LOGINSerena’s POVThe paper shakes in my hand, not because of the words. Because of the handwriting. I know it; I've seen it on birthday cards. On grocery lists stuck to the fridge. On the note she left beside my bed the morning she told me we were moving. My mother wrote this."That's her handwriting," I say.” The room goes silent.Kael takes the paper from me gently and studies it. Then looks at Damien. "Where exactly did you find this?""On her dressing table. Folded once. Placed on top of a silver pendant I've never seen before." "What pendant?"Damien reaches into his pocket and produces a chain. A thin silver chain with a small crescent moon hanging from it. My legs almost give out."That's my father's," I whisper. Every head in the room turns to me. "My birth father." My voice sounds far away. "He wore it every day. My mother kept it after he died. She never took it out. Never showed it to anyone."Kael's expression shifts. "She left it deliberately.""She left it for me." I take th
Kael’s POV“Don’t answer it.” The words leave me before I even know I’m speaking. The voice in the pool laughs, not loud, not wild, but worse, calm and ancient. Like it already knows we’re afraid.Serena stands beside me, frozen, her silver mark burning through the fabric at her collarbone. The black water keeps turning in slow circles. Too smooth. Too deliberate. Like something under it is testing the shape of the room. I grab her wrist.“We’re leaving.”The voice comes again, rolling up through the stone. “He can pull you away,” it says. “He cannot close what was opened.”Serena sucks in a breath. I pull her behind me and back toward the doorway. I don’t take my eyes off the pool.“Kael,” she says quietly, “the book.” Damn it. The black leather book is still on the altar. The water in the pool rises by an inch. Not splashing. Not flooding. Just lifting. Like a thing standing up under a blanket. I make a choice. “Stay there.”I move fast, cross the platform, and yank the book up with
Serena’s POV“Don’t touch it.”Kael’s hand closes around my wrist just as the stone door groans wider. Cold air spills out of the darkness beyond. Not fresh air, old air, buried air. The kind that has been trapped too long. I stare past him.The chamber on the other side is bigger than the one we’re standing in. Much bigger. A wide round space carved into the earth itself. Black stone. A low pool of still water in the center. And beyond it, on a raised platform, a narrow altar with chains bolted into the floor around it. Not prison chains, but restraint chains. My skin goes cold. “What is this?” I whisper.Kael doesn’t answer. He steps in front of me, torch raised, every line of his body tight and ready. Like he expects something to rush us from the dark, Nothing moves.That somehow makes it worse. The silver light under my collarbone burns hotter. The mark is pulling me forward. “Serena.” Kael’s voice is low. Sharp. “Stay behind me.” “I’m trying.” But it’s not true, not really. Somet
Kael’s POV“What did it say to her?”The guard nearly drops his spear. He stands outside the lower cells with his back too straight and his face too pale. That tells me enough before he opens his mouth. “It spoke, Alpha, just once, to Lady Serena.” I don’t stop to answer. I push past him and head down the stone steps two at a time.The lower corridor is colder than the rest of the mansion. Damp. Quiet. The kind of quiet that makes every sound feel wrong.Serena is standing outside the last cell. She turns when she hears me. Her face gives nothing away at first. Then the bond catches up with me, not fear, not exactly. Shock, confusion, and something colder underneath both.The altered wolf is still chained to the far wall. Half-shifted. Bare skin split by those dark veins. Eyes half open. Breathing shallowly. It looks worse than before. Good. I stop beside Serena. “What did it say?”Her fingers tighten around the torch she’s holding. “It said I’m not the end of the prophecy.” She pause
Serena’s POV“Don’t hide in here.”Maya shuts the door behind her and leans against it like she knows I’m thinking about locking it again.I’m standing by the window in a clean dress that still doesn’t feel like mine. Outside, the pack grounds are full of movement. Wolves carrying wood. Wolves digging. Wolves speaking in low voices that never quite rise into normal conversation. Mourning has its own sound. “I’m not hiding,” I say.Maya raises an eyebrow. “You’ve been in this room since sunrise.” “I nearly burned myself out saving your Alpha. I’m allowed a few hours.” “Our Alpha,” she corrects softly. I look away. That word still catches me: ours.Silver Crest still doesn’t feel fully like mine. Not after the way they stared when the battle ended. Not after what they saw me do. The light. The scream of those twisted wolves. The way they turned to ash.The way everyone looked at me after was not with gratitude but with fear.Maya sees the thought cross my face. Of course she does. “They
Kael’s POVThe battlefield stretches before us like a wound in the earth. Open ground, sparse trees. A river cutting through the center. The same place where we fought Elena weeks ago. She chose this ground deliberately, a reminder, a taunt. I won't let it matter.Our forces spread across the western ridge. Two hundred and forty wolves. Seven packs united under a single banner. Across the field, Elena's army waits. I count their numbers. Stop at two hundred, fewer than we expected.That worries me more than if there were more.Elena doesn't fight fair. She doesn't attack head-on when she can strike from behind. Somewhere, she has reserves. Hidden wolves. A trap waiting to spring. "You see it too," Damien says beside me. "The numbers are wrong." "She's hiding something." "She always is."I scan the tree line. The river banks. Every shadow that might conceal an ambush, Nowhat—" "Exile." doesn't mean nothing is there. "Keep scouts on our flanks," I say. "If anything moves in those trees
Kael’s POVThe scent hits me before I reach the tree line. Blood, fear, and something else underneath something that doesn't belong to my pack. I push harder. My paws tear into the earth. The forest blurs around me.Behind me, three of my wolves follow. I hear their breathing. Their heartbeats. The
Serena’s POV"You're scared of me." The words leave my mouth before I can stop them.Damien pauses mid-step. Slowly, he turns back to face me. The hallway is empty now. Just us. His smile is still there, but something behind it shifts. "Scared?" He tilts his head. "That's an interesting word.""You
Serena’s POVI don't scream. I want to. The fear is right there, clawing at the back of my throat. But I swallow it down and force myself to think.Someone was in my room. While the whole mansion was in chaos. While wolves ran through the halls and guards shouted orders, I stood in Marcus's study,
Serena's POV"That's not possible." The words leave my mouth, but they sound far away. Like someone else is speaking through me.Kael stands in the doorway, chest heaving, eyes burning gold. The fury on his face is terrifying. But underneath it, I see something worse, fear, he's afraid of me."Kael







