LOGINThe golden light beneath my skin intensified.
Vespera stared at the phenomenon with growing alarm.
“What did you see?” Hale demanded.
“I didn't see anything.”
“Vespera.”
Her gaze remained fixed on the light.
“I saw everything.”
She looked directly at me.
“And I wish I hadn't.”
My pulse accelerated.
“What did you see?”
“You.”
Sh
“Some of the oldest blood-mages. Certain royal families. And those who possess forbidden knowledge of memory magic.”Hale's eyes narrowed.“Could someone from Blackthorn Pack do it?”“Possibly.”“Bonen?”Vespera shook her head.“I don't know.”I stared at the floor.“I remember someone saying the king must never remember.”Hale's expression darkened.“That means whoever erased your memory knew who I was.”“Yes.”“And they knew about the child.”I nodded.“They wanted the baby erased.”Hale looked toward the door.“Then this was never simply an attack against you.”The realization settled over the room.“They were trying to prevent the heir from being born.”Vespera nodded.“That is my concern.&rdqu
I remembered the altar.I remembered Bonen's smile.I remembered Astrid's laughter.I remembered the cliff.Then another memory surfaced.The night before all of it.The night with the stranger.Rain.Pine.Moonlight.A pair of molten-gold eyes.My eyes opened.Hale was staring at me.“You remember me.”I could not speak.Because I finally understood.The stranger from that night had never been a stranger.It had been him.The sleeping Lycan King.My true mate.The father of my child.And somehow, the man whose presence awakened something inside me that I had spent weeks believing was nothing more than instinct.“You were there,” I whispered.Hale's breath caught.“Where?”“That night.”He stared at me, completely motionless.“You were th
The golden light beneath my skin intensified.Vespera stared at the phenomenon with growing alarm.“What did you see?” Hale demanded.“I didn't see anything.”“Vespera.”Her gaze remained fixed on the light.“I saw everything.”She looked directly at me.“And I wish I hadn't.”My pulse accelerated.“What did you see?”“You.”She stepped closer.“Not Isla.”The name struck me strangely.Vespera continued, her voice lowered.“I saw a woman standing beneath a blood moon. She was dressed in white and surrounded by wolves.”A flash tore through my mind.White silk.Moonlight.Flowers.A man's hand wrapped around mine.Another image followed immediately: a young woman standing before an altar while hundreds of silver eyes watched f
Hale’s fists clenched by his side. The ramifications struck him like a second wave of venom: The woman that had washed up unconscious on his riverside bank, the woman that his son had pulled out of the grasp of Death itself, the woman that had become his mate as soon as he was conscious again… could possibly be the mother of his heir. And that night that spawned his heir would have been stripped from both of their minds.He turned his head to face the curtain behind which she stood, knowing that she heard everything he said. His voice, when it came, was steel coated in silent flames.“No word of this is to go out,” Hale instructed. “Not to the council. Not even to the other healers. This information stays locked between us until I see fit. Prepare the lineage reading. Tonight. In utmost secrecy. And Vespera…” his amber eyes glinted with the threat capable of dismantling packs, “…if the child is mine, if Isla is the w
“They will come,” he said without turning, voice carrying easily across the chamber. “The council first. Then the neighboring Alphas who have been waiting with bated breath to see whether I lived or died. Some will offer alliance and gifts. Some will probe for weakness with careful words and careful smiles. All of them will look at you standing beside me and see either an opportunity… or a threat to be removed.”“And what will you tell them?” I asked, my fingers twisting in the fabric of my shift.He turned then, and the full force of the Lycan King settled over me like a heavy mantle of authority and night. The sunlight streaming through the window caught in his dark hair and turned the edges of his silhouette to gold.“I will tell them the truth I choose to give,” he answered, each word deliberate. “That you are under my protection in every way that matters. That the child is mine by blood and by claim. Th
The moment we were alone again, Hale released my chin, but the heat of his touch lingered on my skin like a brand. He reached for the tray and poured a cup of the steaming herbal broth, then held it out to me.“Eat,” he said, voice quieter now but no less firm. “Both of you need strength. The child is using a great deal of power to heal me. You will not run yourself into the ground while it does so.”I accepted the cup with unsteady hands and managed several slow sips. The broth was rich, fragrant with healing herbs and bone marrow, and it settled warmly in my stomach. Hale watched every movement with unnerving focus the way my free hand occasionally drifted to the swell of my belly, the way the golden light still pulsed faintly whenever his eyes rested on me for too long, the residual tremor in my fingers.When I set the cup aside, he spoke again, the words deliberate.“You will not sleep on that cot tonight.”I looked up sharply, pulse spiking. “What?”“You will sleep here.” He indi







