MasukHASSANKatniss was still standing on the eastern balcony of the command wing, her sharp profile silhouetted against the morning haze, looking every bit like the queen this pack didn't know it desperately needed.I watched her through the tinted glass of my private office, my fingers tightening around the crystal whiskey tumbler I hadn't even bothered to sip from.She thought yesterday’s council victory was just a clean strategic win—a quick political leverage play to keep Selene and Haddon from choking out her relief initiative. She had no fucking clue what she had actually done to the room.She hadn't just secured food for the widows or medical supplies for the border guards. She had broken the spine of the oldest conservative bloc in Blackthorn territory without swinging a single blade.She isn't just surviving here anymore, I thought, a strange, possessive heat blooming deep in my chest. She belongs beside me. She’s held that space since the second she took my ring.The heavy doubl
KATNISSThe marble halls of the Central Administration Building sounded like a pit of starving vipers, but I didn't slow my stride for a single second."You can't just stroll in there and nullify a High Elder's decree, Katniss!" Elara hissed, double-stepping to keep pace with me as my heavy leather boots clacked against the polished floorboards. "Selene has three ancestral councilors backing her block on the relief funds!""Watch me," I growled, adjusting the collar of my dark fitted jacket, my silver-gray eyes fixed on the massive double doors of the assembly hall ahead.Beta Kael and Gamma Gareth flanked us, their expressions stone-cold, while Hassan walked two paces behind me. He wasn't leading the charge. He was letting me set the pace, his massive, imposing presence acting as an impenetrable wall at my back."She's setting a trap," Kael warned under his breath, leaning closer. "Haddon gave her the paperwork specifically to bait you into throwing an Alpha-level tantrum. If you loo
KATNISSI had seen Hassan Blackthorn execute rogue commanders and silence hostile elders with a single look, but watching him get ruthlessly roasted over a platter of roasted venison was a sight I hadn't prepared for.The private dining room in the east wing of the estate was warm, lit by a roaring hearth and low crystal lanterns. The massive oak table was piled high with spiced meats, roasted root vegetables, and heavy decanters of dark red wine.It was the first time since the wedding that we weren't surrounding ourselves with tactical maps or hostile council members."I'm just saying, Boss," Kael drawled, leaning back in his chair with a heavy glass of scotch in his hand, "the last time you tried to cook during the mountain campaign, you burned the field rations so badly that three third-tier warriors tried to use the bread as armor plating.""The stove was defective," Hassan replied flatly, cutting his venison with surgical precision, his dark gray eyes flicking toward his Beta wi
KATNISS"Malakor is already whispering poisoned shit to Haddon's faction," I snapped, tossing my leather coat onto the arm of the velvet sofa the second the heavy oak doors of the private suite slammed shut behind us.The private study of the Blackthorn estate was quiet, warm, and bathed in the soft glow of table lamps."I heard him in the corridor, Hassan," I continued, pacing across the dark wooden floorboards, my heels clicking sharply. "He called my resolution a fluke. He told Haddon's guard I wouldn't survive the winter session. You were standing ten feet away. You heard him too."Hassan didn't jump to his feet. He didn't summon Beta Kael to throw Malakor into a subterranean cell, nor did he release a wave of suffocating Alpha authority to crush the old man's insubordination.Instead, he walked calmly over to the mahogany side table, unscrewing the crystal stopper from a heavy decanter."I heard him," Hassan said smoothly, pouring two fingers of amber bourbon into a heavy crystal
KATNISSThe Ironmine sector didn't smell like polished marble or expensive cognac; it smelled like wet earth, crushed limestone, and enough raw, unbridled hostility to choke a lesser wolf.The regional council hall in the heart of the rugged Silverwood-Ironmine border was a cavernous stone fortress, cold and drafty despite the roaring hearth at the center of the room.On the left side of the heavy oak table sat Lord Vane of the Ironmine faction—a hulking, scarred warrior whose thick arms were crossed over a leather harness. On the right sat Lady Marcella of the Silverwood timber territory, her posture rigid, her sharp eyes glaring across the table like she wanted to tear Vane’s throat out with her bare teeth."This is fucking ridiculous!" Vane slammed a calloused, heavy fist onto the oak table, making the iron oil lamps rattle. "The ancient Blackthorn Decree of the Four Peaks clearly states that all mineral transport crossing through the Silverwood pass incurs a forty percent infrastr
KATNISSI woke up in a bed that wasn't mine, wearing an obsidian ring that made me Hassan Blackthorn’s wife, only to realize that holding his name publicly didn’t mean shit to the people who actually ran his territory.The early morning sun bled cold gold through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the primary suite. The high-thread-count sheets smelled distinctly of dark cedar and rain—Hassan’s lingering scent.I sat up, tracing the sleek silver band on my left hand.Yesterday, I signed a contract and took an oath before the High Council. But as I washed my face, dressed in a tailored charcoal trousersuit, and pinned the silver crest of the Blackthorn pack to my lapel, reality settled into my bones like lead.The public saw a unified empire. The Blackthorn inner circle saw a political transaction.I stepped out of the private wing and headed down the vaulted corridor toward the tactical command hall. My heels clicked sharp rhythms against the cold marble floor, echoing through the heavy







