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: I was still sitting on the edge of the bed when the door opened. Aurelian walked in, dark shirt still open at the collar, his phone in his hand, and his expression completely composed. But his eyes were different. Something was moving behind them that he was working very hard to k
IRIS POV:I didn't sleep that night. I lay on my back staring at the ceiling, with the folder sitting on my bedside table where I had made the mistake of bringing it home. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his name in clean black print, and my heart did the same thing it had been doing since Vera
IRIS POV:I didn't sleep well.I lay in the dark staring at the ceiling with the folder sitting on my desk in my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his name in clean black print and felt that same cold shift in my stomach all over again.By six in the morning, I gave up on sleep entirely.I g
IRIS POV:I kept my expression even. “The Calloway.”“The Calloways? I believe I've heard that name.” She tilted her head. “Wait.” Her eyes widened slightly. “Were you not the one who was supposed to mate the Alpha heir? The ceremony that…” She stopped herself, reading my face. “Sorry. That was rud







