FAZER LOGINSerena’s POVThe ride back to Silver Crest takes four days. We move slowly. Too many wounded. Too many wolves who can barely walk, But we move. That's what matters. I ride beside Kael at the front of the column. My arm is bandaged. My shoulder throbs with every step the horse takes. But I'm alive. We're all alive and well. Most of us. We lost eleven wolves in the battle. Seven from Silver Crest. Four from the allied packs.Their bodies travel with us. Wrapped in cloth. Carried by wolves who loved them. We'll bury them at home. It's the least we can do.Kael doesn't speak much. I feel him through the bond. His grief. His exhaustion. His relief that it's over, but also something else, doubt. "You're thinking too loud," I say on the second day. He glances at me. "You can feel that?""I can feel everything now." I touch my chest where the bond lives. "It's stronger since the battle." He nods slowly. "What are you thinking about?" I ask."Elena." "She's gone." "For now." His jaw tightens.
Kael’s POVThe border crossing is a killing ground waiting to happen. Open field. Sparse trees. No cover for miles. Perfect for an ambush, Perfect for a massacre.I survey the terrain from the ridge above. Our wolves spread out behind me. Forty-seven fighters. Some eager. Some are terrified. All of them watching me for guidance. Across the field, Elena's forces gather. I count them. Stop at ninety. More than we expected.Serena stands beside me. Her face is calm. Her hands are steady. But the bond tells me the truth. She's terrified. So am I. "They outnumber us almost two to one," Damien murmurs. "This is suicide." "It's strategy," I say. "What's the difference?""We're still breathing." He doesn't laugh. Neither do I. Noon arrives with brutal precision. The sun hangs directly overhead. No shadows. No hiding.Elena emerges from her ranks. She walks alone toward the center of the field. Confident, unhurried. Like she's already won. I start forward.Serena catches my arm. "I should go."
Serena’s POVThree days after the summit, we leave the northern fortress. The alliance is fragile. New. Held together by fear and necessity more than trust, but it exists.That's more than we had a week ago. I ride beside Kael at the front of the column. Fifty wolves from six different packs. All of them are following us toward Shadow Ridge territory, toward Elena.The forest stretches ahead. Dark, Dense, Waiting. "You're quiet," Kael says. "Thinking." "About?""Everything." I glance at him. "We're leading an army into enemy territory. Against a wolf who's already outsmarted us twice." "She didn't outsmart us. She escaped.""That feels like the same thing." He shakes his head. "Escape is survival. It's not victory." "Tell that to the wolves she killed." He's quiet for a moment. The bond pulses between us. His grief. His anger. His determination to end this. "We'll stop her," he says finally. "Whatever it takes." "I know." "Do you?"I look at him. His eyes are gold in the morning light
Kael’s POVI hate this plan. Every instinct I have screams against it. Every protective impulse roars at me to grab Serena and run, but she's right.Elena won't stop hunting us. Won't stop killing. Won't stop until she has what she wants. So we give her what she thinks she wants, and then we take it away.The fortress courtyard is empty at midnight. Stone walls rise on all sides. Torches flicker in iron brackets. The moon hangs full and bright overhead. On a perfect stage, Serena stands in the center, alone.I watch from the shadows of the eastern colonnade. Every muscle in my body coils tight, ready to spring. The other hunters are positioned around the courtyard, hidden, waiting. Twelve wolves against however many Elena brought—not great odds, but we've beaten worse.The bond pulses in my chest. Serena's fear bleeds through it. Her determination. Her desperate hope that this works. I send her all the strength I can. She doesn't look at me, but I feel her receive it. Good. Now we wai
Serena’s POVThe great hall looks different at midnight.Shadows stretch across the stone walls. Torches flicker and dance. The faces of the gathered Alphas are harder to read in the dim light.That might be a mercy. Every wolf in the room is on edge. Some are half-shifted, their eyes glowing in the darkness. Others stand rigid, hands close to weapons they shouldn't have brought to a summit.An Alpha is dead, and no one knows who to blame.Gregor stands at the head of the curved table. His face is carved from granite."Alpha Rendall of the eastern territories was found murdered in his quarters." His voice echoes off the walls. "His throat was torn out. His guards saw nothing." Murmurs ripple through the room."This is an act of war," someone growls. "Against all of us." "An act by whom?" another Alpha demands. "We're all suspects now." "Perhaps we should start with the newest arrivals." Eyes turn toward us, toward me. I feel the weight of their suspicion like a physical thing. Heavy.
Kael’s POVThe northern territory smells like pine and old blood. I've been here before, twice, both times for burials.This time feels worse.The meeting hall sits at the center of a stone fortress carved into the mountainside. Ancient, cold. Built by wolves who understood that power comes from appearing untouchable. I hate it already.Serena walks beside me. Her steps are steady. Her face reveals nothing. But the bond tells me everything. Fear and determination. A thin thread of hope she's trying not to lose. I reach out. Let my fingers brush hers. She doesn't look at me. But her hand turns. Catches mine and holds on. We enter together.The hall is full. Alphas from every major pack in the region. Their seconds. Their advisors. Wolves I've traded with. Wolves I've fought. Wolves I've never trusted and never will.All of them watching us, watching her. The whispers start immediately. That's her, the Silverborne. She doesn't look dangerous. Neither do vipers. I keep my face neutral. M
Serena’s POV"Who was that?"The hallway is still loud around us. Guards rushing. Doors slamming. The whole mansion was awake and unsettled. But my eyes are fixed on the staircase at the top of the hall. On the figure who was standing there watching me. Gone now. Like he was never there.Kael follo
Serena’s POV"Stay inside. Lock your door." The guard's voice is sharp through the wood. His footsteps disappear down the hall before I can ask questions.I stand frozen in the middle of my room. The howl still echoes in my ears. That sounds foreign, wrong, and nothing like the wolves I grew up aro
Serena’s POV"Say that again." My voice sounds strange. Distant. Like it belongs to someone else.Kael's grip on my wrist doesn't loosen. His golden eyes bore into mine, and I see something there I didn't expect. Fear, not of me, of what he just said."You heard me." His jaw tightens. "You're my ma
Serena's POV"You married him without telling me?"The words leave my mouth before I can stop them. My hands shake as I grip the car seat. Outside, iron gates close behind us with a crash that echoes through the night. My mother keeps her eyes forward. "Serena, please. Not now.""When, then?" My vo







