Mag-log inThen I whispered, “She woke because of truth.”Nicholas’s POVTruth.The word cut deeper than any blade.Watching Esther’s wolf awaken, seeing that glow ripple through her, was like watching dawn break inside my own ribs. Norman howled in joy, circling like a storm.Mate. Whole again.I wanted to re
Esther’s POVThe moon hung low over the palace courtyard, pale and thin as if it too had been hollowed out by truth.I hadn’t slept in days. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Carl’s face in that hospital bed, the IV line glowing red with Nicholas’s blood, a thread connecting them that could never b
I couldn’t stay. Not then. Not with the room spinning around the truth.I turned on my heel and left.Outside, the evening had turned cold. The palace gardens stretched wide and silent, shadows long across the stone. I made it halfway to the fountain before the first surge of fury hit, hot and wild
Nicholas’s POVIt was supposed to be an ordinary morning.A quiet one, even the kind where the palace felt less like a fortress and more like a home. The smell of breakfast bread drifting through the halls, the faint laughter of children somewhere near the east courtyard.Then came the scream.High.
I turned the page without a word.Inside, the fragile hope I’d been nurturing began to splinter.Nicholas found me near noon.He stormed in, half out of his formal jacket, eyes dark and wild. “Who leaked this?”“You’re asking me?” I said.“I’m asking everyone.” His voice was a snarl. “They’re saying
Esther’s POVThe palace had never been this bright.Golden banners fluttered across the courtyard, musicians tuned lutes and violins, and trays of sugared fruit glimmered beneath the sunlight. All of it, the music, the laughter, the illusion, was for Sofia.My daughter. My little girl who had someho
Esther’s POVI had thought I was going to die. Nicholas was going to be furious when he realized that I had been the one in his bed, and he was going to kill me.I braced myself as he ripped at the collar of my shirt, knowing I couldn’t hide the bite any longer. But instead of him reacting angrily t
Esther’s POVWhen I opened my eyes, I felt a rush of relief.I wasn’t dead, after all. That dream about a wolf biting me had been nothing more.It hadn’t been real.Then I realized that I wasn’t in my bed at home. It felt far too comfortable compared to the thin pallet I usually slept on.I sat up.
Nicholas’s POV“Leave me be,” I ordered my guards as they flanked my door. “I wanted some time on my own.”They bowed to me and left. As soon as the door closed behind them, I slumped into my chair, my head in my hands.I could feel my wolf howling inside me. Norman had been feeling the effects of t
Esther’s POV“Bitch, look what you’d done!” His low gasp brushed against my ears, making me tremble. “You had committed a heinous crime!”The man before me, Nicholas Crawford, the Alpha King of the Blood Moon Pack, had once looked at me with adoration and affection. Now he saw me as the one who had







