INICIAR SESIÓNThe night air was cold against my face as Zara led me toward the outskirts of the territory. My mind was still floating on the calm of her latest vial, my pulse a sluggish thumping in my ears. I didn't ask how she knew where she was going, or why her gait had lost its sickly stagger, becoming fluid and predatory in the moonlight.I was beyond questions. I was a man clinging to a sinking ship, and Zara was the only one offering a hand, but was she pulling me out or pushing me deeper into the bottomless ocean? That I didn't know.We drove deep into the grey-wooded valley where the trees grew so thick the stars vanished. Eventually, a gargantuan structure loomed out of the fog, a mansion of rough black and iron that looked less like a home and more like a tomb."Zara," I whispered, my voice sounding small even to myself. "Where are we? This isn't Grayson land.""It’s land that doesn't exist on any map Kael draws," she replied, her eyes fixed on the massive iron gates ahead.The security
~ Cade's POV ~The office smelled of stale sweat, spilled liquor, and the sickly-sweet, herbal drugs of the vials Zara kept tucked in her bodice. I sat behind my desk, the same one that used to feel like a throne and now felt like a cage, my fingers drumming a frantic, irregular beat against the wood.My skin felt too tight. It felt like a thousand needles were vibrating under the surface of my flesh, a constant, buzzing itch that only the medicine could drown out."The trade lines to the coast are being seized by the High King’s auditors, Alpha," Elder Vance said, his voice dripping with a poorly veiled contempt. He stood across from me, his grey eyes darting to my shaking hands. "The pack is hungry and the warriors are restless. They are saying you’ve traded our sovereignty for a mistress who can’t even hold her head up."“That is not the issue,” another elder said. “We shouldn't worry about what is being said, what we want to know,” he looked at me, his eyes hardening. “What we wan
All through that evening I just couldn't stop thinking about Kael no matter how hard I tried. The way he looks at me, his touch and just the way my body reacts to him... I didn't want it but I could not help myself.I have to get a grip too right? I do not want my heart to be shattered again because of my weakness of falling in love easily. Yes he had saved me from an abusive marriage and I pledged devotion to him but that should be all right? I should not get my heart involved.But when he looks at me with those eyes I simply cannot help my feelings. Maybe I really am cheap, always falling in love with a man who seems safe. Maybe I should stay away from him a bit till I can think straight. The night air was thin and cold, but as I drifted into sleep, the silk sheets seemed to morph into the damp, clinging mud of a Southern forest.I fell into deep slumber and In the dream, I was that young girl again that was in danger. The scent of pine was overwhelmed by the metallic tang of bloo
~ Risa's POV ~The morning of the day before the ceremony arrived with a heavy, silver mist that clung to the palace spires like a shroud. Inside the Queen’s Wing, however, it was a whirlwind of activity. Dressmakers, jewelers, and ritual scholars swarmed the sitting room, their voices a constant hum of debate over silk weights and ancient incantations I needed to remember before the event.I sat in the center of the chaos, like a mannequin for their ambitions, but my mind was miles away from all the activities going on here.Ever since Kael had left my room the night before, my wolf had been acting… strange. For five years with Cade, she had been a creature of high alert, always bristling, anxious, and sensing the coldness in the bond and trying to overcompensate by being more submissive, more useful. But here, in this fortress of black stone and secrets, she was different.Whenever Kael walked into a room, she didn't bristle nor did she cower. She always purred, It was a low, rhyth
The silence that followed my outburst was worse than the screaming. It was a heavy, suffocating pressure that made my skin feel like it was crawling with thousand of insects. My wolf was no longer pacing but he was curled in a corner of my mind, shivering, his spirit fractured by the looming reality of the Royal Mating.I looked at my hands, they still wouldn't stop shaking. It was like it was only getting worse by the minute. I was losing my mind as it is and I needed something…anything to calm my restless mind."Zara," I croaked, my voice small. I stumbled out of the kitchen, tripping over a piece of stool. I struggled to get up as I headed to Zara's room as my head ached like hell. I needed that vial she offered that made the world stop spinning for a while.I found her in the hallway, her expression still angry from our earlier confrontation."The medicine," I said, reaching for her, my fingers twitching. "Zara, please. I can't... I can't think. My head is burning. Please give it
~ Cade's POV ~Since Zara's suggestion the other day at council, I've been thinking about it but I haven't made a decision yet. I really wondered why I was hesitating so much, but I just couldn't bring myself to just mark her. I was hunched over the kitchen table with a half empty bottle of whiskey in my arm. I swiped through my feed looking for something to distract me at least. Then something caught my attention. It was from a big blog with a heading that I just couldn't ignore. -Breaking News: HIS MAJESTY KING KAEL ANNOUNCES ROYAL MATING CEREMONY WITH LADY RISA. THE MOON BLOOD RITUAL TO COMMENCE SOON….read more…..-There was even a photo attached to it of Risa holding hands with the king in the royal court. She looked radiant, her eyes focused on him with a clarity I hadn't seen in years and he looked at her too like she belonged to him.A painful pang began beating at the side of my brain as a roar tore out of my throat as I threw the damn phone, the metal shattering to pieces a
I sank into the armchair, the crimson silk of my dress rustling like dry leaves on my skin. Axel dropped into the chair opposite me, his long legs stretching out as he let out a low whistle."I have to say," he began, a lopsided grin tugging at the corner of his mouth, "I was really impressed out
The air in the room was suffocating as Cade released his Alpha pheromones and it filled my senses but the sweet scent which usually turned me on only made me sick in the stomach now. He looked at me with eyes not full of longing, but I could see anger and possession in those grey depths. "You thin
The gray light of dawn filtered through the curtains of the guest room at the far end of the mansion, casting long shadows across the floor. I yawned, scratching my eyes as I sat up. I didn't sleep early and I annoyingly woke up way too early. I was probably too stressed and my body was refusing to
I felt the heat of a hundred stares prickling my skin as everyone watched us in shock. I could already hear the whispers starting, but Kael somehow drew my attention back to him."The music is far too beautiful to waste, don't you think?" Kael said with a smile plastered on his unbelievably handsom







