Se connecterThe lightning from the unnatural storm flashed outside the long windows, casting jagged white lines across Katherine’s translucent, gray skin. Her entirely black eyes, hollow pools of swirling ink, fixed onto Duncan, who was still gasping for air on the polished hardwood floor."Katherine..." Duncan choked out, his voice cracking. He tried to push himself up, but his half-shifted arm trembled violently under his weight. His royal core was still short-circuiting from the snapped ritual.Katherine didn't answer with words. She let out a multi-toned, scraping laugh that didn't sound human. The black tendrils drifting from her fingertips lengthened, snaking across the floor like hungry vines."She isn't here for you yet, Duncan," a weak, trembling voice called out from the back of the room.From behind a row of overturned velvet chairs, two older figures emerged. Henry Alonso, the former Supreme Alpha, was pale, his hands gripping a broken table leg to steady his shaking knees. Beside him
The absolute darkness that swallowed the moon was not just a cloud. It felt like a physical weight dropping from the sky, crushing the air out of the place.Duncan and Amora stood on opposite sides of the ancient stone altar, their right hands still extended. The golden-green light of the fated mate bond had been swirling between their palms just a second ago, warm and full of life. Now, that light was flickering violently, fighting against the sudden, freezing chill that swept through the granite pillars.Oscar Wayne did not lower his hands. His voice rose, trying to drown out the sudden, unnatural whistling of the wind. "By the blood of the first wolves, we bind these cores! Do not break the circle!""Oscar, stop!" Susan cried out from the edge of the altar, her hands shaking as she held the dropped chalice. "Look at the stones!"Amora looked down. The deep runes carved into the granite floor, runes that had been glowing with liquid silver, were rapidly turning a dull, rusty gray. T
The map of the southern territories lay flat on the table in the Wayne study, Duncan Alonso did not look at the ink lines. He stared through the high glass window, his reflection ghostly against the dark silhouette of the mountains.The news of Katherine’s betrayal had turned the estate into a military defense. Guards were sprinting through the courtyard, carrying crates of silver-veined granite to reinforce the basement walls. But Duncan knew the truth. Physical stone would not stop a siege led by an Ancient who possessed the blueprint to their home.The door to the study creaked open. Remus stepped inside, his face pale from lack of sleep. "Alpha, the perimeter guards have completed the double rotation. But if what Felix said is true... if Katherine is guiding Malphas through the old underground drainage tunnels, our outer sensors are useless.""I know," Duncan said, his voice a low, gravelly vibration. He turned around, his silver-grey eyes narrowing. "Wards can be bypassed if the
Remus, the lead Beta of the Silver Crescent Pack, stood under the dim light of a single hanging bulb. His face was set in grim stone. In front of him, lined up against the reinforced wall, stood the twelve elite enforcers who had accompanied Duncan from the capital. These were men who had sworn oaths of blood and loyalty to the royal line.Yet, one of them had sent the perimeter coordinates to Malphas. One of them had nearly caused the deaths of the royal twins.The threat outside was terrifying, but the threat inside was a poison that had to be cut out immediately."We call this the Purification," Remus said, his deep voice echoing off the rough stone walls. He stepped to a wooden table in the center of the room. On it sat a heavy basin made of pure, polished silver, filled to the brim with sacred spring water from the pack’s ancestral lands. "An ancient custom for dark times. When a wolf’s loyalty is pure, the silver honors them. But if your soul is stained by treason..."He didn't
The morning sun rose sluggishly over the southern border, but it brought no warmth. Its pale light only exposed the raw, ugly scars left on the valley.The clearing, which had been prepared for a peaceful alliance festival, looked like a wasteland. The green grass was torn to pieces, replaced by deep, muddy craters where Malphas’s shadow magic had struck the earth. Thick, gray smoke still drifted from the edges of the forest, carrying the foul, burning stench of silver poison.Dozens of warriors from both the Silver Crescent and the Wayne packs were scattered across the area, limping toward the medical tents. The ground was littered with broken iron arrows and torn leather armor. The victory had been won, but the price was etched into the blood-stained mud.Near the main medical tent, Amora Cortez sat on a wooden crate. A thick wool blanket was draped over her shoulders, but she couldn't stop shivering. Her face was dangerously pale, her striking emerald eyes dull with absolute exhaus
Hundreds of arrows, with their tips bubbling with a sickly green, lethal silver poison, descended toward the place everywhere. Duncan was still pinned on top of Malphas, his claws buried in the giant’s throat. Zach was on his knees at the edge of the ring, panting heavily, his small body completely exhausted after unleashing his royal roar. Heidi stood right behind him, her small hands clutching her brother’s shirt, her eyes wide with fear as the deadly rain fell straight toward them.There was no time for Duncan to move. There was no time for Oscar to swing his blade.But inside Amora’s chest, the ancient maternal instinct did not just spark, it erupted into an all-consuming wildfire.A blinding, snow-white light exploded from her skin, so bright that it completely erased the crimson stain of the blood moon. Her human shape melted instantly, her bones shifting and expanding with a fluid, majestic grace. In less than a second, the elegant woman in the forest-green dress was gone.Sta
Three days passed in a tense, agonizing silence. The bedroom suite was quiet except for the steady, rhythmic beep of a heart monitor sitting beside the bed. The pack physicians had worked around the clock, terrified of what Duncan would do if the pregnancy failed.To everyone’s shock, the Supreme A
Despite being kept there to help her mood, the silver-calm mist from the ceiling vents no longer felt like a soothing sedative. To Amora, it felt like a slow, creeping poison.Four days had passed since Duncan had locked her away under a twenty-four-hour guard. The bedroom windows were permanently
The morning sun had barely risen over the city skyscrapers when Katherine Brown walked into Duncan’s private study. She no longer looked like the weak, fainting woman who had collapsed on the bakery floor the previous morning. She wore a sharp, dark gray suit, her hair was perfectly styled, and her
The dramatic fainting spell Katherine had pulled in the morning had successfully bought her a temporary escape. Duncan had been forced to call the pack physicians to transport her back to the mansion, halting his interrogation. But Amora knew the peace wouldn't last. A liar like Katherine would onl







