تسجيل الدخولCracked Light (Vera's POV)
I woke up feeling like every vein in my body buzzed.The world swam into focus slowly. Soft lamplight. The clean smell of antiseptic clashing with sharp herbs. Starfang’s healer den.I lay on a narrow cot, thin blanket tangled around my legs. My head pounded. My chest felt tight, like something heavy sat on it from the inside.“Finally,” a rough voice said.I turned my head.Gabriel sat in a chair right beside my cot, leaning forward, elbows on his knees. His dark hair was a mess, eyes shadowed with lack of sleep. A thick bandage wrapped his left arm from wrist to elbow, speckled with dried blood.But he was not looking at his wound.He was glaring at my throat.I followed his gaze.The moonstone necklace lay against my skin, still warm. A jagged crack split the center of the stone.My stomach flipped.Cee stood near the shelves, clutching a bowl ofMother of the Relic (Gabriel's POV)The second the circle dimmed, I moved.“Do not step—” Eleanor started.Too late. I was already over the silver line, ignoring the sting of fading wards against my skin.Vera knelt in the center, shoulders heaving, fingers dug into the moonstone at her throat. Sweat soaked her hairline, her face pale under the ash.“Vera,” I said, dropping to my knees in front of her.Her eyes fluttered open. For one heartbeat they were dazed, unfocused. Then green snapped into focus on my face, sharp and familiar.“Hey,” she rasped. “Didn’t I tell you not to cross the line?”Relief hit me so hard my hands shook. “You nearly cooked yourself,” I said. Her fingers loosened from the stone with a hiss of breath. “It’s… quiet,” she whispered.My gaze dropped. The moonstone lay against her collarbone, cracked deeper now, the white almost transparent. My wolf growled low. I ignored him and slid my arms around her, one under her knees, one behind her back.“Can you move?”
Threads of Moonfire (Vera's POV)Across from me, Rhea’s prism pulsed on its stand, storm-light trapped behind glass. Even bound, she managed to look amused. Just outside the painted ring, Gabriel stood with his hands loose at his sides, fingers flexing like he was fighting the urge to cross the line. His jaw was tight. His chest was still bandaged under his shirt; I could see the edge of the dressing near his collar.He hated this. I could feel it through the bond, low and constant, like a growl pressed against my ribs.“Vera,” Eleanor said, from her place at the north point. “Once we start, you do not step out until I say so. Not for anything. Understood?”“Got it,” I said. My voice sounded steadier than I felt.I looked at the silver line between me and Gabriel. My throat tightened.“Wait,” I said. “Before we start.”Eleanor’s brows pulled together. “Vera, we have–”“Thirty seconds,” I said. “It won’t kill us.”I turned to Gabriel. “Come here.”His eyes flashed. “Gabriel,” I said
Matriarch’s Circle (Eleanor's POV)Monitors glowed along one wall, pulling up scans of the moonstone, and energy graphs.On the center table lay sketches of Vera’s necklace. On the far wall, the glass doors looked out into the corridor. Through them, I saw Vera pacing back and forth. Gabriel moved beside her, slower, a limp in his step even though he tried to hide it. He was stubborn enough to stand with his chest wound.She snapped something at him. He replied, jaw tight. Then she stopped and pressed both palms against the glass, forehead dropping to the cool surface for a breath.I picked up the top sketch and turned to the door.“Send them in,” I told the guard outside.He nodded and opened the doors.Vera jerked up straight. Gabriel’s eyes came to me at once, sharp even in his exhausted face.“Inside,” I said. “Both of you.”“Mom, we don’t have time for—” Vera started.I raised one eyebrow. She bit the rest back but rolled her eyes as she walked in. Gabriel followed, the limp mor
Blood and Vows (Gabriel’s POV)My vision blurred as I struggled to stay conscious. Pain like no other making it even more difficult as a hot, steady burn sat in my chest.“Hold him,” Eleanor’s voice snapped, sharp and clean.Someone pressed down on my shoulders. I groaned.“Sorry,” another voice said. Cee. Shaky, but trying to sound calm. “You’re okay, Alpha. I mean. You’re not okay, but you’re not dead.”Good to know.The air smelled like antiseptic and iron. Field med-station.“Vera,” I tried to say. My mouth tasted like smoke. “Where—”“She’s busy not murdering anyone while we patch you up,” Eleanor said. “Save your strength.”I slipped under again.When I surfaced the next time, the light was softer. My chest still burned, but not as wild.I stared up at a canvas roof lit by a hanging lantern. I shifted my head a little. The movement dragged a groan from my throat.“Gabriel?”Her voice.I turned toward it. Vera sat in a metal chair pulled right up to cot level. She was slumped for
Shield of Nightmoor (Vera's POV)The tug on the moonstone stole my breath.One second I stood beside Gabriel, hands blazing. The next, something yanked at my chest so hard I almost face-planted into the dirt.The cracked moonstone burned against my skin, heat shooting straight through my sternum like a hooked wire. My boots dragged through the destroyed forest floor, leaves and broken branches scraping underfoot as my body lurched toward Zorak.“Vessel,” he said, eyes glittering. “You forgot your purpose.”I choked, hands flying to the necklace, fingers digging into the cracked edges. “Let—go.”The pull only grew.“You were never meant to be more than a container,” Zorak said, amused. “You are the cup. I am the drink.”The air stank of burning wards and scorched trees. Wolves screamed and snarled behind me as the corrupted creatures crashed into Starfang’s line. But all I could feel was that invisible
Night of the First Strike (Gabriel’s POV) The border felt wrong before anything actually hit it. I led the patrol along the fence line. “Tell me you see that,” Dax muttered at my side. “I see it,” I said. Behind us, Jace adjusted the rifle slung over his shoulder. “I hate this,” he said. “This is horror movie lighting. This is where the stupid humans die first.” “We’re not humans,” Dax replied. “Exactly,” Jace said. “Bigger mess when we fall.” I tuned them out and lifted my face to the wind. The usual smells—damp earth, city exhaust, distant trash—were still there. Under it, something else rolled in. Sour moonlight. Old stone. The same scent Zorak had carried into the temple, stretched thin and wide. Every hair on my neck stood up. My wolf pressed against my skin, restless. We reached a watchtowe







