Masuk*Chapter 33: The letter arrived on a day with no wind. Aria found it on her desk in the joint pack office—no seal, no signature, just a single sheet of thick parchment and a wax mark shaped like a howling wolf. The wolf was snarling, fangs bared, and the wax was black as old blood. Kael picked it up before she could touch it. “Don’t,” he said. “If it’s cursed—” “It’s not,” Aria said. The Moonstone’s hum inside her was calm. No corruption. Just… cold. “But it’s old magic. Northern old.” Kael frowned. “The Northern Clans don’t send letters. They send war parties.” Aria unfolded the paper. The handwriting was sharp, precise. Not Lyra’s frantic scrawl. Not Toren’s slanted script. _Healer Khan, Alpha Blackthorn,_ _The Pact of the North is broken. The Frost Warden is waking. If you value your union, come to the Grey Peaks before the first snow. Come alone, or not at all._ _— M._M. Aria’s stomach dropped. Mara read over her shoulder and went pale. “Mara’s sister,” s
*Chapter 32: One Year Later*The festival lights made the courtyard look like a second sky. Lanterns in Mooncrest silver and Blackthorn black hung between the buildings, and the smell of roasted meat and spiced wine hung thick in the air. Music played—old pack songs mixed with modern drums. One year. One year since the quarry. One year since Toren’s arrest. One year since Mooncrest and Blackthorn stopped pretending they weren’t already one pack. Aria stood on the balcony overlooking the crowd, a cup of wine in her hand. Her hair was loose, her healing burns finally faded to scars. “You’re brooding,” Kael said, coming up behind her. Aria smiled without turning. “I’m not brooding. I’m observing.” Kael wrapped his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder. “Observing what?” “Our people,” Aria said. “Look at them.” Below, Mooncrest pups chased Blackthorn pups through the crowd. Selene was arm-wrestling Roran by the food tables and winning. Mara was teaching
*Chapter 31: The Quarry*The old quarry lay three miles east of the city, a scar in the earth where stone had been torn out a century ago. Now it was a graveyard of rusted machinery and broken rock. And tonight, it was an army camp. Aria crouched behind a ridge with Kael, Mara, Selene, and Roran. Below them, torchlight flickered against the quarry walls. Forty, maybe fifty rogues moved between tents and crates. At the center stood a stone dais, and on it lay the largest Moonstone shard Aria had ever seen. Lyra stood beside it, arms raised, chanting in a language that made Aria’s teeth ache. “She’s trying to fracture it,” Mara whispered. “If that shard breaks, the backlash will level half the valley.” Kael’s jaw tightened. “How many of those rogues are still in their right minds?” “Not many,” Selene said. “The shard’s corruption is strong. They’re already halfway gone.” Aria felt the Moonstone’s hum inside her, reacting to the shard below. It was angry. Wrong. “We can’t
*Chapter 30:Midnight came fast. The old shrine sat on a hill outside the city limits, half-swallowed by ivy and forgotten gods. Stone pillars leaned at odd angles, and the roof had caved in decades ago. No wolf came here anymore. It was neutral ground—too old, too sacred, too dangerous for pack politics. Aria moved through the trees in silence, Kael a shadow at her side. Selene and Roran waited a mile back, ready to move if this was a trap. Aria hated going against the note’s “come alone” demand. But Kael wasn’t letting her out of his sight, and she wasn’t about to argue. “Feel anything?” Kael murmured. Aria closed her eyes for a second, reaching with the Moonstone’s hum inside her. The mate bond pulsed steady and warm. “No corruption,” she said. “No Moonstone shards. But…” “But what?” “There’s old magic here,” she said. “Older than the shrine.” Kael’s hand hovered near his blade. “Stay behind me.” They stepped into the shrine’s clearing. She was waiting. A wo
*Chapter 29: The Conclave Hall had never felt colder. Stone walls soaked up the torchlight, and the silver masks of the Elder Council gleamed like judgment. Twelve thrones. Twelve voices. One verdict that could break everything Aria and Kael had built. Lyra Voss stood in the center of the floor, chains of wrought silver biting into her wrists. She didn’t struggle. She didn’t plead. She just stared at the Council with that same cold smile, like she already knew how this would end. Aria stood to the left, Kael to the right. Selene and Roran behind them as witnesses. The hall was packed—elders from neutral packs, observers from the Council’s enforcers, and a handful of Mooncrest and Blackthorn wolves who’d been granted entry. High Elder Mirel tapped her staff against the stone. The sound echoed like a gavel. “Lyra Voss,” Mirel said. “You stand accused of trafficking in corrupted Moonstone, assault on allied packs, and conspiracy to destabilize the Conclave’s authority. How do
*Chapter 28: The interrogation room smelled of iron and stale rain. Marek sat chained to the table, wrists raw from silver cuffs, but his eyes were clear for the first time in months. Across from him, Aria sat with her hands folded, refusing to let Kael stand behind her like a threat. This had to be her call. “You know I can’t force you to talk,” Aria said quietly. “But I can help you. The same way I helped with the shard. You don’t have to carry that anymore.” Marek stared at the table. His jaw worked, like he was chewing on words he didn’t want to say. “It was a woman,” he said finally. His voice was hoarse. “Came to us three months ago. Said she was from the old bloodlines. Said the Council had forgotten us.” Aria leaned forward. “What did she look like?” “Tall. Silver hair. Eyes like ice.” Marek shuddered. “She gave us the shards. Said they’d make us strong enough to take back what was ours. That the packs were weak, led by pups and traitors.” Kael’s hand tightene







