ANMELDENMIRA'S POV“Make sure to find your mate today. Don't come home early, stay there, your mate might just be somewhere around.” Mom admonished as Tricia brushed her hair backward.“I'm not a fan of parties so yeah, I'm coming right after the whole mating ceremony is over,” Tricia responded, and Mum pulled her hair a bit.“My statement wasn't even meant for you. I'm talking to Mira.” I just smiled, too excited to say a word.“Why are you putting a lot of labor into it? It's a Luna choosing ceremony, not a place to find our mates.” Tricia commented as I touched up my makeup for the hundredth time now.“It just didn't feel and seem alright,” I said beaming with smiles as I twirled around in the mirror staring at my outfit that I had done my best to make sure it looked extravagant.It was just last week I saw the Alpha and I was able to talk with him, even though it wasn't up to 2 minutes. That was all it took for me to figure out that he was my mate. And I was sure he must have noticed it
LEVINNAThree hundred years agoThe hall in Wolfsburg was built for men who believed they would never fall.I had always thought that was fitting.Stone pillars rose high enough to swallow sound, and the round table at its center was carved from a single slab of blackwood taken from a forest that no longer existed. Torches lined the walls, their flames steady, as if even fire knew better than to waver here.I stood at the head of the table.I wore no crown. I did not need one. Every man in that room knew who I was.Daughter of the Alpha King. Firstborn. Chosen. The one who would rule after him.My father lay sick in his chambers, his breath shallow, his strength gone. The throne was still his in name, but the weight of it had already settled on my shoulders, heavy and unmoving.I rested my palms on the table and looked around the circle.They met my gaze one by one.Alphas. Generals. Elders. Men who ruled packs spread across the lands under Wolfsburg’s banner. Men who were used to bei
***XANDER***I lost count of the days in Elthania’s prison somewhere after the first week.The cell was carved deep into stone, damp and cold, the kind of place meant to erase time rather than mark it. There were no windows. No voices. Just the slow drip of water from the ceiling and the steady ache of iron biting into my wrists and ankles. They had chained me to the wall at first, then later to a ring bolted into the floor, as if movement itself was something I could no longer be trusted with.I thought of Levina more than I wanted to.Not the queen she had become. Not the tyrant the packs whispered about. I thought of the woman who had once laughed softly against my throat in the dark, who had spoken about a better world with blood still drying on her hands. Loving her had been a slow betrayal of myself. Ending her would be the last.When the guards finally came for me, I was half-asleep on the stone floor, my back pressed to the wall. Keys rattled. Chains scraped. Rough hands haule
QUINN'S POVThe message had been sitting on my phone for over an hour.I had read it more times than I could count, each word sinking deeper every time, each pause between lines feeling intentional. Derek and Lucy had never been people who spoke without purpose, and they had never asked for anything without weighing the cost first.That alone made my chest feel tight.They wanted to see me.Alone.Not Jordan. Not Kayden. Just me.I sat on the edge of my bed, phone resting in my palm, staring at the screen like it might change if I looked long enough.We need to talk. Urgently. Please don’t tell Jordan. This concerns you too.That was all it said.No greeting. No warmth. Just pressure wrapped in politeness.“They’re hiding something,” I murmured to myself.Jordan hated them. Not the casual kind of hatred, not the kind that faded with time. This was old. Heavy. The kind that had roots and blood tied to it. And now that I knew who Jordan really was—who she had been before—nothing about t
KAYDENI sat on the edge of the bed with the tapes stacked beside me, my hands resting on my knees. The room felt smaller than it had earlier, the walls closer, the air heavier. I could still hear Quinn moving around somewhere down the hall, her footsteps faint, unaware of what I was sitting on.I reached for the first tape and turned it over in my hand.“Just watch,” I told myself quietly. “Just watch it.”The tape slid into the player with a soft click. The screen flickered, grainy at first, then steadied.My mother filled the frame.She was tied to a wall.My breath left me all at once.Her wrists were bound above her head, rope digging into her skin. Her dress was torn, one sleeve hanging loose. There was blood on her lip, dried and dark, and more on the floor beneath her feet.“Say it again,” a familiar voice barked.Grandfather stepped into view.“You couldn't even win over the Alpha King,” he shouted, pacing in front of her. “Can’t you just do one thing right?”She lifted her h
***ALICE***“Hey, new girl… it’s your turn.” Finger pointing at me.The lecturer’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, sending shock to my chest. I blinked, confused—still halfway stuck in the dream-images that played in my head, still hearing my father’s voice echoing somewhere far in the back of my mind. The entire circle directed their gazes at me, and I could only stare back, lost.“She looks like she just saw a ghost,” a guy on the opposite side muttered loudly enough for everyone to hear. A faint grin on his face.The whole group burst into laughter—brief but sharp, echoing through the quiet night. My cheeks burned instantly. I didn’t even know why, but when I looked at the guy who said it… damn. He was handsome. Stupidly so. Great, just what I needed—an attractive idiot laughing at me.The lecturer raised a brow, his voice firm, but not unkind. “Alice,” he said quietly, “where is your mind? You haven’t been with us for a while.”My stomach dropped. I sank my palm on the floor,







