INICIAR SESIÓNIRIS’S POV"The ledger isn't closed, Darius."My voice was a raw, breathless whisper against his chest as the computer screen behind us flashed with a sudden, violent error code. I was still clinging to his waist, my bare feet dangling off the edge of the splintered mahogany desk, but the sudden heat of our proximity instantly chilled. The green silk of my dress was in tatters, hanging off my shoulders in damp ribbons, but my attention was completely fixed on the red data lines expanding across the monitor.Darius didn't let go of me. His large, warm hands remained locked around my hips, his fingers digging into my skin with a desperate, possessive grip that told me his wolf was still fighting for control. His blue eyes, dark with the amber tint of our fated bond, narrowed as he looked over my shoulder at the screen."What did he do?" Darius growled, his jaw tightening so hard the muscle twitched beneath his dark stubble."The signature he just put on the abdication paper," I said, my
"Drop your weapons and step back from the door."My command wasn't loud, but it carried a sharp, cold finality that left no room for negotiation. The thirty council enforcers standing behind my father looked down at their locked automatic rifles, then at each other, before the front line slowly let the heavy straps slide off their shoulders. The metal weapons hit the damp carpet with a series of dull, heavy thuds. They were seasoned soldiers, but they were also pragmatists. They knew that without the Calder payroll accounts backing their families in the northern territories, they were just men standing in a broken room with no health insurance and no legal shield.My father stood completely frozen in the center of the hallway, his face a bloodless, pasty mask under the harsh fluorescent lights of the freight elevator bay. His hands were clenched into tight, trembling fists at his sides, his chest heaving as he looked at the row of his own men abandoning him one by one."You think you
DARIUS’S POVThe iron staff clattered against the stone floor with a sharp metallic ring that echoed through the dark penthouse.Iris’s massive silver jaw had clamped down on the ancient metal tool, her teeth grinding against the glowing iron until the pale amber light inside the rod shattered into harmless sparks. The seer let out a sharp gasp, her cold gold eyes widening in pure shock as the force of the bite threw her back against the gold elevator frame. Her grey cloak tore against the jagged metal tracks, her ancient power instantly evaporating into the damp morning air.I didn't give her a chance to recover. My massive dark wolf form lunged across the blood-soaked carpet, my paws crushing the remaining fragments of the boardroom table as I pinned the second gray enforcer beast to the floor. The fight was brutal but short. With a single violent jerk of my neck, the enemy went limp beneath my weight, the metallic taste of victory filling my mouth as the rain continued to wash the
IRIS’S POV"Get away from him."The words left my throat as a low, feral vibration that didn't sound human at all. I stood over Darius’s fallen body, my bare feet firmly planted on the bloody, glass-strewn carpet. The freezing rain poured through the shattered window, soaking my skin and washing the crimson stains down the shredded emerald silk of my dress. Underneath my skin, the silver wolf was screaming to take over completely, her golden eyes locked onto the old woman standing in the silver moonlight.The seer didn't flinch. She stood near the ruined elevator shaft, her long grey cloak blowing around her like a shroud. The two massive gray wolves beside her kept their heads low, their jaws dripping with foam, their eyes reflecting the pale light of the moon."You do not understand your own value, child," the seer said, her voice carrying a heavy, ancient power that made my muscles ache with the urge to submit. She lifted her iron staff, the metal tapping against the stone floor wi
DARIUS’S POV"Take cover, Iris!"I didn't wait for her to move. I grabbed her by the waist and threw her behind the thick mahogany desk just as the first volley of gunfire tore through the penthouse. The loud, rhythmic roar of Ethan’s automatic rifle filled the room, the sound deafening in the enclosed space. The remaining glass partitions shattered into a million tiny pieces, raining down on the carpet like a deadly storm.The wood of the desk splintered above our heads, chunks of polished mahogany flying through the air. The sharp smell of gunpowder and hot metal instantly replaced the scent of the rain.I leaned around the edge of the desk, my blue eyes narrowing as I spotted Ethan through the thick gray smoke. He was standing near the destroyed elevator doors, his face twisted into a wild, angry grin as he reloaded his weapon. Jerome was right behind him, his hand gripping a heavy black pistol, his eyes scanning the room like a hungry predator."You can't hide behind the furniture
DARIUS’S POVThe wind on the fifty-floor ledge was a living, screaming animal.It tore at my leather jacket, pushing the heavy freezing rain straight into my eyes as I kept my left hand anchored to the building’s steel framework. My right hand was locked around Iris’s wrist, my grip tight enough to bruise, but neither of us cared about comfort anymore. Below us, Manhattan looked like a distant grid of blurry yellow dots through the thick gray fog. Above us, the penthouse window we had just abandoned let out a dull pop, a thick column of greasy black smoke rolling out into the storm."The maintenance access door is ten feet down, Darius!" Iris shouted over the roar of the wind.Her human voice was shredded by the storm, but her grey eyes were perfectly clear as she looked along the narrow concrete lip. The ruined green silk of her dress was plastered to her skin, completely soaked through, yet she didn't shake. The silver wolf inside her was providing a steady, radiant heat that I coul
Iris's povThe border crossing wasn't a clean break or a movie moment, it was just a loud and terrifying scream of metal-on-metal as the truck’s heavy bumper ripped through the chain-link fence like it was made of paper. Drones were buzzing all over the place like a swarm of angry hornets and their
IRIS’S POVThe ascent to the northern peak was a grueling test of iron and nerves. The armored van groaned as it climbed the narrow, crumbling switchbacks, the engine straining against the altitude. Beside me, Darius drove with a clinical, focused intensity. He didn’t have his wolf’s heightened sen
DARIUS’S POVI woke up with the sun hitting my face and for a split second, the weight of the world felt strangely light, and I actually forgot about the nightmare we had just escaped. I forgot about the White Vault, the Red Mist, and the fact that I couldn't feel the territorial borders humming in
IRIS’S POVThe motorcycle ride had been a blur of freezing wind and the bruising pressure of my body against Darius’s back. By the time we reached the secondary hideout—a small, windowless stone bunker buried under an old sawmill—my legs were shaking from more than just the cold.Darius didn't spea







