INICIAR SESIÓNFor the first time in her entire life, she didn't think she would ever experience any joy close to what she'd felt when she had her triplets. She woke up the morning light streaking down her face, the smell of fresh fruits, bacons and eggs lingering just over her nostrils. Her eyes fluttered open to see the brothers by her side. Cassidan rocking their daughter to sleep. Her face beamed with a smile as she took in their faces. Her eyes had not caught the ring yet unti Kael went down on knee. He slipped his fingers gently under hers, the brothers following Kael to the ground. Their faces eager with words unsaid. Elara's second hand flew to her mouth, fighting back the tears that threatened to roll down her cheeks. "We want you to be our forever, here in this kingdom." Kael spoke up, his voice shaken and laced with emotions. "Will you do us the honour and be our bride, Elara?" Cassidan's voice followed. The tears were rolling down her cheeks in streams. She choked on her words bef
KaelIt was the third day in the seventh month, when the sky cracked open the moment the horns sounded.I was on the highest tower watching below when it happened, watching the horizon bleed black. Blackthorn banners mixed with void shadows, an army that moved like one living thing, wolves twisted with darkness, riders whose eyes glowed with the same hunger that had nearly taken Damon. They hit the outer walls at dawn, siege ladders rising like bones from the earth. Our defenses held for the first hour, arrows and fire raining down, but the void merged with them, eating through stone like acid.Then Thorne betrayed us again.I'd known it in my gut the second he offered that "alliance" after his claim. But we'd needed numbers, we needed his knowledge of void whispers. We had sustained a stupid hope. Mid-battle, as I led the aerial defense, more wolves who had shifted dived from the skies, tearing at Blackthorn flyers, he struck. Thorne wa void-possessed fully now, his eyes were pitch
211—Elara The vision pulled me in like a tide I couldn't fight, the eclipse's aftermath still lingering in my bones. I'd been resting in our chambers, the triplets kicking restlessly, when the surge hit, stronger than before, amplified by the blood moon's fade. My power flared unbidden as silver light flooded the room, and suddenly I was elsewhere. Not the mindscape we'd used for rituals, but a shared void, misty and cold, where shadows whispered secrets I'd never wanted to hear.He appeared before me, not as the monstrous spirit Damon had described from the portal, but as a man—tall, with eyes like mine, glowing faintly with divine fire. "Daughter," he said, voice warm and sad, like a father I'd never known. "You've grown strong."I stood there, a hand on my belly, the triplets' energy pulsing in response. "Who are you really? The void's core? My... father?"He nodded, form stabilizing in the mist. "Both. I am the divine being who loved your mother. A forbidden union—god and mortal
210—Damon The darkness hit me like a wall of ice water, sucking the breath from my lungs the second I jumped through the portal. I'd volunteered without thinking twice, Kael was the leader, Cass the strategist; I was the feral one, the wanderer who'd danced with shadows before. If anyone could handle the void's nightmare realm, it was me. Elara's scream was still echoed in my ears as the vortex closed behind me, her face pale and twisted in pain from the premature labor the eclipse had triggered. Gods, the look in her eyes, fear for me, for the triplets, for everything we'd fought to hold together.The realm warped around me, time bending like a bad dream. One step, and I was a kid again, running through the palace halls with my brothers, laughing before the curse hit us. Another step, and decades flashed by Elara dying in the ritual, her light fading while I howled uselessly. Illusions clawed at me, lost loved ones materializing from the swirling black mist. My first mentor, the o
209—ElaraI paced our chambers as the sun dipped low, casting long shadows that seemed to linger a little too long. Kael barred the doors, his face set in that grim determination I loved and hated. "The palace is locked down," he said, checking the latches for the third time. "Guards on every wall. We'll hold."Cassidan nodded from the window, scanning the darkening grounds. "The void's orchestrating something. Skirmishes have been at the borders all day drawing our forces thin."Damon pulled me into his arms, his touch grounding me. "Stay here and rest. We've got this."But rest? With the eclipse turning the sky red, like blood smeared across the stars? I shook my head. "I can feel it. The amplification is starting."As the moon slipped into shadow, the blackout hit. Darkness swallowed the palace, the whole place thicker than night. Alarms blared—howls from the walls, clashes of steel. The invasion had begun. Void-spawned creatures and corrupted rogues swarmed, orchestrated by that
The alpha The rain started the moment he stepped through the gates—like the sky itself wanted to wash him away before he could speak his name. I stood on the battlements, as wind whipping my cloak, watching the rider approach. He was tall, broad-shouldered, with hair like mine—silver-streaked black—riding a warhorse that looked half-starved. Guards flanked him, with their spears ready, but he held his head high, there was no fear in his eyes. We'd been through hell these months, now this was happening. The man dismounted smoothly from the horse, pulling a sealed parchment from his saddlebag. "Alpha Lucas," he called out to me, his voice carrying over the downpour. "I am Thorne, the son of Mira of the eastern clans. Your son. Illegitimate, perhaps, but Ardent blood runs in me and i bear proof of it."My gut twisted at the mention of the name, Mira. I had brought myself to forget about her, thinking I would never hear that name ever again. And this man in front of me was claiming t







