The vault seemed to hold its breath.Elian stood between them—his eyes darting from Daisy to Rowena and back again, sensing the danger, but also the ache beneath it. A pain older than he was. Something rooted in love that curdled into betrayal.Rowena was the first to break the silence.“You were always better with threats,” she said, nodding to the gun in Daisy’s hand. “But I remember when we didn’t need weapons between us.”Daisy didn’t flinch. “That was before you burned an archive, erased your identity, and joined the very council we were supposed to destroy.”Rowena’s smile was thin. “You say that like I had a choice.”“We all had choices, " Daisy contradicted her. “You chose a boy," she accused. “I chose the truth, " Daisy corrected. Rowena’s eyes flickered toward Elian.“No. You chose to hide him. To weaken him. Because you were afraid of what he’d become.”“I was afraid of what they’d make him into,” Daisy snapped. “And now you’re doing their work.”Rowena’s voice dropped,
In the underground vault, Rowena—no longer that girl Daisy knew—walked barefoot across the chamber floor, wrapped in a white coat with steel cuffs at her wrists. Her eyes were strange now. Deep, unnatural. Marked with something old.Maeron watched warily. “You said she’s not a godspawn.”“She’s not,” the cloaked figure said. “She’s worse.”Rowena turned, looking directly into the feed where they were being observed.She smiled.And whispered: “Tell Daisy I want her to see me. When I take him.”Back at Blackpine, Elian sat in his reading room with Daisy’s sketchbook in his lap. The pages were filled with maps, symbols, and strange quotes. He flipped to the last page—and there, drawn in ink and moon ash, was a sketch of a woman.Not one Daisy had shown him before.But he knew her face.It was the woman from his dream.The one who wore Daisy’s laugh. Her eyes. Her grief.He closed the book.Then whispered, “She’s coming for me.”Daisy stood behind him, arms crossed, expression unreadabl
Eliana could not seem to keep his eyes open. He slept again. And his breath caught. The moment between sleep and waking blurred like light through water. And then— He was somewhere else. Not the estate. Not the city. Not anywhere on Earth. That he could recognize at least. A field stretched out before him. Endless. Silver grass rippling beneath a black sky that shimmered with stars he didn’t recognize. Moons—three of them—hung low over a lake that reflected nothing. And in the center of that lake stood a boy. No. Him. A second Eliana. His mirror image. Barefoot. Pale. Dressed in robes made of flickering light. His golden eyes glowed brighter, older. “You shouldn’t be here,” the Other Elian said. “I didn’t mean to come,” Elian replied. “But you wanted to. And wanting is how it begins. And that is why you have been able to come here”. The field pulsed once. A breeze passed over, carrying a whisper too faint to hear. Elian stepped closer. “What is thi
The estate went into lockdown within minutes.Steel shutters slammed down over the windows. Every hallway lit up in red. Kalen activated the internal defense grid from the command center, his fingers flying over the screen like a pianist playing for war. Motion sensors lit up the terrain around Blackpine like Christmas. The private guard—the Shadow Ward—was deployed around Elian’s floor.But none of it was fast enough.Because he felt it first.Elian sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide and glowing gold even in the dark.Something was wrong.The warmth in the air had fractured. Not cold. Not heat. Just… wrong. Like a note gone off key in a song you didn’t realize was playing.He threw off the covers.Outside his window, the trees swayed unnaturally. He could hear the wolves patrolling below, growling low in their throats.His fingers tingled.Not fear.Not yet.But something ancient moving under his skin.Something that wanted to respond.He didn’t know how he reached the door. Or why i
The summit was over.But the world was far from quiet.The last convoy left the Blackpine estate at dawn, tires crunching over gravel, banners pulled down, symbols stripped from armored SUVs. One by one, the elite wolves of the continent disappeared behind tinted glass—some with rage in their hearts, others with uncertainty. A few with something dangerously close to awe.Daisy watched them from the surveillance feed in the command room. Her leather jacket creaked as she crossed her arms. She wasn’t wearing her ceremonial cloak anymore—just jeans, boots, and a simple black tee. The crown had been left on the altar where she confronted them all. She didn’t need it now.Not yet.“They’re gone,” Troy said, stepping beside her, still in tactical gear, dried blood on his knuckles. “At least from the grounds. But we’ve picked up chatter. Some are regrouping in the city. Maybe waiting to see if you’ll flinch.”“I won’t,” she said quietly.Troy didn’t ask if she was sure. He knew her too well
The last time the Convergence was summoned, the world was still fractured by feuding bloodlines and primal law. No single voice had authority over all. The ritual had been buried beneath centuries of war, used only when an Alpha challenged not a rival—but the entire system.And now, that challenge came not from ambition...But from Daisy.Alpha Diana of the Twilight Pack.The first to wear both mask and crown.And the only one mad enough to summon all the Alpha houses to her doorstep.They came.Not by invitation—but by fear, curiosity, and the scent of something ancient moving through the bondlines of the earth. Something that stirred wolves in their sleep and called dormant bloodlines awake.By the third night, twenty-one Alpha banners flew in the vale beyond Blackpine’s walls.Not all were allies.Many came with blades sheathed and intentions wrapped in smiles.But all had come for one reason.The boy.The unbound heir.The child known only as Elian.Troy stood on the outer terrace