive that?’“Perceive what…”Then it hit me. The thick smell of bane poison.I stopped, looking around, trying to find where it was coming from, but I couldn't.I took a slow step forward, and nothing happened.Then I took another step forward, but nothing happened.I was about to take another step forward when suddenly, a long blade came out of the ground, slicing through the air wi
AURELIAN POV:I stopped the car at the foot of the mountain.The road ended here. Only rocks and a narrow path went up from this point. The air was cold and thin. I turned off the engine, picked up the small bag from the passenger seat, and stepped out.The wind hit me immediately. It was sharp, like knives on my skin. I looked up at the mountain. It looked endless, covered in mist and shadow. The old Lycan was supposed to be somewhere up there.I started walking.The path was steep and rocky. My boots crunched on loose stones. Every step took effort. The cold bit into my bones, but I kept going. I needed this. I needed to bind my wolf before it completely took over.‘What do you think you are doing?’ my wolf growled.“I am doing what needs to be done,” I said.‘Everything I have done was to keep us alive, Aurelian.’“You call that keeping us alive?” I asked. “You took control without warning. You attacked Iris. You made me look weak.”‘Weak?’ my wolf scoffed. ‘You would have hesitate
IRIS POV:A man came forward to meet him.He was tall and dark-skinned with short grey hair at his temples. He moved slowly and calmly.He looked at Aurelian first.Then he looked at me.My wolf went completely silent inside me."Aurelian," the man said."Caius," Aurelian said.Caius looked at me a
IRIS POV:We landed smoothly.The island was massive, trees and light and a strip of private tarmac that ended maybe fifty meters from the water.I looked out as we slowed.My heart was already going faster than it should have been.I hadn't paid much attention to it on the jet, but now that we wer
IRIS POV: I held the card for a moment longer than I should have. Then I folded it, put it back in the envelope, and slipped it into the drawer of my bedside table, face down. "Iris," Sarah started again. "I heard you the first time," I said. She pressed her lips together and said nothing
IRIS POV: Julie's eyes narrowed. "What's happening?" Sarah and I looked at each other again. "Nothing," I said. "You're lying." Julie dropped her bag on the floor and walked straight to the wardrobe where Sarah was standing. She looked at the dresses laid out on the bed. Then she turned bac







