Zara’s POV The Council chamber was colder than usual. Perhaps it was the way the torches burned low, or the way the stone walls echoed every sound as if the mountain itself were holding its breath. I sat behind the carved railing with my fingers folded neatly, my nails digging into my skin to keep from trembling. This was it, the moment I had worked for. Lucian stood before the Elders, tall, still, every line of his body screaming control. But I saw the faint tightening in his jaw, the way his hands stayed behind his back like he was holding himself together with sheer force. Elder Corvus was the first to speak, his voice deep and grave. “Lucian, Alpha of the Crescent Pack, you have been summoned because troubling evidence has been presented against you.” The parchment on the table looked so small, so harmless. Yet I knew what it contained: images, words, fragments of nights he thought were hidden. His stolen glances, his whispers when he thought no one listened, the name he repea
Zara’s POVThe council chamber was colder than usual tonight, though the fires burned in their iron braziers and the air stank of old incense. My cloak dragged behind me as I stepped across the polished stone floor, the sound echoing like a drum.Seven elders sat in a semicircle, their faces half-shadowed, half-lit by flame. And I, little sister of Selene, should have been trembling before them.But tonight, I was the one who carried the dagger.“Zara Whitmoor,” Elder Marcellus rumbled, his voice gravel deep, eyes narrowed beneath his silver brows. “You asked for an urgent audience. What matter dares disturb the Council’s rest?”I bowed slightly, letting strands of my dark hair fall across my face to hide my smile. “A matter concerning the Alpha of Blackclaw. And a truth you will want to see with your own eyes.”Their silence pressed on me like weight, but I had prepared for this moment. Days of following, watching, recording. My hand slipped inside my satchel, and I drew out the smal
Lucian’s POVThe chamber was quiet, too quiet. The kind of silence that pressed against my skull until I could hear the thrum of my own heartbeat, steady and heavy like a war drum. The moonlight spilled through the window, silver and sharp, brushing across Selene’s shoulder where my mark now burned bright against her skin.She slept, her breath steady, her body curled faintly toward me. The bond tethered us now, unbreakable in the eyes of the council, permanent in the laws of the pack.And yet, as I stared at her, my chest did not feel full. It felt hollow.My wolf paced inside me, restless. She is not the one. This bond is a cage. You’ve chained us to the wrong heart.I pressed a hand against my temple and shut my eyes. For a fleeting second, I could feel him,Kai. His warmth, his scent, the thread between us still burning beneath the forced bond. It hadn’t been erased. It hadn’t been silenced.It had only grown more painful.Selene shifted and murmured something in her sleep. Her ski
Kai’s POV The forest was too quiet. I stumbled deeper into the trees, away from the laughter that still spilled from the pack house, away from the heavy voices of the Elders and the clinking of their cursed goblets. My chest heaved, my breath coming in ragged bursts. Every step was heavier than the last, as if my body didn’t belong to me anymore. Lucian’s scent still clung to me. Pine and smoke, wild and grounding, threaded through the night air and refused to leave. I hated it, I needed it, I wanted to rip it out of my lungs, but instead I dragged it in again, because even in pain I was starving for him. The full moon hung above me, merciless and bright. It glared down on me like an accusing eye, watching me break, watching me shatter. I pressed a hand to my chest, nails digging into the fabric of my shirt. The bond burned hot under my skin, restless, angry, alive. It screamed at me, clawed at me, begged me to turn back, to find him, to fight for what was ours. But I had seen
Selene’s POVThe silver glow of the full moon spilled through the great hall’s open roof, drenching the stone floor in pale light. Tonight was supposed to be the night of fulfillment, of triumph. My gown glittered faintly as I stood at the center of the hall, every thread chosen to remind them all that I was not just any woman,I was the Alpha’s promised mate. The Council’s eyes lingered on me, and whispers slipped through the crowd like snakes.At the far end, Lucian entered. My chest tightened at the sight of him,tall, broad, a shadow of power that silenced the murmurs as easily as if he had willed it. But his face… cold, unreadable, like stone carved into a mask. He looked at me and through me all at once, and for a moment I hated him for it.Still, tonight he would be mine. The Council had made it clear: the bond would be sealed under the moon. I would no longer have to wait, to wonder, to beg for his attention. Tonight, he would have no choice but to take me.Elder Corvus rose fir
Selene’s POV The morning sun was too bright, too cheerful for the storm that brewed inside me. Its golden light spilled through the arched windows of the council chamber, painting the stone walls with warmth that felt almost mocking. I sat rigid on the bench, back straight, hands clenched in my lap. My sister Zara lingered nearby, her sharp eyes darting to me every now and then as though she were cataloging my every tremble, every flicker of doubt. I hated how she looked at me, like she knew something I didn’t. But it was not Zara who haunted me. It was Lucian. Every word he had spoken last night echoed in my chest like a hollow drum. “It is not yet time.” Always delays. Always excuses. My heart had been bared before the entire hall, and still, he left me with nothing. The whispers had already spread through the pack. They followed me down the corridors, across the dining hall, even through the gardens. “The Alpha doesn’t want her.” “She is desperate.” “Perhaps there is someone