LOGINLila’s POV The invitation came on a small card, slipped under my door sometime between when I finally stopped crying and when Ash fell asleep against my arm.Dinner. Seven o'clock. I expect you to attend.No signature. He didn't need one.Eryndra stirred the moment I read it, rising up in my chest like she'd been waiting. She had been unusually present since we returned to the Citadel, closer to the surface than usual, and I knew it was because of him. Because he was somewhere in this building right now, eating or giving orders or doing whatever Dante did when he wasn't being the Alpha King in front of an audience, and she could feel that. She always could.Wear something nice, she said."I'm exhausted."I know. Wear something nice.I looked at myself in the mirror above the basin. My hair was a disaster and there were shadows under my eyes deep enough to have their own shadows. I looked like a woman who had broken into a government facility, killed several people, found her son in a
Lila’s POV Maids poured into the entrance hall, healers directing traffic, voices overlapping, hands reaching. Someone took bags. Someone else appeared with towels. The whole machine of the pack activated around them and I stood in the center of it holding Ash and felt nothing except the weight of him in my arms.He was real. That was still the only thought I could complete.Ari was pressed against my side, her fingers twisted into the hem of my shirt. She hadn't let go since we climbed out of the vehicle and she hadn't spoken much either, just kept touching Ash, his arm, his shoulder, the back of his wrist, small quick checks, the way you touch a flame to see if it's still warm.A maid stepped toward us, young, with a kind face. "Luna, we can take the children to the—""No." I said it before she finished.She hesitated."Thank you," I added, because she meant nothing by it. "No."Marcus materialized beside me the way he always did. Joan was leaning against him, upright but barely, h
Lila’s POV The remaining Amber Witches, four of them, stationed throughout level four, attacked simultaneously.The battle was brutal. Fire and amber and shadow magic exploded in every direction. Blackwood wolves fought alongside me, their supernatural strength clashing with witch magic in devastating combinations.Dante fought at my side throughout, shifted and unshifted, adapting, commanding, fighting with a ferocity that took my breath away. We moved together instinctively, covering each other’s weaknesses, amplifying each other’s strengths.It wasn’t just a strategy. It was chemistry. Real, undeniable chemistry that had nothing to do with fate and everything to do with who we were as individuals.When one witch cornered me with a containment spell, Dante was there instantly, breaking the spell with pure willpower and pulling me against him. We were face to face for one breathless second, his arm around my waist, his eyes burning into mine.“You okay?” he asked, his voice rough.“
Lila’s POV The facility sat nestled in the Montana wilderness like a cancer, sleek, modern, deliberately hidden beneath layers of concealment wards. From the outside, it looked like nothing. A stretch of unremarkable forest.From the inside, Dante’s scouts reported, it was a nightmare.“Forty-two guards,” Dante briefed us in the war room, his voice carrying the calm authority of someone who’d planned raids his entire life. “Twelve are supernatural, enhanced humans, mostly. The rest are military. Three witch sentinels maintain the outer wards. The internal layout suggests four underground levels. Medical on level two, containment on three, research on four.”“Research,” I whispered, that word making my stomach turn. “That’s where they’d keep Ash.”“Level four, yes.” Dante’s ice-blue eyes found mine across the map, and something in his expression softened, just barely, just enough to notice. “We’ll get him back, Lila.”The way he said my name, quiet, almost tender, made my chest ache.
Lila’s POV The throne room doors were massive, carved wood reinforced with steel, warded with protective magic. Guards flanked them, but when I approached, they hesitated.They felt what I was. “Stand aside,” I said quietly.One guard reached for his weapon. “You can’t just…”The doors exploded inward.Not from my hands. I hadn’t touched them. But my power, my will, my sheer presence had been enough to shatter the wards and send the doors crashing open.I walked through, Ari’s hand in mine, Marcus and Elena flanking us.The throne room fell silent.Dozens of people occupied the space, advisors, Beta wolves, visiting Alphas arriving early for the Summit. All of them turned to stare at the white-haired woman who’d just blown open the Alpha King’s doors.And at the far end of the room, seated on a throne of black stone, was him.Dante Blackwood.I felt the mate bond snap into place like a rubber band pulled too tight finally released. It hit with such force that I stumbled, my breath c
Lila’s POV “Before I leave, I need to see your son.”Kai looked up from the travel preparations, confusion crossing his face. “What? Why?”“Because your child is cursed, and you know it.” I glanced at Raven, who’d gone pale. “And because I’m apparently the breaker of curses. So let me break this one before I go.”Kai’s hands clenched. “How did you…”“I can see it,” I said simply. “The energy around him. Dark, twisted, wrong. Something’s attached to him, Raven. Something that’s been growing since before he was born.”“The Eclipse King,” Kai breathed. “When we fought his forces last year, one of his witches got through my defenses. She touched Raven. We thought nothing came of it, but…”“She marked your unborn child.” I moved toward the door. “Are you going to let me help, or do I leave you to figure it out on your own?”They brought me to the nursery where their one-year-old son slept. The moment I entered, I felt it, the dark magic coiled around the child like invisible chains.“His
Lila’s POV “We need to move now,” Marcus said, examining the cell door lock. “If we wait until morning, we’ll lose any advantage we have.”“Wait.” Elena’s voice came through the wall gap, urgent but strangely soft. “Marcus, come here. Let me see your hand.”Marcus looked confused but moved to the
Lila’s POV Raven stood outside the cell bars, her Luna robes immaculate, her expression a careful mask of superiority. But I could see through it now, see the calculation, the fear barely hidden beneath the polish.“You’re stupider than I thought,” Raven said, her voice carrying that familiar cond
Lila’s POV They didn’t take us back to the guest house.The guards marched us across the pack grounds to a building I’d hoped never to see again, the detention center. Where rogues and traitors were held before judgment.“You’re putting us in the cells?” I demanded as they shoved us through the re
Lila’s POV Kai stared at me like I’d crawled out of a grave. Which, in a way, I had.“You can’t be here,” he said, his voice tight. “You were exiled. My decree was clear…”“I’m aware.” I kept my voice level despite the fury building in my chest. “I was there when you threw me out, remember? When y







