LOGINWhen they returned to the Blackthorn packhouse, Julian expected to find his mother in one of her usual places—the sunroom overlooking the gardens, or the small sitting alcove near the east corridor where she liked to read. She wasn’t there. He checked the parlor. The dining hall. Nothing. A fai
Julian sat at the kitchen table, tension still visible in the tight line of his shoulders as Kaelani moved at the counter, finishing the last touches on their breakfast. “I would have ripped his head clean off his shoulders,” he said quietly, though there was nothing casual about the way he said it
Lyressa’s expression softened, though there was quiet gravity beneath it. “The moment Draevyn fell, the illusion fell with him,” she said. “They saw clearly what they had refused to see. That they turned away from their rightful queen out of fear and ignorance.” Her gaze did not waver. “They were
Surprise flashed across Kaelani’s face as her eyes flicked briefly to Lyressa before returning to Julian. “I had some business to attend to,” she said. “I wasn’t gone that long. I thought you’d still be asleep.” Julian didn’t respond out loud. “You can’t just leave like that,” he said through the
Elara’s crying still echoed through the courtyard when Kaelani lifted her hands. Violet light flared outward from her palms in a sudden, controlled surge, rippling across the pack grounds in expanding waves. The energy arced over rooftops, threaded through the treeline, and sealed overhead in a vas
Kaelani glanced down at her palm, the cut sealing before her eyes. Garrick stepped forward. Slowly, intentionally, he lowered himself to one knee before her and placed his hand over his heart. “I, Garrick Blake, pledge my allegiance to Kaelani Blake of Silveredge. As Alpha. In loyalty. In service
The cold was relentless. Not the kind that nipped at skin and faded with motion—this was the kind that clung, that crept past fur and flesh, embedding itself in the marrow. For days now, Julian and Jace had trekked through a landscape stitched from ice and silence, where wind howled like a starving
“If she was the last of the Unseelie royal bloodline… wouldn’t that have made her queen by default?” Draevyn’s gaze didn’t shift. “Yes,” he said quietly. “And for a time, she was treated as such.” He stepped toward the shadows at the edge of the clearing, as if the truth lived somewhere just beyo
The forest was alive with pursuit. Unseelie warriors tore through the dark underbrush, their sleek armor whispering against thorn-laced branches. Gold shimmered at the heads of their spears—pulsing, humming, and alive with charged magic meant to paralyze on contact. Kaelani moved like smoke betwee
By the time the sun had long crested the horizon, both men stood near the base of the stairs—geared up in black-on-black tactical wear designed for endurance and survival, reinforced at the joints, padded where it counted. Julian adjusted the weight of his bag and glanced toward the hallway, where







