Mag-log in~CASSIAN~"She's my mate," Vincent snarled, already half-shifted, bones cracking as fur appeared across his skin. "I'm not letting her go. Not to you. Not to anyone."Was he a fucking lunatic? Why did he think he had a say? I didn't care if he was her mate, I didn't care if she had a thousand mates. She would still be mine. She would still be returning home with me.The courtyard had suddenly become an arena, and somehow, they were all fighting for my wife. All for different, selfish reasons. Varkas guards prepared themselves. Seraphina and her parents watched with hungry attention.Most of my men were back home. I didn't think things would reach to this point. Clearly, I'd made a huge mistake. But that would not stop me from fighting for her. Aurora stood a few steps behind me, one hand still pressed to her stomach, and that single small gesture was all it took.I didn't answer him with words.Vincent completed the change in seconds. The massive grey wolf that rose in his place wa
~AURORA~Cassian didn't look away from me once. He kept on moving forward until he was standing right there in front of me. Even with Vincent standing only a few feet away, even with the courtyard still packed with the aftermath of his arrival, his eyes stayed locked on mine as if the rest of the world had ceased to exist. When he finally spoke, his voice was rough, stripped of every careful mask he had worn for so long."I love you."My breath caught. For a moment I couldn't move, couldn't think, couldn't do anything but stare at him as the truth of what he had just said settled over me.Did he really? Did I hear him correctly? Did Cassian just tell me he loved me in front all of these people without a care in the world? My heart ached but this time, in a good way. "I love you, Aurora." He practically shouted it now. Like he was making sure everyone truly heard it this time. "I did everything for you," he continued, stepping closer until there was almost no space left between u
~SERAPHINA~"We need to move, now!" I shouted at my parents. "Cassian knows where Aurora is and he's going to find her."My mother stiffened, "where is she? Who has been hiding her?" I rolled my eyes, "Vincent."My father narrowed his eyes, "why would someone like Vincent help Aurora to hide from us?" I shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe he's stupid. Or maybe he lost it after I ended things with him.""This is outrageous!" My mother hissed. "That girl keeps getting away from us. We never should have let her marry that Reaper Lord. She should have stayed here with us. Now she thinks she's suddenly important. And she keeps finding people to help her. She’s very sneaky.”"Let's hurry." I snap. "I do not want to miss the show. Cassian will not be expecting us. I've already alerted the council. They will meet us there as well."I made sure that the council was informed. They needed to get rid of Aurora once and for all. I didn’t want her near Cassian any longer. He was my husband and as long
~SERAPHINA~Something was wrong.I noticed it the moment I stepped into the main corridor. The estate, usually filled with loud servants, guards, and the constant movement of people attending to the new order of things, felt unnervingly still. Too quiet. The kind of quiet that settled right before something broke. I paused, listening. No footsteps belonging to Cassian. No sharp, dry commentary from Zerath drifting from nearby rooms. The two of them were simply. . .gone.And that never meant anything good.Whenever Cassian and his brother disappeared together without explanation, it was because they were doing something important. Something they did not want the council—or me, to know about. My stomach tightened with a sharp, familiar suspicion. There was only one person who could pull Cassian's attention so completely that he would abandon the carefully constructed image of our marriage and vanish with his brother.Aurora.Of course, it was her. Even when she wasn't here, she was st
~AURORA~The argument had been building for days, and today it finally broke through. I stood in the middle of the small room, arms wrapped tightly around myself as I faced Vincent. The maid's uniform still hung on my body like a constant reminder of everything I had been reduced to. Every day spent bowing my head, fetching things, and pretending I was nothing more than a servant had chipped away at what little pride I had left. I couldn't do it anymore."This isn't working," I said, my voice soft but firm. "I don't think I can stay here like this. It would be better if I left on my own. I can find proper work somewhere—real work, and take care of my baby without having to pretend I'm your maid. I never asked to live like this. This is not what you promised me. And I can't give birth here like this. My child deserves more.”Vincent's expression darkened immediately. He took a step closer, towering over me in the cramped space. "You're not going anywhere, Aurora. As long as you're
~CASSIAN~The doctor's entire body began to tremble.I hadn't even touched him yet, but the power leaking from my hands was enough. Dark energy crackled along my fingers and up my forearms, showing him exactly what was waiting if he decided to lie again. Doctor Elias Venn pressed himself harder against the wall, eyes wide with genuine terror as he watched it all unfold in front of his eyes. "I—I did treat a woman by that name," he blurted out quickly, the words coming out right after the next in his haste. "Aurora. Yes. She was brought to me after she fainted at the Reapers' estate. I examined her. I ran tests. Please—"I held up a hand, silencing him. The power still hummed under my skin, but I forced it back just enough to keep from reducing the man to bones before I got what I needed. My voice came out low and controlled, though every muscle in my body remained tight. I was so close to losing my mind and this doctor would feel my full wrath if he didn't give me something to work
~AURORA~The hall seemed to spin. Whispers all around us, but they faded into a distant sound. Seraphina and Vincent. . .betrothed? How had I never known? All those years pining, suffering in silence, and they'd been promised to each other? I felt like a fool. He wasn't just someone I'd develope
~Aurora~The cellar smelled of damp stone and fresh blood.I knelt on the cold floor, arms raw from the earlier whippings, tasting iron where my lip had split."The prophecy demands a Varkas daughter," Lady Elowen, my stepmother had hissed earlier this evening, shoving me forward in the great hall
~CASSIAN~I couldn't believe my eyes.It was her, the girl I had glimpsed earlier while entering the Kingdom. I couldn't get her out of my head. And now she stood before me as my bride?A dark amusement formed in my chest. Had she truly tried to run away to escape marrying me? This was the Varka
~AURORA~I'd tried to run away. Tried to escape before the Moon Reaper could force me back to his Kingdom where I would stay as his wife.But the guards had found me. They couldn't whip me as punishment, not today, not when I was being offered as the sacrificial bride. They needed my groom to beli







