Mag-log inThe cell was suffocatingly quiet, except for the sizzle of the silver and Jarek’s pathetic, ragged breathing. I stood near the center of the room, my arms crossed tightly over my chest, watching the broken man chained to the wall.It was jarring. This was the man who had looked down his nose at me, called me an illegitimate stray, and sneered at my existence. Now he was just a frail, terrified old man weeping in the dirt."Jarek," Gideon's deep voice broke the silence. The old Beta stepped closer to the wall, his scarred face impassive. "Focus on my voice. Try to remember. Who came to your study? Who did you speak to before this cold you speak of took you?"Jarek shook his head weakly, his eyes screwed shut in pain. "I don't know... I don't know, Gideon. It’s all black. Just... shadows. Shadows and green fire."‘Green fire?’ I took a slow step forward. The moment I moved, a strange, terrifying sensation washed over me. It felt like a sudden, magnetic tug deep inside my ch
The warmth of the morning sun vanished the second those words left Gideon’s mouth.The peaceful moment of the terrace seemed to disappear almost immediately. Dominic’s entire posture changed in a fraction of a second. And the relaxed, unguarded man who had just kissed my neck was long gone, instantly replaced by this cold-blooded shell of a man. His jaw locked, his silver eyes hardening into chips of ice as he stood up, the chair legs scraping harshly against the stone."Secure the perimeter around the dungeon," Dominic ordered, his voice dropping. "No one goes in or out. I’ll be down in five minutes."Gideon gave a curt nod, his dark eyes flickering to me for a brief second before he turned and headed back into the Manor.I pushed my chair back, my bare feet hitting the cold stone of the terrace as I grabbed my dark wool shawl. "I'll go get dressed.""You're staying here," Dominic said flatly.He didn't even look at me. He was already reaching for his discarded tunic, pu
<Dominic>Selene gasped loudly, dropping her medical chest onto the rug with a loud thud.She stepped forward, her trembling hands reaching out to trace the unblemished skin over my ribs."This... this is impossible," Selene whispered, her voice shaking with absolute disbelief. "I stitched these wounds myself yesterday afternoon. The muscle was torn to the bone. Not even the strongest Alpha bloodline in history could regenerate tissue this quickly."I didn't say a word. I simply turned my head, my silver eyes sliding over to Cassandra.She was peeking over the edge of the velvet duvet, her dark eyes wide with shock as she stared at my hea
For some strange reason, waking up felt like dragging myself out of a deep pool of dark water.For the first few seconds, my mind was foggy, trapped in the lingering haze of sleep and the sheer exhaustion of the last two weeks. The muscles in my back ached subtly, and the heavy duvet was tangled around my waist. But the most prominent sensation was the warm, soft weight pressing against my bare chest, an arm draped casually over my stomach, and a steady breath fanning across my collarbone.'Alice,' my sleep-addled brain supplied on pure instinct.Then a cold, heavy rock of dread instantly dropped into the pit of my stomach. And for a split second, I braced myself for the familiar, cloying scent of sweet floral perfume and spiced ginger. But as I drew my first real breath of the morning, the scent that filled my lungs didn't belong to Alice.It was the clean, crisp scent of mountain rain, a familiar sweetness, and warm, bare skin.My eyes snapped open.The dark oak beams of
The wet heat of her tears seared straight through the linen bandages on my chest, but I didn't care.I held her. I wrapped my arms around her trembling frame, burying my face into the crook of her neck, and I simply held the woman who had dragged me out of the dark. And for a long, fragile moment, the world outside the oak doors of the West Wing ceased to exist. There was no Jarek bleeding out in the dungeons. There was no Viktor Varkas waiting in the southern mountains. There was only Cassandra—my Cassandra, her fingers curled desperately into the fabric of my ruined tunic, crying into my skin.It was incredibly sweet.For the first time in fifteen years, the suffocating weight of being the Alpha of the Blackthorne pack seemed to completely vanish from my shoulders. Her scent washed over me, drowning out the lingering, toxic stench of the Grave-Brier gas that had coated my lungs. I closed my eyes, letting my cheek rest against her dark hair, perfectly content to stay anc
<Cassandra>The carriage ride back to the Manor was nothing but a blur of frantic terror and blinding pain.I lay across one bench, my head resting on Gideon’s cloak, while Dominic was sprawled across the opposite seat. His breathing was terribly shallow, a faint, sickly wheeze rattling in his chest with every intake of air. I kept reaching my hand across the narrow aisle, my fingers desperately clinging to his cold hand, refusing to let go until the carriage finally rattled to a halt on the Manor cobblestones.The entire household was waiting.The moment the doors opened, it was absolute chaos. Guards shouted orders, servants scattered to fetch hot water, and I was lifted out







