LOGINChapter 302For the next two days, the house remained in a state of quiet protection. Nobody asked me what had happened in that cellar. Neither Kain nor Matteo pressed me for a single detail about Christopher Harding or how I had managed to break through his magic. They stayed by my side, taking turns bringing me warm meals, brushing through my tangled hair, and holding me whenever the smell of old wood and iron made me gasp awake in the middle of the night. They were giving me the time I needed to heal, allowing the silence of the house to wrap around me like a protective blanket.By the third morning, the heavy fog in my mind had finally started to clear. I woke up to the warm Italian sunlight streaming through the sheer curtains, feeling the familiar, steady weight of Matteo’s arm over my waist and Kain’s chest pressed against my back. The terrifying confusion of the courthouse and the neighboring bunker felt distant now, replaced by the solid reality of the bedroom.I sat up s
Chapter 301ElowenBefore we could even move from where we stood, the loud, piercing sound of police sirens cut through the quiet night air. Red and blue lights began flashing violently through the windows, lighting up the dark, empty room.Christopher Harding was slumped on the floor, bleeding heavily from his side. As he looked up at me, knowing his time was running out, a dark, chilling smile touched his lips."You think you've won, Elowen?" he whispered, his voice weak but full of malice. "By shattering my illusion and creating your own, you just unlocked a power you don't even understand. You've changed everything." I didn't answer him.He leaned his head back against the wall, a twisted, breathless smile on his face. "The pureblood circles... the High Coven... they will feel the awakening of a hybrid lineage. They will know exactly what you are, and what your children are. I was the only one keeping you hidden from them. I was the only one who could contain you. Now? You are pr
Chapter 300ElowenThe shock on Christopher Harding’s face lasted only a fraction of a second before his expression darkened into absolute fury. He scrambled up from his wooden chair, his fingers tightening as he prepared to cast another illusion to blind us.But I didn't give him the chance to breathe."Now!" I screamed through our mental link, unleashing the distraction I had promised.I didn't try to use complex magic. I simply focused on the heavy wooden chair Harding had just vacated. Pushing all my anger, my adrenaline, and my newly awakened power toward it, I slammed my hands forward through the air. The heavy chair violently launched off the floorboards, flying straight at Harding’s torso like a missile.Harding gasped, forced to duck and throw his arms up to deflect the flying furniture with a hasty burst of defensive force. The chair shattered into splinters against his magical shield, but the sudden physical distraction broke his concentration completely. His grip on our
Chapter 299ElowenI took a deep breath, tightening my muscles as I prepared to launch my distraction. I could feel the raw, untamed energy in my veins waiting to be released. But just as I braced my feet against the floorboards to take a step forward, the light in the room violently flickered and died.The scent of copper and the heavy presence of Kain and Matteo vanished into thin air.Before I could even gasp, a wave of familiar, suffocating cold wrapped around my shoulders. The polished floor beneath my feet turned into cheap, splintered linoleum. The high ceiling dissolved into water-stained acoustic tiles, and the smell of industrial cleaner mixed with stale cabbage filled my nose.My heart dropped into my stomach. I looked down at my hands and realized they were tiny, scraped, and trembling. I was wearing a faded, oversized smock that didn't fit.I was back in the orphanage.A cold dread seized my throat. I hated this place more than anywhere else on earth. This was the place
Chapter 298ElowenThe sound of Christopher Harding’s smooth, cold voice cutting through the silence made me freeze. The jagged, broken piece of metal I was holding against my neck lowered slightly.I looked back and forth between Kain and Matteo, my eyes wide, before turning my gaze back toward the doorway where the monster had just stepped out.My mind was a complete, chaotic mess. It wasn't an illusion? But if they were real, how could they have possibly gotten out to the ocean so fast? We were supposed to be miles away from the coast on a massive cargo ship. I shook my head violently, my grip tightening on the broken handle again. No. He was just trying to mess with my head. He just wanted me to drop my weapon so his guards could grab me. I wasn't going to fall for it this time.I glared at him, lifting the sharp edge back up. "I will never fall for any sick trick you try to pull," I shouted, my voice trembling with raw anger. "You're nothing but a coward who hides behind illu
Chapter 297MatteoThe air in my study was heavy enough to suffocate a human. We were back in Italy, locked inside the walls of my house, but it didn't feel like home. It felt like a cage.The private plane we had been tracking had been a complete setup. Kian and I had been ready to board our jet to chase it down, but we stopped ourselves just in time. Man like that don't leave an open loop like a glaring flight plan unless they wants you to find it. It was a trap to get us out of the country, to waste our time while they moved her further away.So, we came back to re-strategize. If we wanted to find Elowen, we couldn't just act out on raw animal instinct. We had to think like the monsters we were fighting.To keep them safe, all the women from the pack were still at my pack house. Kian and I were pacing the floor of my office, trying to piece together the puzzle. Our first move had been to see every single one of the men.We needed to know who was missing, whoever wasn't around wa
Chapter 6Elowen I curled up on my bed still in the red dress and Matteo's jacket lying forgotten somewhere on the terrace.And I cried until there was nothing left inside me but emptiness.Maybe this was the point, maybe Adrian wanted to hollow me out completely until there was nothing left but g
Chapter 13 Elowen His words should have devastated me but instead they mixed with the brutal pleasure of his body claiming mine and I felt myself spiraling toward release despite everything, despite the pain, despite the humiliation, despite knowing that anyone in the villa could probably hear
Chapter 8Elowen"I'm just concerned about my wife," Adrian said smoothly. "Surely you can understand that."Kian's jaw clenched but he didn't respond, and Matteo continued eating his seafood risotto with deliberate focus.While I sat there feeling like I was watching myself from outside my body, w
Chapter 9Elowen The door opened before I'd even lowered my hand, and Matteo stood there in the frame looking like every dark fantasy I'd never let myself fully acknowledge.Wearing only low-slung grey sweatpants that hung on his hips in a way that should have been illegal and nothing else.His ch







