INICIAR SESIÓNKatherine’s POVMy blood ran cold.Five dirty scarred rogues stepped out of the woods. Their hungry eyes immediately locked onto me, raking up and down my soaking wet body. I instinctively crossed my arms over my chest, stepping deeper into the freezing water to hide myself, but it was too late.The rogues were practically salivating. "Look at the curves on the King's prize," one of the men muttered, licking his cracked lips as he took a step toward the riverbank. He looked at Augustus, his eyes dark with depraved hunger. "King Darius used to share his spoils with the vanguard. Once you're done looking at her, Alpha... can we have a taste?"The temperature around the river instantly dropped below freezing.Augustus didn't just turn around. He rotated with the slow stillness of a predator who was about to snap a spine.The five rogues froze, the lust instantly draining from their faces."Go back to work," Augustus whispered.The rogue who had spoken swallowed hard, taking a trembling
Katherine’s POVFor a tense, suspended second, the entire rogues waited for his wrath.Instead, Augustus actually laughed.It was a rumbling sound that shook his broad chest, and a wicked, genuine smirk tugged at the corner of his scarred lips. "We don't have private tubs, Queen," he drawled, his dark eyes gleaming with a dangerous kind of entertainment."Then build one," I fired back without missing a beat.He scoffed, shaking his head. But instead of throwing me into the communal spring to prove a point, his large hand clamped around my arm again. He dragged me away from the glaring crowd, leading me deep toward the back of the sprawling fortress.The noise and stench of the camp slowly faded behind us. We pushed through a line of thick, freezing pine trees, and my breath caught slightly in my throat.Hidden just behind the main barricades was a stunning, crystal-clear river fed by a rushing waterfall. The water looked freezing but was rushing beautifully over smooth gray stones.
Katherine’s POVI bit my lower lip so hard. Fuck.How the hell was I going to escape this place? I knew Augustus had no intention of marching on the capital. He was a tactician. He was just going to sit right here behind his defenses and use me as bait until Alexander blindly walked into his trap.I had to get out of here as fast as possible. Right now, I was trapped in a fragile human body. Who knew what would happen in the next few days? Augustus might have ordered his men to stay away, but these were wild rogues. If one of them lost their mind and tried to hurt me in the middle of the night, I had no power or strength left to stop them.Shit.Suddenly, a muffled whimper shattered the silence from the other side of the stone wall."Katherine!" Sofia shrieked.I scoffed, my chest tight, a bitter sneer touching my lips. Now she remembers I’m her sister?"Katherine! Please, save me!" she screamed again, followed by the dreadful sound of heavy chains rattling.Through the thick stone
Katherine’s POVThrough the narrow gap beneath the door, I watched Augustus’s shadow pacing restlessly back and forth down the stone corridor.He had just received the report from his guards. I hadn't touched a single bite of my dinner last night, and my morning breakfast sat completely untouched on the freezing floor.The iron latch suddenly snapped back with a loud bang. Augustus stormed into the dim cell, carrying a wooden plate of hot roasted meat and bread."Eat," he ordered, his deep voice rumbling through the small cell. He slammed the plate down on the wooden stool so hard the wood groaned. "You need to eat your food!"He let out a harsh breath, running a large, calloused hand through his dark hair. He looked like a man who had completely run out of patience."If you don't eat, you are going to get sick," he growled, stepping closer until his tall, imposing frame towered over my small cot. "You need to get it through your head, Katherine. Your wolf is sleeping. Your magic is
Alexander’s POVAlpha Simon had a massive tray of roasted meat sent directly to my quarters. I didn't taste a single bite of it. I tore through the flesh and swallowed it purely for the violent calories my beast demanded to keep moving. The moment the plate was empty, I abandoned the stifling warmth of the bedroom and stalked back out into the freezing night.My men were inside, tearing into fresh food and taking Simon's willing women to their beds, desperately needing to recharge their wolves after seven days of brutal riding. I didn't fault them for it. A starved army is a weak army.But I couldn't rest. I sat alone on the cold stone steps, staring out at the pitch-black horizon, aggressively counting the hours until first light.In the courtyard below, terrified stablehands scrambled to haul heavy buckets of grain, while Simon’s healers pressed their glowing hands against the trembling flanks of my warhorses, forcing the exhaustion out of the beasts' muscles.I closed my eyes, le
Alexander’s POVThe stench of blood was still thick on my claws as I spurred my massive black warhorse faster, driving the beast to its physical limit.I abandoned the southern border without a single backward glance, leaving the mud choked with the slaughtered bodies of the traitors who had dared to delay me.Nikolai had managed to crawl away into the trees like the pathetic coward he was, clutching his throat where I had buried a jagged silver knife straight into his neck. Well, let him run. Let's see if he can survive.The pure silver was already seeping into his bloodstream, rotting him from the inside out. Unless he miraculously stumbled across a high-tier witch healer, he would spend the next twenty-four hours choking on his own toxic blood, dying in excruciating, strangling pain.A dark part of my beast had wanted to chase him down. I could have dragged him out of the brush, ripped his head from his shoulders, and finished it properly.But I didn't have a single second to wast







