MasukDRAVEN "Stay on my right," I snarled, shifting fully into wolf form. My bones reshaping into a wolf bone, fur bursting through my skin. "Asher, take the high ground and cut their links."Kai's golden wolf slammed into the first controlled pair that broke through the courtyard. "They're trying to split us!" he snarled through the bond. "I won't let them touch her."Asher's voice cut through the bond more than the air, firm despite the chaos. "Their coordination is forced. Break two links and the rest will stagger. Trust me, or else we'll all die finding out I'm wrong."I tore into the next attacker with pure force. My bones cracked under my jaws. Blood filled my mouth, with a taste of copper mingling on my tongue. Through the bond I felt Kai's sharper, faster strikes and Asher's precise bursts of disrupting magic, each sensation distinct yet violently woven into my own.It was powerful. It was also unbearable, like trying to breathe through someone else's lungs while running for your
LILA "They're near the other wall!" I shouted as the first wave of dark magic slammed into my outer wards. The stones under my hands vibrated hard, sending tremors up through my bones. "Draven, take the line. Kai, keep them off my left. Asher, cut whatever links you can. I need more time!"The mansion shook, And Somewhere in the pack, the pack members yelled ordersButtercup ran up beside me on the upper balcony, her boots skidding on the marble floor. "Lila, the other corridor is already breached! People are moving to the inner hall!""Then keep them moving," I snapped through my teeth, not daring to look away from the shimmering light before me. "If I drop concentration these wards will fall and the whole place opens!"Kai's voice came up from the stairs. "There are at least eight wolf pairs! They're hitting in groups, not random!"Draven's roar carried from the courtyard. "Hold the gate! No one should reach the main doors!"I poured more power into the lattice, feeling it drink fr
KAI"I'll take the meet," I said, strapping a short blade under my jacket. "Silas wants to talk through a middle point. I know how these games work. You three stay here and keep the wards tight."Draven's jaw locked so hard I heard his teeth grind, and for a moment I thought he might actually put his fist through the wall. "I should go. I'm the Alpha.""You're also the one Silas wants rattled," I told him, holding his gaze. "You go, and he doesn't even need a plan, he just watches you unravel. I spent years as a rogue. I know how to walk into a trap and still walk out. Let me do this.""That's not a comfort, Kai. That's a disaster waiting to happen."Buttercup grabbed my arm before I could answer, her grip fierce enough to bruise. "Derek is only there because I promised him safety. That promise is mine to keep, not yours to gamble with. If there's a way to get him back without handing me over, take it. But don't you dare trade yourself either. I swear Kai, if you don't come back...""
BUTTERCUP ***LATER AT NIGHT "They're hitting the western wards!" Lila shouted as the first impact shook the ground. I ran toward the outer line with Draven and Kai close behind, my heart hammering against my ribs. The air smelled like smoke and fear. Shadows that did not belong to any tree stretched across the new buildings, reaching like fingers toward the people we had promised to protect."Get the residents to the inner circle!" I yelled, my voice laced with urgency. "No one should stay in the open!"Rose appeared at my side, her hands already glowing faintly with the healing magic she had only recently learned to control. "I'll help move the ones who freeze. Marcus is already pulling people from the cottages."A blast of dark energy slammed into one of Lila's ward stones. The barrier flared bright, then cracked, it made the sound like a gunshot across the compound. Two of Silas's pairs pushed through the gap, their movements were precise. These had once been people. Someone's
DRAVEN "I do not like this." I sat across from the healer in the other side room. "Alphas do not sit and talk about feelings while an enemy prepares to attack." Elowen, the healer Mira had brought in, watched me without flinching. She was older, calm, with eyes that had seen too many broken wolves pass through rooms like this one. "Alphas who refuse to look at their own damage get people killed," she said. "You already locked your mate behind barriers. We'll start from there." Buttercup stayed near the door at first, her arms crossed loosely, as though she wasn't sure whether she belonged inside the conversation or outside it. "I'll wait outside if you need the space," she said. "But I'm not leaving the hall." "Stay." The word came out rougher than I meant, with a need I hadn't planned to reveal. "That's the first honest thing you've said since you sat down," Elowen said, unbothered by the rawness in my voice. "Tell me what the barriers felt like when you put them up." I s
BUTTERCUP "Open the barriers, Draven. Right now." I slammed both palms against the invisible wall he had thrown up around the room. "This is not protection. This is you losing control, and I refuse to watch it happen." He stood on the other side of the barrier, his eyes too bright, breath too fast, shoulders drawn up like a man bracing for a blow that had already landed a dozen times in his mind. "I can't. If I open it, you'll leave. And Silas will get the opening he needs. I saw it happen. I saw you die in my dream." "You saw a nightmare," I snapped, panic clawing at my throat. "Not the truth. Look at me Draven. I am still here. I've refused him. I chose this bond, every piece of it, and you are the one building walls between us now?" Through the trinity link I shoved the words harder, letting him feel the anger and the desperation tangled together, refusing to let either one soften into something he could dismiss. Kai's presence slammed into the bond next with alarm, a jagged
BUTTERCUP I covered my mouth with the back of my palm and I was barely breathing. “A human? Don’t be ridiculous,” Seraphina said below me. “But if you’re serious about this double mate bond thing with her, we handle it quietly. She can never know the full truth.” Draven’s voice came next, low a
“Well, well, well...” Seraphina said again, her voice dripping with fake sweetness. “Am I interrupting the show?”I froze under Draven, my dress still bunched around my waist, his body covering mine as heat rushed to my face as I tried to push him off. “Get off me.”Draven sat up fast, shielding me
BUTTERCUP I watched the door close behind Draven as he went to see Seraphina, and I felt my emotions finally snapping inside me. “Enough of this shit,” I muttered to myself, sliding off his bed. My legs still felt weak but I forced myself to move. I grabbed my dress from the floor and pulled i
BUTTERCUP I sat there on that damn couch, my legs still trembling and his words ringing in my ears. “I’m sorry, little one.” The door had barely closed behind Draven before I jumped up. My dress was wrinkled, my thighs sticky, and my chest felt like someone had punched a hole right through it.







