MasukBrian’s POVI stared at the blackened brass plate, my eyes fixed on the charred sigil raised on the cold metal surface.The curved lines matched the scorched mark we found carved into the hearth cavity of Marcus's private quarters, proof that this hidden vault belonged to the same conspiracy that had torn our family apart. A sudden wave of cold rage washed over me, pushing aside the lingering chill of the damp cellar air."Vane, bring a broad axe and a heavy pry bar over here right now!" I shouted into the echoing gloom of the chamber, my voice hard and unyielding.Captain Vane hurried across the dusty floorboards, his heavy boots thudding against the stone as he carried a double-bitted iron axe and a thick steel crowbar. "What have you found, Alpha?""This box stays sealed no longer," I growled, taking the heavy iron crowbar directly from his hands. "Lucan, hold your torch right over this latch so I can see where the iron pin meets the frame."Lucan stepped up beside me, lowering his
Brian’s POV"Marcus?" I snapped, my hand gripping my sword hilt so hard the leather groaned under my fingers while my alpha energy spiked inside the small guard chamber. "Are you absolutely certain it was Marcus?"The injured guard leaned his back hard against the cold stone wall, his face pale as chalk while he nodded twice, his breath coming in ragged hitches. "I would know that gravelly rasp anywhere, Lord Brian. He spent fifteen years leading our morning drills, and he spoke right beside my ear when he tied the heavy ropes around my wrists."Mollie stood up slowly beside me, her hands trembling slightly as she looked from the terrified sentry back to my face. "Brian, if it was Marcus, then he never fled across the river to Silvermane territory like the council elders assumed three days ago.""He didn't run away at all," I said, my vision narrowing with dark, suffocating rage as the truth slammed into my mind like an iron hammer. "The old fool came straight back here, right under ou
Mollie’s POVI turned back toward the heavy wooden doors of the main hall, ignoring the cold chill running down my spine as the heavy iron bolt clicked into place behind us."Brian, wait," I said, catching his leather sleeve before he could stride further toward the grand stone staircase leading up to the war council chambers. "We cannot just march into the war room blindly. You just said it yourself, we have a traitor inside this keep, so every officer in that hall is a potential threat.""The guards need proper medical treatment, and they need to speak before the full council," Brian growled, his face dark with rage as his strong hand rested firmly on his longsword hilt. "If someone gave away our gate codes to Malakai's riders, I want their head on a wooden pike before noon.""Then let me speak with the gatehouse sentries first," I insisted, pulling my daggers back into their leather sheaths at my belt and stepping right in front of his massive frame. "They are terrified, Brian. If
Brian’s POV"Draw your steel, everyone!" I roared, kicking my stallion's sides hard as the heavy horse surged forward down the muddy slope toward the lowering drawbridge.My right hand clamped around the familiar grip of my longsword, pulling the steel blade clean from its sheath with a loud, metallic rasp that cut through the early morning quiet. Mollie rode right at my left flank, her dark leather daggers drawn and held low against her saddle, while Captain Vane and our four guards galloped hard behind us with their spears raised. My chest heaved with every jump of my horse, my heart hammering against my ribs as I braced for an immediate volley of cross-bow bolts from the high battlements above.We thundered straight across the echoing oak planks of the lowered drawbridge, our horses' iron shoes kicking up sparks against the wet timber. We burst through the wide open iron gates, expecting a wall of hostile shields or a trap waiting behind the entrance, but nothing hit us. I yanked ha
Brian’s POV"Malakai?" I roared, taking two fast paces forward until my chest nearly brushed Nadia's green cloak, my hand clamping around the cold hilt of my sword. "Who the hell is Malakai, and why would he care about a human girl or old archive schematics?"Nadia didn't step back from my blade, her pale yellow eyes reflecting the single candle flame burning low on the oak desk between us."Malakai is a rogue commander building a massive, violent army in the dead territories beyond the northern mountain ridge," Nadia answered, her voice dropping into a flat, deadly whisper that echoed through the dusty stone aisle. "He has gathered three thousand unflagged fighters, exiles, and disgraced pack warriors under his black banner over the last two years.""Three thousand fighters?" Captain Vane gasped from behind my shoulder, his heavy iron boots shifting against the cold flagstones as his hand dropped to his own dagger. "The dead territories are supposed to be empty wasteland.""They were
Mollie’s POVThe shadow stepped past Captain Vane's shoulder, and my hand flew directly to the hilt of my steel dagger, my knuckles turning white as I pulled the blade three inches from its leather sheath.A tall woman stepped out from behind the high stone archway of aisle fourteen, wearing a long traveling cloak of dark green wool that smelled heavily of forest pine and wet river mud. She pulled back her deep hood, revealing a young face framed by sharp cheekbones, two dark scars running down her left jawline, and pale yellow eyes that gleamed under the dim candlelight. Neither Brian nor I had ever seen her before, but she walked with the relaxed, quiet confidence of a trained rogue who knew every inch of this archive."Who are you?" Brian demanded, stepping firmly in front of me and resting his palm flat against his sword pommel while his alpha energy surged through the narrow stone aisle."My name is Nadia," the woman said softly, stopping six feet away from us and folding her arms







