LOGINAn hour later, Kaelen was trapped in his private study, pacing the room like a caged predator.The heavy oak desk was littered with border patrol maps and trade ledgers, but he couldn’t read a single line. Every time he tried to focus, his skin burned with fresh anger and pain.The phantom sensation of Carys’s warm blood on his fingertips pulsed in time with his heartbeat. The mate bond, suppressed and denied though it was, was punishing him for leaving her injured.Ravok clawed relentlessly at his mind, pacing in circles in his inner psyche and howling at the neglect.Fix it, the wolf demanded. Fix her right now. You have to treat her. She must be treated. “It’s a scratch,” Kaelen muttered, slamming his fist onto the wooden desk hard enough to crack the varnish. “She’s a human. They break easily, and I am not responsible for that.”Fix her!With anger, Kaelen tore open a small iron safe built into the stone wall. He reached inside and pulled out a small, velvet-lined box containing a
Kaelen throws himself into training to avoid thinking about Carys, but Ravok becomes increasingly difficult to control. During the combat practice, his wolf nearly forced a partial shift after another warrior casually insulted Carys within earshot. He barely regained control before Ravok could take over completely.However, it was a bit too late. Some of them had already seen it, and the rumors spread through the castle quickly. Since they didn't know Carys caused the reaction, they just tagged him as unstable and out of sync with his wolf.On the other hand, Carys had been studying endlessly about the palace and the pack in general. Although she still had some difficulty reading quickly, she wasn't slow either.After an exhausting reading session, she decided to stroll around the mansion until she entered a training arena mistakenly. Immediately, the atmosphere changed. There were sudden giggles and tuts from every angle.Disgust from their burning eyes raked through her entire body;
The long hallway got flooded with bright white light as the giant front door parted way for the person coming in. The eastern wing was the accommodation building for the royals in Malakor's kingdom.Usually filled with a low hush sound rather than people talking because everyone in the family hated noise unless necessary. However, that morning, it was filled with sniffling and muffled weeping sounds. "What's going on?" Elara yawned with curiosity. She had just come from her morning run, with her personal maids rushing to match her footsteps. One of the maids standing in the hallway responded, worry etched on her bent brows. "The Prince is at it again. He's in a bad mood." Elara's eyes rolled on their own before the maid could even finish her sentence. "And the poor things are suffering for it?" The nod was enough for an answer, so she proceeded to the main sitting room. Valerius adjusted the cuffs of his tailored jacket as he walked down the corridor, his boots clicking sharply ag
Valerius staggered into the sleek, modern penthouse as the biometric door slid open. He was mean drunk, tripping at any slightest step he took. Even though he was intoxicated, his mind was still sharp enough to know exactly how cruel he was and would still be.He held his phone to his ear, his voice a low, dangerous growl. “What do you mean you can't make it anymore? You promised you'd be here.”The voice on the other end murmured a rushed, panicked excuse about needing to be somewhere else. Her irritation rumbled through his loudspeaker as he leaned on the hallway's wall to take a breather. “Unbelievable,” Valerius spat, his grip tightening on the sleek device until his knuckles turned white.“The world wouldn't end just because I didn't come this night. Stop whining like a baby.” The voice barked sharply “Don't bother coming back at all then.” He cut the call violently, tossing the phone onto the leather sofa in the room. He had managed to find his way successfully after slamming
Kaelen had not slept properly since the wedding. Every time he closed his eyes, Ravok’s voice filled his skull, and it was starting to get really annoying.You humiliated her. You made my mate a laughingstock. I will not forgive you. The more he tried to shake the voice off, the louder Ravok got. Humiliating her was one thing, but Kaelen refusing to admit it was another. Ravok hated being ignored more than anything he could ever think of, and Kaelen was using the silence weapon on him unapologetically.Kaelen slammed another warrior onto the training floor hard enough to crack stone beneath them. A wad of thick sweat trickled down his nose as his chest rose and fell. The poor warrior was his venting tool.The training grounds fell silent with the loud thud while the warrior groaned painfully. Kaelen stepped back, breathing heavily. His control was fraying, thanks to the voice that wouldn’t shut up in his head. Everything irritated him to the core, and he couldn’t even point to the mai
“I just can’t find my way around this.” Carys whined, pointing to the landline she had been battling withThe light chuckle Lyra tried to swallow found its way out as she walked towards the table. The silence between them was broken with the punching of the keypads, which was ended with a slight turn of the side button.“You need to turn this button so the security team can get the signal. We are very intentional about the frequency and information of our pack. That is why technology like your phone cannot work here.”Although she had been briefed by the maid, she still couldn’t wrap her head around it.“What about laptops and tabs? You all don’t use the internet?”“The tower team has access to that, and they can transfer the information to the decision board. Anything that needs to be shared to the pack will go through announcements or mind links. We are superior, so we don’t need some technology to control us.”Her statement stung Carys a bit, but she just smiled. Why would anyone e
Carys stood outside the council office, her heart pounding. Inside, she could hear her father and brother talking, and her name came up more than once.She didn’t knock, only pushed the door open.Both men looked at her. King Malakor stood beside the wide glass window that overlooked the city. Vale
The High Council Chamber inside Ironfang Keep was filled with chaos.The circular room was filled with the most powerful wolves in the kingdom, which consisted of Alphas of smaller packs, military commanders, council elders, and noble families whose bloodlines had served the throne for generations.
The ride back to Ironfang Keep shouldn’t have been quiet. Usually after a Blood Moon hunt, the pack returned with victory energy, everyone laughing, pushing each other, and arguing about who had made the best kill.Tonight, no one spoke.Kaelen rode at the front of the convoy, the cold wind from th
The halls of the Obsidian Court were quiet and cold. Under the long ceiling lights were shining marble floors with tall statues of past rulers who had ruled the kingdom before them.Even with the stone stature, their faces looked calm, but their empty eyes were looking alive, following anyone who w







