I stepped inside my room carefully. My chest tightened as I stepped in.“You kept it like this,” I murmured.“Of course I did,” Luca said from behind me, voice low. “You were always coming back. I never believed anything else.”I turned toward him. “Luca… there’s something I need to tell you.”He moved to me without hesitation, stepping into my room. “What is it?”I hesitated, trying to gather my words. “Victor…” I started, swallowing hard. “He’s not finished. I saw it in his eyes before I ran. He’s angry—more than angry. He’s coming.”Luca’s jaw clenched, but he remained silent, listening.“He wants to take me,” I continued, voice hoarse. “He said I’m the only way he can secure control over everything. That if he marks me, the pack will follow. That I was meant to be his.”His hands curled into fists at his sides. He rose slowly, like a tide about to break through the shore.“He threatened to mark you?” he said, his voice calm—but beneath that calm was a fury sharp enough to kill.
Luca’s POVThe moment I saw her—alive, bloodied but standing—the weight crushing my chest cracked.Aria. She made it out.Every breath she took gave mine meaning. Every flicker of her white wolf reminded me what I was fighting for.Julian's fist came flying again—but this time, I didn’t flinch.I ducked low, shoulder ramming into his ribs. He grunted, stumbling. I followed it with a hard right hook across his jaw. Bone cracked. He staggered.“You lost your chance,” I growled, spitting blood. “You should’ve finished me when I was broken.”He snarled, fury blazing in his eyes. “You’re still broken.”“No.” I stood tall, fists clenched, heart blazing. “I was broken the moment you threatened her. But now?”I took a step forward.“I’m something else.”Julian charged with a roar, claws swiping—but I moved faster. I wasn’t holding back anymore. I wasn’t weighed down by fear or guilt or the noose of that curse.She was alive.I could fight.I would win.I caught his wrist mid-swing, and then t
Aria’s POVThat’s when Ryker, our strongest warrior, beside Elijah staggered to us, bloodied. “Elijah,” he growled, clutching his side. “Take her and run .”“No,” Elijah snapped, still panting. “I’m not—”“You have to!” Ryker bellowed, grabbing Elijah by the front of his shirt. “Look around! They’re dying, Elijah! We’re dying!”Another scream tore through the battlefield. A member of our team went down—impaled through the chest by a spear.“We can’t hold this!” Ryker continued, voice breaking. “But if she dies here, if the White Wolf dies, then we died for nothing.”My heart clenched.“Elijah, please,” Ryker’s eyes softened, blood running down his face, mixing with tears. “Save her. Let our deaths mean something.”Elijah’s jaw clenched. His fists shook.“I’ll hold Victor off,” Ryker said, backing away, dragging a sword from a fallen warrior’s corpse. “I’ll give you time.”“No—” Elijah stepped forward.“GO!” Ryker roared, turning from us. “GO!!!”And then—he shifted. A massive brown w
Elijah’s POVVictor threw me across the room with great force. My body slammed against the wall with a thud. I felt my breath go out my lungs.Victor prowled toward me like a demon, slow as deadly as I managed to my feet. His eyes glinting with rage as he approached me. “You thought you could sneak into my territory and take her back?” he growled. “You take me for a damn fool?”I forced myself up, my breath ragged. “We already got her out,” I spat. “You’re too late.”That struck a nerve.Victor snarled and charged, slamming me back against the wall. I gasped, my body screaming. He clawed at my chest, and I dropped to my knees.“You think you’ve saved her!” he roared “but you’ve only delayed the inevitable.”He circled me like a predator. “You think Luca can protect her forever? He couldn’t even protect his own pack!”I lunged, with all the pain, driven by nothing but rage. I landed a claw across his face, drawing a deep gash down his cheek.Victor reeled back, then struck me
Elijah’s POVWe rode like wolves possessed.The warriors behind me — about a dozen, all handpicked, all trained killers — moved as one. There was no room for error, no time for second guesses. Luca needed us. Aria needed us more.My mind kept racing, heart pounding hard in my chest. The thought of Aria in Victor’s hands made my blood boil. She had once shown us a passage, hidden and buried behind the cliffs on the west side of the old riverbank — a way into the Shadow Blood territory that very few even knew existed.She saw Julian moved there and followed him. We reached the edge of the cliff just before sundown. I jumped off my horse and motioned the others to stop.“This is it,” I said. “She told me once, a short while back. A hidden door, old as the land itself. Used before the treaty wars. Victor never destroyed it because he didn’t think anyone remembered.”I yanked the vines down, revealing the faint outline of a stone doorway. The air around it was cold, stale. My claws ex
