The safehouse door exploded inward in a burst of smoke and splinters.I moved before the dust even settled. My bow came up, and the first wolf through the breach dropped with an arrow buried between his eyes. He hit the floor with a dull thud.“Hold the line!” Damon’s voice thundered through the chaos, Alpha command cutting through the ringing in my ears.I knocked another arrow, pivoted, and lost. A second wolf crumpled before he could shift fully, his body twisting mid-air. Screams and snarls filled the narrow halls, the scent of blood and smoke thick enough to choke on.The safehouse was meant to be a fortress, layered wards, iron-bolted doors, and a hidden escape route. But Kyle’s men weren’t fighting fair. They had brought breaching sigils.“Rowan!” Kara’s voice barked from the far hallway. She sprinted toward me, blades flashing as she cut down a wolf lunging for her side. Her braid whipped behind her like a banner of defiance. “We’re surrounded.”“No,” I corrected, my voice ca
I woke to the steady sound of a heartbeat. It wasn’t mine though. I blinked, groggy and weightless, and realized I was cradled against a broad chest, strong arms wrapped around me like steel bands. Damon’s scent, pine smoke and steel, flooded my senses, grounding me. His warmth seeped into my bones, chasing away the lingering cold from the Severing circle.“Damon?” My voice was a rasp, barely a whisper.His arms tightened instinctively. “I’m here,” he murmured, his voice low and rough.I tilted my head up. The room was dim, lit by a single lantern swaying gently. The safehouse smelled of dust and old magic, sigils etched into the doorframe glowing faintly. Damon sat in a chair, his massive frame hunched forward, his arms still wrapped around me like he couldn’t bear to let go.“You scared the hell out of me.” His voice was a growl, soft but edged with something sharp.“I’m fine,” I tried to say, but my throat protested, raw from screaming.His silver eyes burned into mine, and I saw
Blood Omen JACE POVThe room reeked of iron and decay, my favorite scent and it smelled like the truth. I stood barefoot in the circle, cold stone slick with chalk and old blood. The Severing Blade hovered above my palm, humming like a live thing desperate to feed again. On my other hand, I cradled the vial of her blood, warm even now, glowing faintly violet in the fractured moonlight streaming through the ceiling’s cracks.I tilted it, watching the liquid swirl. “Beautiful,” I murmured. “The blood of a bridge.”My men flinched. Wolves, all three of them, kneeling at the edge of the circle. Their fear rolled off them in waves. Pathetic. “You smell afraid,” I said softly, crouching low so they’d have to look me in the eye. “Do you think this is a weakness?” I held up the vial, shaking it gently. The glow pulsed in rhythm with my heart. “No. This is the key. A promise prophecy fulfilled in glass.”They lowered their eyes, trembling. I smiled. “Good boys.”I straightened, stepping ba
The smell of blood was thick in the clearing, not just wolf blood, but something older, sharper, magic that clung to my tongue like rust and ozone. The ash circle had collapsed, but its stink lingered, a reminder that this wasn’t just an encounter. This was a declaration of war.Kyle’s men were regrouping in the treeline, shadows moving between the trees, weapons glinting faintly in the moonlight. Their discipline was unnerving; they didn’t scatter like rogues. They moved with the precision of soldiers who believed they were righteous.And they wanted Ivy dead. My wolf pressed hard against my skin, snarling for release. I had kept him leashed through the chaos, but with Ivy limp in my arms, blood on her lips, and Kyle barking orders to “bring me the hybrid’s head,” something inside me snapped.A cold sound tore from my chest, half-human, half-beast, and the world bled red.My claws extended in a spray of sparks, and I lunged. The first guard barely had time to raise his crossbow bef
The ash circle was screaming, The sigils also carved into the earth bent like live serpents, violet light crackling and spitting sparks. The smell of scorched iron and ash filled the air so thick it burned my throat. I could barely hear over the roar in my own head, the clash of wolf and witch blood pounding like war drums through my veins.Kyle’s voice cut through it all like a blade. “Execute her now!”The words lashed across me, cold and merciless, and I froze.Damon moved before anyone else. One moment he was behind me, his body a wall of heat; the next, he surged forward, his growl shaking the very ground. Guards hesitated, the Alpha’s presence enough to send them stumbling back, but Kyle’s barked order spurred them on.The first crossbow bolt hissed through the air. Damon caught it mid-flight, snapping the shaft in one hand. He shoved me behind him, his voice was sharp.“Stop!"I dropped low as a second bolt flew, bolts clattering against the circle’s invisible barrier. The s
Accept or BreakThe ash circle was alive, clawing at me the moment my boots crossed its edge. The air inside tasted like iron and old storms, the kind that split trees and left craters smoldering. My wolf snarled, battering against my ribs, demanding I tear Jace limb from limb. But the circle was not soil or stone, it was will. It pressed, it tested, it demanded. And I knew exactly what it wanted, a bare truth, not a half one or strategy. Not the kind of polished lie I had fed my council, my enemies, and sometimes myself. The circle wanted marrow-deep honesty, stripped and bleeding. Anything less and it would eat me alive.I stumbled a step, my knees bowing under the pulse of the runes. They weren’t violet anymore; they shimmered in sickly silver, like my bond with Ivy had fused with the ritual’s pulse.Jace’s voice cut through, sharp and deliberate. “The circle won’t tolerate silence, Alpha. It knows deceit, it knows the ditch. Give it the truth or it will take you both.”His eyes