MasukA shockwave rippled outward, forcing every wolf—traitor or loyal—to halt.“You have doomed yourselves,” the Oracle rasped, her blind eyes fixed on Rovan. “Gods do not reward servants. They consume them.”Rovan’s smile faltered—just a fraction.Then the ground behind him opened.Not cracked.Opened.Like a mouth.Dark liquid shadow poured forth, rising, shaping itself into something tall and wrong. The second avatar of Eryx pulled itself into the world—larger than the first, crowned in jagged divine sigils, eyes burning with hunger that was not its own.Selene gasped as pressure slammed into her chest.The twin hissed sharply.That one knows me.The avatar’s gaze locked onto Selene instantly.“Fragmented moon,” it intoned. “You burn incorrectly.”Kael snarled and surged forward, but Selene caught his arm.“Wait,” she said softly.He turned on her, panic flashing through his fury. “Selene—”“I need to hear this.”The avatar tilted its head. “Your soul was not meant to fracture. Your mot
Dawn did not come gently.It bled across the sky in bruised purples and cold silver, as if the world itself sensed what was gathering beneath the horizon. Nightfang Keep was already awake—warriors moving with disciplined urgency, armor strapped, blades blessed, claws sharpened.Selene stood at the balcony outside Kael’s chambers, the wind tugging at her hair. The forest below whispered to her in broken fragments—warnings, hunger, fear.The twin stirred, restless.The Shadow King will not wait, she said. He never does.Selene closed her eyes. Neither will we.Behind her, Kael fastened the last clasp of his armor. Black steel etched with lunar runes hugged his body like a second skin. When he turned to her, his gaze softened—only for her.“You didn’t sleep,” he said.She shook her head. “Neither did you.”He came to her, resting his forehead against hers. “I need to know something before we ride out.”Her heart stuttered. “What?”“If it comes down to it,” he said quietly, “if they try t
Something ancient answered her words.The ground hummed.Kael turned to her then, his expression unreadable to anyone but her.Later, when the keep finally settled—when the warriors dispersed, the elders retreated, and the night deepened—Kael took Selene to the highest chamber of the keep.His chambers.The door shut behind them with a quiet finality.Only then did Kael exhale.His shoulders sagged—not weak, but human.Selene stepped into him without thinking, pressing her forehead to his chest. “You held it together.”“For them,” he said. His hands slid into her hair, gripping just enough to ground himself. “Barely.”She tilted her head up. “For me too.”His gaze darkened—heat and hunger curling beneath the surface.“You don’t know what it takes,” he said hoarsely, “to stand in front of them… knowing how much of you I want to pull away from the world.”The twin shifted, watchful but silent.Selene’s pulse quickened. “Then don’t pull away.”Kael stilled.Slowly, as if giving her every
Kael led the Nightfang warriors at the front, his presence a living blade cutting through the unease. Selene rode beside him, her awareness stretched thin between the physical world and the deeper currents beneath it. The twin remained quiet—too quiet—coiled inside Selene like a held breath.She’s listening, Selene realized.Not to the forest.To something below it.They reached the scorched path just as the sun dipped behind the peaks. The earth was split cleanly, not burned but… peeled. Stone exposed where soil should have been, like the land itself had been unmade and rewritten.Kael dismounted, crouching to press his palm to the ground.“It’s warm,” he said. “Recently.”Selene stepped closer. The moment her boot crossed the invisible threshold, her magic reacted—not violently, but with a deep, aching recognition.Her knees buckled.Kael caught her instantly, pulling her into his chest.“Selene.”She clutched his tunic, breath shallow. “This place… it knows me.”The twin stirred at
Dawn did not rush them.It crept—slow and pale—over Nightfang Keep, spilling through the narrow balcony opening in ribbons of silver and blue. The mountain breathed around them, stone cooling after a night of tension held and released.Selene woke first.She lay half-curled against Kael’s chest, his arm heavy and warm around her waist, his breathing deep and even for once. In sleep, the Alpha’s constant vigilance loosened its grip. The sharp edges softened. The lines of command faded into something achingly human.She studied him quietly.The scars she knew by heart.The faint glow of the bond-mark at his throat.The way his hand flexed slightly every time she shifted, instinctively checking that she was still there.Inside her, the twin was awake—but calm.He anchors you as much as you anchor him, she observed, no jealousy this time. Just truth.Selene answered silently, That’s the point.She traced a slow line with her fingertip along Kael’s collarbone, careful not to wake him. Powe
Three nights later, the earth screamed.Not beneath Nightfang territory—but far to the east, where the stone sloped downward toward the Cascades. A shockwave rippled outward, snapping trees like kindling and sending flocks of birds screaming into the sky.Kael was on his feet instantly, wolf surging.“Report,” he snapped as scouts burst into the hall.One dropped to a knee, breathing hard. “A breach,” she said. “Not an avatar. Something… made.”Selene’s pulse quickened. She felt it—an absence, a hollowing wrongness where something living should have been.“Eryx is escalating,” she said. “He’s creating servants that don’t fear death.”Kael’s jaw clenched. “Then we stop them before they reach our borders.”He turned to the assembled warriors. “Nightfang does not wait to be hunted.”The pack howled in answer.As preparations began, Selene retreated briefly to the high terrace overlooking the forest. The moon hung low, silver and watchful.The twin emerged beside her, fully formed in the







