MasukHazel’s POVI turned away from him, my heart pounding violently against my chest like it was trying to escape.Siren?The word rang through my mind, heavy and strange.I was a siren.Half siren, half werewolf.That explained the scales. The odd power that kept surging out of me. The blue glow in my hands. The sense that something ancient and untamed was awakening deep within my blood.I’d read about sirens in books—beautiful, deadly, manipulative beings who could lure sailors to their deaths with a song. But I wasn’t one of them. I was just…me. A girl who woke up in a palace filled with wolves and secrets.But what did that have to do with falling in love? What did Nicholas mean when he said my power would only awaken only if I found true love?Nicholas stepped closer, cautiously.“Hazel…”I didn’t turn around.I couldn’t face him right now.“So you’re telling me I’m a siren? And all this time you’ve been pretending?”He was silent for a moment before replying softly.“Yes.”I knew he
Hazel’s POV“What lie have you cooked up this time, Nicholas?”The words came out sharp, defensive, like a shield I was desperately trying to keep between us. I tried to step back, but the door was already at my back. There was nowhere left to go.He didn’t let go of my wrist.“Can you just hear me out?” His voice was low, rough, almost pleading.“No.” I shook my head, heart hammering. “I don’t want to hear your lies. You just want me to believe that for three years the way you paraded your mistress around like she was your queen…the way you chose her over your actual wife… was all fake? A lie? Take that story somewhere else. I’m not stupid, Nicholas.”His jaw clenched. Pain flashed across his face—raw, unguarded.“I know it’s hard to believe,” he said, voice cracking slightly, “but please… just hear me out.”Something twisted in my chest.It wasn’t my emotion.It was his.Sincerity. Desperation. A deep, aching need for me to listen.I tried to push it away, but it kept flooding in—wa
Hazel's Pov I gasped and spun around.Stormy blue eyes stared down at me—furious, wild, burning with something that looked dangerously close to fear.Nicholas.“Where the fuck have you been?”His voice was low, rough, shaking at the edges—like he’d been holding it together by the thinnest thread and I’d just snapped it.I jerked back instinctively—my shoulders hit the door with a soft thud. There was nowhere to go. He was too close. His body heat rolled off him in waves, mixing with that sharp scent that always clung to him. I lifted my chin even though my heart was trying to hammer its way out of my chest.“Where I go or what I do is none of your business.”His eyes narrowed, the muscle in his jaw ticking violently as if my words had physically struck him.“You’re my wife.”He took half a step closer.The space between us vanished.“Do you have any idea how worried I was?” His voice dropped—dangerous, raw. “They told me you weren’t anywhere in the palace. Gone. Vanished. And then I
Hazel’s POV “Are you sure about this, Dimitri?” We stopped in the middle of the narrow forest path. Moonlight sliced through the branches overhead, throwing silver stripes across his face. He turned to me fully, hands coming up to rest on my shoulders…firm, grounding. “Do you trust me?” he asked quietly. I looked into his eyes—steady gray, no hesitation. “I do trust you,” I said. “But what if this sorceress thinks I’m evil? What if she does something to harm me?” Dimitri shook his head once—slow, certain. “Gwen is not like that. She’s one of the most powerful in this kingdom. We can trust her.” I gave a long sigh and nodded. “Okay.” He squeezed my shoulders once before letting go. We kept walking. The night was alive with tiny sounds—crickets, distant owl calls, leaves rustling in the breeze. Every snap of a twig under my boot made my pulse jump. The air smelled of damp earth, but underneath it was something else…something restless that made the back of my neck prickle. I
Nicholas’s POV “Can we trust him?” I asked, voice low and edged with suspicion. “How do we know that this green-eyed man or whatever he’s talking about isn’t made up?” Marco didn't react immediately…but his eyes stayed locked on mine—calm and unreadable. That alone irritated me. Nothing about this situation was calm. He leaned back against the bookshelf, arms crossed, watching me with that steady, no-bullshit look he always had when he knew things were serious. “Why would he make up something like that?” he replied. “It’s not like he knows about what the queen is. We've been very careful all these years…there's no way someone like Jackson would know.” I exhaled sharply through my nose, but it didn’t ease the tight coil in my chest. If anything, it made it worse. Marco had a point—and that was exactly the problem. I paced to the window and back, boots thudding against the floor. “It’s suspicious,” I muttered. “Then how did he know it’s here? He said whatever the green-
Hazel’s POVWe all froze.Liora stood in front of me—eyes narrowed, mouth twisted, staring straight at me like she’d finally found the thing she’d been hunting for days.For one heartbeat, nobody moved.Then I looked down at my hands.The scales were gone.Completely.Like they’d never existed.My skin was smooth again—normal, pale. No shimmer. No color. Nothing.I didn’t think twice.My hand cracked across Liora’s face so fast she didn’t see it coming.The slap rang out—sharp, satisfying.“How many times have I told you to stay the hell out of my face?!” I hissed.Liora staggered back two steps—hand flying to her cheek, eyes wide with shock. A red imprint bloomed instantly across her pale skin, and for a split second something like fear flickered in her gaze before hatred swallowed it whole.But I wasn’t done.“Dimitri,” I said, voice cold, “is there no prison or something you can throw this woman into? I’m tired of seeing her everywhere I turn.”Dimitri didn’t hesitate.“Guards!”Tw
Nicholas’s POVI sat on the edge of the bed in my bedroom, elbow on my knees, head bowed like a man waiting for execution.The room was dim, lit only by the moonlight coming through the window, casting long shadows that danced across the stone walls like ghosts mocking me. My mind kept ringing wit
Hazel’s POVBehind me, Nicholas’s voice cut through the air like a thunderclap. “Hazel, what is going on here?”I didn’t turn right away. I let the moment sink in, savoring the way his words hung there, laced with shock and fury. The chants died down just enough for silence to creep in, thick and
Hazel’s POVThe double doors to the throne room burst open with a thunderous crack that echoed off the high stone walls.The sound rolled through the room like a challenge—like a declaration that something in this kingdom had just shifted.Two rows of guards snapped to attention as I stormed throug
Nicholas’s POV“This is not a laughing matter, Marco.” I snapped at my beta.Marco leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, that stupid grin tugging at the corners of his mouth as if the whole damn world wasn't crumbling around us. As if the woman I loved hadn't just declared war on me in front o







