LOGINMaya's POVThe world felt colder the moment Garrett fell.His body lay half-shifted, blood soaking into the cracked earth like the ground itself was drinking him in.I couldn’t breathe properly.“Maya…don’t.”Finn’s voice was somewhere behind me, sharp and urgent, but it didn’t reach me.None of it did.Not Sophie. Not Cedric. Not Ciara holding my arm.Only Garrett, his broken form.The fact that Aldric had done it like it meant nothing.Garrett was on the ground. Blood pooling beneath him. And Aldric stood above it all like it meant nothing.Like my world had just been reduced to a joke he told himself.Something dangerous inside me cracked.Rage.Hot. Clean. Absolute.I took a step forward.Finn’s voice cut through instantly.“Maya….don’t!”Ciara grabbed my arm. “Please!”But their hands, and voices didn’t matter.Nothing mattered anymore, because Lucien’s words came back to me like fire in my bones.Strike when it matters.Now.My bond with Lucien flickered violently inside me, lik
Finn's POVThe chamber exploded with light.I stumbled backward, dragging Ciara with me as silver and black energy collided above the ancient pedestal.The female voice vanished.The symbols died. And suddenly everything was gone.The chamber. The pedestal. The ancient queen.The warning. All of it.I found myself back inside the ruins, breathing hard as if I had been underwater.Ciara grabbed my arm."Finn?"I looked down at her. Her face had gone pale."You saw it too."It wasn't a question. I nodded slowly.Moon Goddess.What I had seen changed everything.The ancient queen. Aldric standing beside her, as a guardian.The image burned inside my head.History was wrong.Or someone had made sure it became wrong."Maya."The word left my mouth immediately.I turned and sprinted through the ruins.Ciara followed close behind.The moment I found Maya, I grabbed her arm.Her eyes widened."Finn?""We need to talk."Something in my voice must have alarmed her because she immediately stood.
Finn's POVEveryone else was focused on the obvious threat.Aldric.Lucien.The trap. Coming war.But something about this place felt wrong.Danger could be fought.Old things had survived because they couldn't.I stood near the edge of the ruins, watching Maya from a distance.She sat beside a broken pillar with Ciara beside her.Their heads were close together, as they talked quietly.Ever since the confrontation with Aldric, Maya seemed different like Lucien's words had transformed her fear into purpose.That should have reassured me.Instead it worried me because Aldric wanted her here. Nothing about that sat right with me.A predator doesn't lure prey into a trap unless the trap benefits him. And Aldric Shadowmane wasn't the type to leave things to chance.A soft crunch of stone interrupted my thoughts.I turned.Ciara was approaching. The young princess stopped beside me.Neither of us spoke immediately.Finally, I broke the silence. "How did you know?"She blinked. "Know what?"
Maya's POVThe world vanished. One moment I stood inside the ruins.The next…Everything disappeared beneath a violent pull from the mate bond.The stone pillars. The shadows.Finn, and Ciara, and my siblings were gone.Darkness swallowed everything.Cold darkness. Then I saw him. My breath stopped."Lucien… My mate"He was on his knees. Heavy black-gold chains wrapped around his wrists, chest, and throat.Ancient runes glowed across the restraints, pulsing with cruel power.Blood stained the stone beneath him.Fresh blood.My heart shattered instantly."No."I rushed toward him.The moment I moved, an invisible barrier slammed into me.BOOM!Pain shot through my body. I staggered backward.The vision trembled. But the barrier remained keeping us apart, from reaching him, from saving him."Lucien!"His head lifted slowly. My mate's golden eyes found mine immediately.Relief flashed across his face. Like seeing me somehow made all of this worth enduring.That hurt more than anything."M
Roderick's POVThe lie was supposed to be simple.Convincing, and temporary.Instead, I was standing inside a cursed ruin while ancient shadows watched from the dark and my heartbeat sounded louder than my own thoughts.This was madness.But madness had already become normal the moment I chose to follow Maverick.Or rather...Aldric Shadowmane.Even the thought of the name made my stomach twist in knots.I could still remember the moment he revealed himself inside the fortress.The impossible power. Dark Ancient magic.Fear gripped me.No wolf could fake that. No other wolf could command Alpha Lucien like a chained prisoner.And now I was carrying out his orders.I hated it.But I feared him more than I hated him.The ruins trembled again. Ahead of me stood Maya.Aelindra.The woman who had somehow become even more terrifying than the legends.Silver power still flickered around her body from the explosion moments ago.The shadows that had attacked them now lingered at a distance.Watc
Ciara's POVI stayed close to Maya instinctively. My hand still held onto her sleeve, even though she was no longer really standing still.She was listening to a voice only she could hear. Ahead, the trees had changed into stone without warning.Tall pillars rose from the earth like broken teeth, carved with markings that glowed faintly in black and gold. The air here watched.Finn and Sophie were talking, their voices sounded distant, like I was underwater.Garett stood slightly ahead, tense and still. Our siblings spread out behind us like they were trying to surround a being that wasn’t there.Most of my gaze was fixed on Maya.She was shaking. Another pulse hit her chest.I felt it even though I shouldn’t have.Like the air itself carried her pain and pressed it into me.“Maya,” I whispered.She didn’t answer. Her eyes were open, but not here anymore, somewhere else, somewhere deeper in this place.Finn stepped closer. “We need to turn back.”Cedric snapped, “We can’t. The path
Ethan's POVThe night air was cold.My eyes was alert in the night like day.I stood at the north watchtower, arms folded behind my back, eyes fixed on the dark stretch beyond Blood Moon’s gates.Five nights of standing still while everyone else slept.That was my sentence.Beta Finn’s voice replay
Maya's POV"Stay close," Lucien murmured, his hand finding mine. "We're being watched."I'd felt it for the last hour, eyes tracking our every movement. The weight of predatory gazes pressing against my skin like physical touch. Lyra stirred restlessly inside of me, she was not afraid, but alert.
Maya's POVThe nightmares persisted.At first, they were soft.Just shadows, sounds, a blade hitting stone.A wolf howling far away, then they got louder.I was standing in the courtyard again. Smoke everywhere. Blood on the ground. The moon was red and too big in the sky.Marcus stood in front o
Ethan's POVI didn’t follow them on purpose.That’s the lie I tell myself.The truth is, I always watch more than people think. Scouts learn early that survival isn’t about strength. It’s about seeing what others miss.The clearing wasn’t on my patrol route.But something pulled me there. And what







