LOGIN“Everything is going blurry.”
I woke up in the medical room with my vision fading fast. Colors ran together. Shapes lost their edges. The soul friction inside my head had taken another piece of me. I blinked hard but it only made things worse.
Rhydian sat beside the bed. His face was the clearest thing I could see. “Soren, you are awake. The healers stabilized your lungs but there are new problems.”
Mira Kane stood on the other side o
The midnight lily is the only way.Mira stood in the healer's wing with an old book open on the table, its pages yellowed and cracked with age. Her face was serious, etched with the weight of what she had discovered. The research had found the key to the reversal, but it came with a terrible price. The reversal needed one rare plant that grew in only one place. The midnight lily. It bloomed only in the Weeping Fens, a stretch of neutral territory that no pack claimed. Treacherous ground. Full of sinkholes and wild magic. Dangerous for any wolf who dared to enter.Rhydian looked at the book, his brow furrowed. "The Weeping Fens. Neutral land that belongs to no one. Full of sinkholes that swallow wolves whole and wild magic that twists the mind. The lily grows only there. At midnight. Under the right moon. We have no guarantee it will even be blooming."I stepped forward, my voice steady. "Then we go and find out. The reversal needs it. My life needs
Elio's words became my fuel.I left the dungeon with fire burning in my chest, the cold stone walls of the pack house blurring past me. The cruel words about my invisible nature and the pack hierarchy no longer cut deep. They had stopped hurting and started pushing me forward. I refused to be the quiet victim anymore. The low ranking beta who disappeared without notice. That version of me was over. I was taking control of my own fate.I found Mira Kane in the healer's wing, surrounded by jars of herbs and ancient texts. Her hands stopped their work the moment she saw my face, her eyes widening with something like recognition."Soren," she said carefully, setting down the herbs. "You look different. Something has happened. What is it?"I stepped close, my voice steady and unwavering. "Elio told me the truth. I was chosen because I was invisible. Because no one in the pack would notice if I slowly disappeared. The class biases made it easy for
The cell was quiet at night.I slipped into the deepest dungeons alone, my footsteps barely audible on the cold stone floor. The guards were asleep in their quarters, their shift change still hours away. The torches were low, casting flickering shadows that danced across the walls. Elio sat in the cell, the silver chains still wrapped around his wrists, his posture relaxed despite his captivity. The real Elio. The traitor. The one who had chosen me as the vessel. I needed answers that had haunted me for months. Why me? Why the quiet beta who had never sought attention or power?Elio looked up as I approached, his smile slow and knowing. "The vessel comes alone in the dead of night. Seeking answers in the dark. What do you want, Soren? What truth are you desperate to hear?"I stood in front of the bars, my hands gripping the cold metal. "Why me? Why was I chosen as the vessel? The ritual. The binding. Why the low ranking beta who had never done anyt
We brought the traitor home in secret.The journey back to the Blackmoor pack house was tense, every mile filled with the weight of what we had done. Elio was bound and gagged in the covered cart, his presence hidden from the world. The pack did not know the truth about who we had captured. They thought Rhydian had brought back another rival spy from the border skirmishes. The political tension was already high. The duel with Jax was looming. The pack was on edge, ready for conflict.Rhydian rode beside me, his voice low and careful. "The deepest dungeons. No one sees him. The pack thinks he is just another spy we captured. The golden boy stays dead in their minds. The secret stays with us. No one can know the truth yet."I nodded, feeling the weight of the deception. "The pack is completely unaware. They believe the Alpha brought back a rival spy for interrogation. The tension is at a knife's edge. The duel is close. The borders are locked. The pa
The silver chains burned us both.Rhydian forced the silver chains around Elio's wrists with grim determination. The real Elio. The traitor. The one who had faked his death and manipulated everyone. The chains suppressed his magic, the silver glowing faintly as it made contact with his skin. The air smelled of burning flesh, sharp and acrid. But the pain hit me too. Phantom burn marks appeared on my wrists, identical to the ones on Elio. The binding linked us completely. The pain was shared, transferred across the connection like a living wire.I clutched my wrists, gasping. "The chains. They are burning me. The phantom marks. The binding is making his pain mine. I can feel every second of it."Rhydian looked at me, his face filled with horror and concern. "The silver is suppressing his magic. But the link is transferring the burn directly to you. Your wrists are red and raw. The marks are real, Soren. The binding is making them real."Elio
The capture happened in the chaos.We dragged Elio into the forest boundaries, our hands gripping his arms as we stumbled through the underbrush. The palace was behind us, its lights fading through the trees. The guards were still shouting in the distance, but they were far behind. The mission had succeeded against all odds. The real Elio was with us. Alive. Captured. The traitor who had faked his death and manipulated everyone was finally in our hands.Rhydian held him tight, his voice filled with grim satisfaction. "We have him. The real Elio. The one who faked his death and left a decoy in his grave. The one who has been pulling strings from the shadows. He is ours now."Elio laughed, a cruel and mocking sound despite his capture. "You think you have won? The binding is still there. The link between us is stronger than ever. You cannot stop it. You cannot undo what has been done."I stepped closer, my voice steady despite the exhaustion.







