LOGINThe Betrayer ReturnsI felt him before I saw him.That cold prickle along my spine — the kind that didn’t belong to fear alone, but to memory. To blood. To betrayal long buried and never forgiven.The twins shifted inside me, restless. Uneasy. Something old had crossed into our territory.The war horns sounded just before dusk, their low, rolling calls echoing through the mountains. Wolves flooded the courtyard, weapons drawn, eyes sharp. Damien stood at the front, his presence commanding, lethal. Zephyr took position at my side without asking, his arm brushing mine in silent warning.“Stay behind me,” Zephyr murmured.I didn’t move.“I don’t hide anymore,” I said quietly.The gates creaked open.And then I saw him.Taller than I remembered. Leaner. His hair streaked with silver that wasn’t age but ambition. His eyes — sharp, calculating — flicked straight to me as if he’d known exactly where I would be standing.Kaelen Blackthorn.The name slammed into Damien like a blade. “You,” Da
The Mark of WarThe first scream split the night like a blade.Elena woke with a violent gasp, her hands flying instinctively to her swollen belly as the sound echoed through the pack territory. Not a wolf’s howl. Not a warning horn.A death scream.Before she could swing her legs off the bed, the air shifted — thickened — as if the land itself had inhaled sharply. Power stirred beneath her skin, hot and restless, answering a threat she hadn’t yet seen.Then the ground trembled.Another scream followed. Then another.“Elena!”Damien’s voice thundered through the corridor as he burst through her door, already armored, blood-scent sharp on his skin. His eyes locked on her stomach before snapping back to her face.“They’re here,” he said grimly.Her heart slammed. “Who?”He didn’t answer.Outside, the night erupted.The Invasion BeginsTorches burned along the eastern ridge — dozens of them. No, hundreds.Enemy wolves poured through the borders like a black tide, their war banners snappi
A Choice DelayedThe moment I stepped into the twins’ room, the world outside stopped mattering.The war drums.The arguments between Damien and Zephyr. The prophecy whispered doom into my ear. All of it quieted the second I saw my children sleeping—tiny chests rising and falling, unaware that the world wanted to use them, fear them, or destroy them.My heart cracked open. I lowered myself to the floor beside their beds and let my fingers hover above their warm skin.Peace. I didn’t realize how starved I was for it.A soft knock came from the door.I didn’t even need to turn.Damien’s scent—dark smoke and wolf heat—rolled into the room first. Zephyr’s followed right behind, cooler, sharper, threaded with storm air.Of course.They couldn’t even give me five minutes.“Elena,” Damien said, voice tight. “We need to finish this conversation.”Zephyr stepped in, eyes calm but intense. “No—we need to let her breathe.”I stood slowly, turning to face them. Both alphas froze as if bracing for
ZEPHYR’S TEMPTATIONThe night air tastes like storm and danger when I step out of the pack house. My mind is still burning from Damien’s betrayal, the weight of it pressing on my chest like a physical stone. I need space. Air. Anything that doesn’t feel like him.But I don’t get far.A shadow detaches from the trees—smooth, silent, unmistakable.Zephyr.My heart kicks hard, the way it always does around him, as if it recognizes something my mind still refuses to accept.“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” he murmurs.His voice is deep, warm, and threaded with something that sends a shiver across my skin. Concern. Longing. Something more dangerous than either.“I’m fine,” I lied. “I just needed to clear my head.”Zephyr steps closer, and the moonlight catches the silver in his hair and the hunger in his eyes. He studies me—really studies me—like he’s reading every bruise inside me.“Elena,” he says softly, “you’re shaking.”I don’t even realize it until he points it out.His hand rises,
The Luna’s FuryElena POVI felt him the moment I stepped across the threshold of the war room—the bond tightening in my chest like a snare catching bone. Damien had tried to suppress it, I could tell. But I could also sense fear—fear of me, fear about me, fear about what I might discover.Good.He should be afraid.I’d finally pieced together enough scraps—whispers in hallways, overheard orders, the sudden silencing of anyone who spoke of the eastern borders. Damien’s strategy meetings suddenly closed to me. His abrupt decision to assign guards to follow my every move. And worst of all—the petition he’d secretly sent to the Council for authorization to use “unregulated Luna power” in wartime.My power.My body.My blood.Without my consent.Without my knowledge.I walked into the chamber, the doors slamming against stone as if pushed by the weight of my fury alone.“Everyone out,” I said.The Alphas and commanders exchanged looks. Damien opened his mouth as if to issue a command tha
The Alpha’s Betrayal Elena felt his eyes on her long before she turned. Damien leaned against the balcony rail of the North Wing, moonlight carving silver over his wolf-marked skin. For a moment—just a moment—she allowed herself to believe he might be there simply because he missed her. Because despite everything, some part of him still saw her as more than a weapon.But then his voice came. Low, calculated.“Your display at the Trial impressed them. Even the Council can’t deny your power now.”She kept her back straight. “I didn’t do it for them.”“No,” Damien murmured, stepping closer. “You did it because you had no choice. I understand that more than you think.”He brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. Such a gentle touch… and yet her heart recoiled.“Don’t,” she whispered.He froze, hand lingering in the air between them. “You think I enjoy forcing you to prove yourself?”“I think you enjoy control,” she said. “And I think you enjoy reminding me that I don’t have any.” His jaw







