Derrick’s POVI stood and watched from the edge of the training field. My pack. The Ninth Pack. The one I’d promised to protect, to lead, to keep intact. It was cracking, fracturing under the weight of Rhys and his rogue wolves, and I could feel the cracks widening by the hour.I let out a sigh, running my fingers through my hair, but even the familiar action barely seemed to calm the storm I was feeling inside me. It was that message, cut into the tree two days ago, that flickered in my mind: What’s yours is what we’re coming for. Rhys wasn’t just interested in land or political power. He wanted to tear down everything I loved, to shred through it until I was left choking on nothing but dust and regret. And Serena — she was the center of it, whether she realized it or not. My mate. The thought of her jolted through my chest, a surge of fierce protectiveness and gnawing guilt. I’d held back too much from her, and now the truth was unraveling way faster than I was able to grapple.Behi
Serena’s POVMy heart was racing so hard I feared it would pop out of my chest. Derrick took my hand, his fingers hard and unwavering, yanking me through the underbrush as limbs reached out to claw my skin. In the distance behind us there were growls of Rhys’s rogues, too close, too many. Mason limped along beside us, his arm around Jonas’s shoulder, blood oozing from a wound in his side. The pack—Derrick’s pack, whether I wanted it or not—was falling apart under the strain of this assault, and I couldn’t shake the nauseating thought that it was all on my head.Rhys’s voice still scorched in my mind, burning all fear away. “Your child is a bloodline that could break a pack, Serena. Did you think you could hide it forever?” There had been pure venom in his voice, his eyes bright with a hunger for something beyond even power—it was personal. He’d been aware of my pregnancy, the child I literally only told Derrick about yesterday. But how? And what was he saying about my bloodline? My ha
Derrick’s POVMy boots snapped on the leaves, each step a deafening crack in the unnatural silence. My pack was at my back - their breathing short, darting eyes focusing amongst the shadows. We were predators, but tonight, we were preys too.Rhys was out there. I could sense him. Serena was out there exposed; I could still smell her on my skin from my reckless surrender last night. And I choked with the longing for her — for her shaking lips, her tear-streaked face, the fire in her eyes when she’d called me on my lies. I had once failed her by holding back secrets. I wouldn’t fail her again.“Alpha,” Jonathan whispered, his voice barely louder than the fog. “The trail stops at the ravine. They’re baiting us.”I nodded, as I clenched my jaw so tight it hurt. “They want us to follow. Rhys doesn’t make mistakes.” "Everything," I spoke low now, a growl beneath the surface of my voice. “Stay sharp. No one moves alone.”The pack mumbled their agreement though their tension was a thing aliv
Serena’s POVMy heart had been pounding non-stop since the scout’s words. I walked to the window, looking out into the dark woods, my fingers following the contour of the locket I was wearing. The cold, metallic feel anchored me, connected me with the past, with my grandmother's packhouse, the place where I'd once found refuge. And now that place was a snare, a den to Rhys and his rogues. My stomach was heaving, not just from fear but from this life growing inside me—Elliot’s baby, a secret I still didn’t know quite what to do with.Derrick’s voice was low and tight, and broke the silence. “You’re not going, Serena.”I turned, my eyes narrowing. He was sitting at his desk, green eyes stormy with determination, and he still had his arms crossed. The very eyes that had seared into mine last night, promising love, now had a wall I couldn’t breach. “You don’t get to choose that,” I snapped, my voice harsher than I meant it to come out. “Mason’s out there for me. And all Rhys is doing is
Derrick’s POVI’d been out on the eastern ridge, following the scent of those double-time rogues, my head swirling with rage and guilt. Each claw mark — every whispered threat left in the trees — was a taunt, a promise that he’d come for everything I loved. And now that Mason had been taken, it wasn’t just the pack at risk—it was her. Serena.I stormed through the oak doors of the packhouse, my boots tapping against the marble floor. Inside was unnatural silence, broken only by the loud angry voices which echoed out of the great hall. My heart lurched. I recognized those voices—Serena’s sweet but stern voice, Elise’s silky-hot voice, like liquid venom. My steps quickened, a low growl in the back of my throat. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.The scene hit me in the gut as I rounded the corner. Serena was there in the middle of the hall, her hair dark and straight and hanging over her shoulders, and her green eyes burning with a complicated blend of pain and defiance. In her shaki
Serena’s POVToday was as though the whole pack was holding its breath for whatever was coming next. I placed my hand on my belly without thinking, where the little flutter of life served as a potent reminder of the stakes I bore. The pregnancy was beginning to exact its toll — nausea hanging on me like a shadow, dizziness that came in waves and tilted the world’s axis at inopportune times. I had been on the run, and now was entangled by seeds of doubt that threatened to consume me.I leant against the cool stone wall of the corridor, struggling to compose myself. I had heard her—Elise—sounding sweetly but dripping with venom, speaking to someone in the courtyard below. I had not intended to eavesdrop, but her voice had come through the window.“He’s got something on his mind,” she’d whispered, her voice low and conspiratorial. “With that omega girl in the picture, Derrick is not thinking clearly. This is the time we need to move.”I was unable to get a glimpse at who she was talking