LUCIANI sat there, staring at the flames licking the air from the fireplace, the heat barely touching the storm brewing inside me. My jaw clenched as I let out a slow breath, trying to push away the thought that had been eating at me for days now. Still, it crept in, unwanted but relentless, Raven. Something about her had shifted, and though I had no proof yet, my gut never lied to me.“Lucian,” Marcus, my beta, muttered from the other side of the room, his tone cautious, “you’ve been pacing holes into this floor for hours. What’s on your mind?”I turned to him, my eyes narrowing. “What’s on my mind? Raven.” The name felt heavy on my tongue, like poison.“I feel something is off. She’s hiding something.”Marcus raised a brow, his lips pressing into a thin line. “You’re saying you think she betrayed us?”“I’m not saying it,” I snapped, then lowered my voice, catching the edge of my own anger. “I’m feeling it. There’s a difference. You know how I am with instincts. They don’t miss.”He
KIERANThe night had a strange quiet, the kind that never sat well with me. The pack should breathe like a living thing, movements, sounds, whispers in the air—but lately, it was too controlled, too calculated. I stood by the balcony overlooking the training grounds, arms folded, eyes fixed on shadows that didn’t dare shift without my permission. And yet, beneath all that obedience, there was a rot. I could smell it.“Alpha.”My Beta, Dorian, bowed his head as he stepped into my space. Loyal, efficient—though even he wasn’t above suspicion.I didn’t turn, just asked, “What have you found?”He hesitated, and that hesitation was all I needed. My jaw tightened. “Spit it out.”“It’s Raven,” he said finally. “She… seems different. Softer, even. She’s been less defiant these past few days. More,” He searched for the word.“More what?” I demanded, whipping my head toward him.He shifted under my gaze. “More… agreeable. Some of the guards even said she smiled at them.”I let the silence hang,
RAVENI leaned back against the wooden frame of the window, watching the quiet bustle of the pack grounds, pretending like everything was fine, even though my chest was tight with unease. I could feel it, Kieran’s eyes weren’t just on me, they were everywhere, scattered like shards of glass in the bodies of his spies. Every laugh I shared, every step I took, even the way I breathed sometimes, it all felt monitored. I pressed my lips together and whispered under my breath,“Damn you, Kieran, you’re not as subtle as you think.”“Talking to yourself again?” Rowena’s voice startled me. She slipped into the room without knocking, her eyes sharp, her smirk even sharper.I exhaled heavily. “You could try making noise, you know. Sneaking in like that is a good way to get yourself killed.”“Or,” she leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms, “it’s a good way to test just how jumpy you’ve gotten. Which, by the way, is very.”I glared at her but couldn’t hold it long. “He knows,” I whispere
LUCIANI didn’t know if I could trust Raven with carrying out our plans in Kieran’s pack, and the uncertainty gnawed at me far more than I wanted to admit. Some of my rogues had told me countless times that she was someone I could rely on, that she hated Kieran enough to risk everything for us, but there was still that gnawing hesitation in my chest. Trust was a dangerous thing to hand out so freely, especially when the fate of everything I had been building was resting on this fragile alliance. But I couldn’t pull her out now, not when the wheel had already been set in motion. All I could do was wait, watch, and see how events would unfold, and that thought alone nearly drove me mad.“Lucian,” one of the rogues, Bronn, muttered as he leaned against the tree trunk next to me.“You’re thinking too much again. I can see it in your face.”I turned sharply toward him. “And what would you have me do, Bronn? Sit here twiddling my thumbs while she could be selling us out to Kieran this very
ROWENAI was arranging some herbs in the storage room when one of the guards came to tell me that Alpha Kieran wanted to see me. My hands froze on the stalk of lavender I was tying, because nothing good ever came from being summoned by him in such a way. I dusted my hands against my dress and followed, trying to keep my face neutral, but inside my thoughts were running like fire. When I stepped into his chambers, he was leaning against his desk, arms folded, his eyes watching me the way a hawk studies prey. He didn’t speak immediately, which only made my pulse quicken, and then in that measured tone of his, he said.“Rowena… tell me, how has Raven been since she returned?”The question hit me hard, though he had asked it with such casual ease, as if it was nothing more than a passing inquiry. But I wasn’t a fool—I knew Alpha Kieran never asked anything without reason. My lips parted, but no sound came at first, and he noticed. His eyebrow arched slightly, like he was daring me to stum
ROWENAI caught her just outside the old hall, the cold air biting against my skin, and when I saw Raven standing there as if she had no worries in the world, something inside of me snapped. “So that’s it?” I called out, my voice sharper than I intended, but I didn’t care.“You just walk out? You just vanish when everything we planned was supposed to be done together?” She turned slowly, her eyes narrowing on me, and I swear there wasn’t a single flicker of guilt in them. “Rowena,” she said calmly, almost too calmly, “don’t make it sound like I owe you something. I don’t.”I clenched my fists and walked closer, refusing to back down. “You do owe me, Raven. You dragged me into this mess. You looked me in the eye and told me we were in this together, and now you’re acting like I don’t even exist. Why? Why now?” She smirked, tilting her head just slightly, and her tone grew cold.“Because I finally realized something important. Out here, it’s every man for himself. If you’re smart, you’l