LOGINBut she also knew that exposing him now, before we understood what he had done or what he was capable of, could cost Nyx her life.So she swallowed her rage. Her silence wasn’t surrender, it was an act of agonizing love.Aris didn’t even look at her. He placed his silver case on the bed and snapped open the latches.Then he leaned over Nyx, his pale eyes scanning the monitors. His attention settled on the fading black veins along her neck and the erratic rhythm of her heart.“Fascinating,” he murmured.There wasn’t a trace of concern in his voice.“Violent metabolic collapse. Her body is attempting to reject an artificial Omega-state. I haven’t seen a genetic anomaly like this outside of theoretical literature.”Well, I had absolutely no fucking idea what that meant.“Can you stabilize her?” I asked.I kept my voice bored and transactional, the way a man accustomed to buying solutions might speak.Aris straightened. A greedy glint entered his eyes.“I can. But a proprietary stabilize
The heavy brass knocker echoed through the foyer, a death knell disguised as a polite greeting.I stood at the foot of the grand staircase, adjusting the cuffs of my plain black shirt.The maids had vanished. The Bluemoon crests were gone. Even the tapestries bearing my family’s wolves had been stripped from the walls, leaving pale rectangles against the pristine plaster.A week ago, this place had been the stronghold of the Bluemoon Alpha. Now, with Nyx and Sasha in the picture, it had become something else entirely: the anonymous, sterile playground of a wealthy ghost.Zosia stood a few paces behind me in a dark silk robe, her chin lifted. She held her aura close, wrapping it around herself like a cloak of white roses and barely restrained violence.She was terrified for her sister, but her Alpha instincts were already focused on the monster waiting at the door.Victor opened the heavy oak doors.Thank the Moon Goddess, nobody knew my Beta’s true identity. Only Damien and a handful
Nikolai’s POVDawn broke over the Atlantic, spilling shades of purple and gold across the bedroom.I woke with Zosia draped across my chest, her breathing slow and steady. The storm from the night before had washed the city clean, and for a few precious hours, the ghosts had stayed buried.I could feel the mate bond between us, a golden tether pulsing faintly beneath my skin. I lay perfectly still, one hand resting on the curve of her hip, unwilling to disturb the peace.She was my Luna. The woman who had taken my shattered pieces and held them together in the dark.Then the bond spiked.A violent psychic shockwave tore through me, flooding my senses with pure, unadulterated terror.Zosia gasped in her sleep, her nails digging into my chest as foreign panic surged through our connection.A scream shattered the silence of the estate.The guest wing.I was out of bed before the echo faded, pulling on a pair of black trousers. Zosia was right behind me, her face pale, her eyes wide.We d
NIKOLAI’S POVI tapped the glass table, and the holographic blueprints of the Thorne empire vanished.The war room fell into darkness, leaving only the faint amber glow from the hallway. A moment ago, the room had been alive with maps, financial records, and plans for dismantling Evander’s network. Now, all that remained was the low hum of the equipment and the woman standing near the door.Zosia had been watching me for some time.I checked my watch. 12:01 a.m. October fourteenth.My chest tightened.For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. The familiar weight settled over me, pressing against my ribs until even the air in the room felt too heavy to draw in.I’d known this moment was coming. I’d known it all day. Still, nothing could prepare me for it.“She would have been twenty-four,” I whispered.Zosia’s expression softened.She didn’t ask who I meant. Perhaps she’d already guessed. Perhaps the grief rolling off me had told her more than I wanted her to know.“Celeste,” I added, barely r
The ride back to the estate was a masterclass in silence. Rain lashed against the tinted windows of the armored SUV, turning the city’s neon lights into blurred streaks of color. The Gilded Cage invitation sat in my jacket pocket, its heavy cardstock feeling like a lead weight. Roxanne’s revelations refused to leave my mind. I glanced at the rearview mirror. Malachi’s dark eyes met mine. “How long has Nikolai been at war with Evander?” Malachi kept his attention on the road, his large hands moving over the steering wheel before he signed his answer. [Since before I met him. Evander is a rot in the foundation. Nikolai is the blade meant to cut it out.] “Did he know about the Hollow Pack?” His jaw tightened. [He knew there were ghosts. He didn’t know they had a Luna.] The word sent a strange shiver through me. Luna. Too much, eh? Something deep inside my chest stirred at the title, as though it recognized something I was only beginning to understand. “What about
My stomach twisted.“Evander knew about me?”“He knew enough to be afraid. And now you’ve become something he never planned for.” Roxanne held my gaze. “You’re standing beside Nikolai Vane, the one man powerful enough to threaten everything Evander built. If you and the Hollow Pack stand together, his empire won’t survive it.”I stared at her, a new realization settling over me.“You knew who Nikolai was all along.”Roxanne didn’t deny it.“You knew he was the man who saved me. You knew what he was capable of, yet you never said a word.” My voice sharpened. “Why did you hide his identity from me?”“Because I knew him long before you did.” She sighed, reaching for her cigarette. “Nikolai Vane isn’t some stranger who stumbled into power. I’ve known him since he was a boy—the son of Alpha Lucian Vane, a man whose name once carried as much weight in this city as Evander Blackwood’s does now. I watched Nikolai grow up surrounded by power, politics, and people who would gladly use him for t







