LOGINKAEL~•~It wasn't missing. It couldn't be.I stood in the middle of Seran's room with the empty jewelry box in my hands, and my mind kept pushing back against what my eyes were showing me. Nobody could have gotten in here. The door had been locked. I had come here countless times since the night Seran died, and no one else ever followed, not one day. I had just put the necklace somewhere and forgotten. That had to be it.I set the box down and started searching.I pulled the sheets off the bed and shook them out. I opened every drawer in the dresser and ran my hand along the back of each one. I checked under the bed, behind the curtains, inside her shoes by the wardrobe, between the folded clothes she never wore again.With every place I cleared, my breathing got faster, and the room started to look like a storm had passed through it.Nothing.I stopped in the middle of the mess, chest heaving, and the truth finally landed.Someone had been in here.Everything started to make sense a
KAEL~•~"Alpha."My Beta, Caden, stepped out of the dark, bowing his head low. He looked pale, the remnants of the dark magic that had pinned him to his bed still lingering in his eyes."Speak," I rasped, not slowing down."I came to offer my deepest apologies. I failed in my duty as your Beta. I should have sensed the breach. I should have been at your side before those bastards ever crossed the courtyard. I stand ready to receive whatever punishment you deem fit."I stopped in my tracks, turning my head just enough to catch his reflection."Your apologies are as useless to me today as they would have been to me yesterday," I said. "I am disappointed in every single one of you who slept through an attack on our own soil."Inside, the cold reality stayed buried. Caden didn't know the truth. If he had stepped in, he would have been torn to shreds within seconds. None of them were equipped for the horror that had walked through our gates last night."Save your groveling," I continued,
ELOWEN~•~I stared at Thea."You're wrong," I choked out, shaking my head violently. "I don't have any power. I'm an Omega from Blackthorn! I couldn't even shift. Whatever happened out there... it was just a coincidence.""Coincidences don't bring dead men back to life," Thea said, her voice barely above a whisper. "The Continuance knows what you are, even if you don't. They won't stop until they take it from you.""We can't worry about that right now!" My voice cracked, raw with fear as I gestured wildly toward the bed. "Look at him! We have to make sure he’s is stable."Kael shifted. "I am fine," he growled, his dark eyes burning into mine. "I can manage.""You don't look okay," I snapped back, refusing to back down. "You can barely sit up."Thea stepped closer, her expression tight with concern. "She's right, Alpha. You're not fine. We need to call a healer immediately to inspect the damage.""There is no healer coming," Kael spat, his tone sharp. "Did you not hear what those bast
ELOWEN~•~"He's breathing!" I gasped, my voice shaking as I looked down at Kael's chest rising and falling. "Thea, he's breathing! We have to get him inside and help him!"Thea didn't move. She just knelt there in the dirt, her eyes wide, staring at me like I had suddenly turned into a stranger right before her eyes."What are you looking at?" I yelled, frustration and fear boiling over. "Help me lift him!"My voice snapped her out of it. She scrambled forward, grabbing Kael's left arm while I pulled his right over my shoulder. His body was heavy, pure muscle and dead weight, but somehow we managed to drag him across the shattered courtyard and back into the ground-floor lodge chamber.We dropped him onto the wide wooden bed. The moment his back hit the mattress, a low, painful growl tore out of his chest. His eyes shot open, flashing a violent crimson as his hands clenched into fists against the sheets."Where are they?" he shouted, his voice hoarse, blood still trickling from the c
ELOWEN~•~Vane thrashing on the ground sounded like a dying beast.Smoke hissed off his chest where the powder from Thea's sack clung to his flesh, eating into his skin like liquid fire. He doubled over, his terrifying golden aura flickering erratically as he clawed at his chest, letting out a raw, agonized roar."I will kill you!" Vane choked out, his crimson eyes locking onto Thea with pure hatred. "I will strip the flesh from your bones for this!"He tried to lung forward, but his knees buckled, his body refusing to obey him.Beside me on the shattered stone, Kael saw the opening. Weakened and poisoned as he was, the Alpha in him seized on the vulnerability. Kael pushed himself up on one hand, his claws extending as he prepared to deliver a lethal blow to Vane's exposed neck. In his compromised state, Vane was as good as dead.Before Kael's claw could land, the blade at my throat vanished.In a fraction of a second, Kira materialized beside Vane, catching his falling shoulders and
ELOWEN~•~My breath hitched in my throat as Kael hit the floor.From inside the barrier, I couldn't tell if he was breathing. Fear slammed into my chest, my heart pounding violently against my ribs. I knew that if Kael fell out there, there was nothing standing between me and the lady holding the blade against my throat.Before Kael could push himself off the ground, Vane closed the distance in a blur of movement, striking Kael a second time. The blow sent Kael sprawling across the dirt, his massive wolf form crashing heavily onto his side.Vane stood over him, a cold, arrogant smirk spreading across his face as he looked down at the bleeding Alpha."Is this really the best you can do?" Vane taunted, his voice dripping with condescension. "You are rumored to be the strongest Alpha in these lands, yet you lie in the mud like a dog. You are nothing but a weakling, Kael. You are going to die a slow, painful death."As the words left Vane's mouth, the glowing tattoos covering his skin fl