Aria’s POVPain.That was the first thing I felt.A consuming and persistent pain in my ribs, in my back, in my head.Then came the cold. My body trembled against a chilled stone floor. It was damp beneath me, thick with moisture and iron—blood. Light streamed into the room from the window behind me. My vision swam and cleared slowly. And when it did, my breath caught.Bars? Thick, black steel bars, caging me in. My wrists were chained to the back of the cage, forcing my posture upright.“No…” I whispered hoarsely as it hit me.. I was captured. I jerked at the chains, a sharp burning pain ripping across my skin. Silver. Of course it was silver. My wolf howled weakly within me, too drained to fight, too injured to stir.The realization hit like ice in my veins.I was no longer in the Scarlet Moon Pack.I was in enemy territory.Shadow Blood pack territory! That means.. Alpha Victor’s stronghold.A wild and loud scream tore from my throat before I could stop it. I thrashed agains
Luca’s POVThe wind howled low through Crescent Hollow, sweeping dust across the clearing as I stood in my wolf form—massive, bristled, golden-eyed and braced for war. Across from me, Julian stared me down, eyes black as sin, his own wolf coated in dark silver fur, a sneer twisting his lupine features.He didn’t speak. Neither did I.There was nothing left to say.We circled first, slow, deliberate. Muscles taut, paws digging into the earth with each calculated step. He was studying me. Measuring. Just like I was doing to him. Every twitch, every flick of his ear—I took it in. I wasn’t just fighting a traitor. I was fighting a ghost of the past, a man who used to run at my side. Who I used to trust.And now he was here, standing before me with death in his heart.I lunged first—just a feint, a quick dart of movement—and he took the bait, his massive form launching forward. Our claws scraped, locking mid-air with a thud of force. Power met power, the ground trembling beneath us as we g
Aria's POV I couldn’t sit still, not even for a second. I dashed from my room and went to Elena's. It was best we stayed closer together, just in case of anything.Even in the silence of Elena’s room, I still couldn't just stay at rest for a second. The bed I sat on felt too soft for the havoc in my mind.I could only laid down flat on the bed, as I kept staring at the wall, like somehow if I stared hard enough, it’d crack open and show me what was happening in Crescent Hollow.Elena sat beside me, her presence calm for the situation. She didn’t say anything for a while. She didn’t have to.“I shouldn’t have stayed,” I finally broke the silence. “I shouldn’t have let him go without me.”Her head tilted gently toward me. “He didn’t let you do anything, Aria. You chose it.”“I chose wrong.” My breath hitched. “I didn’t want to go because I knew… I knew if something happened to him, I wouldn’t survive it. I couldn’t watch him get hurt. Not again. Not like that.”Tears clawed at my t
Victor's POV The guard’s face drained of color, and I could see his heart hammering in his chest. Good. He should be scared. He didn’t know what the hell he was dealing with, didn’t know what was coming. But I wasn’t going to wait anymore. Julian was mine to deal with, and if anyone thought they could just waltz back in after everything, they had another thing coming.Julian didn’t know it yet, but this time, he was going to pay. And I wasn’t going to let anyone stand in my way. Just then—his voice again.“Enough. Let him go.”It was calm. Too calm. That voice—smooth, steady, like he hadn’t done a damn thing wrong, like he still belonged here.My breath caught in my throat. My grip on the knife tightened, knuckles white, jaw clenched so hard I thought my teeth would crack. My head snapped toward the sound, and there he was. Julian. Standing like he had every right to breathe the same air as me.I nearly lost it.I lunged—rage crashing over me like a wave—blade raised, ready to end h